Hot Pot Warmth: A Cozy Guide To Staying Toasty

Hot pots are a great way to keep warm during the colder months. They are an interactive and social meal, often involving a group of people cooking various raw ingredients in a simmering pot of soup. The soup is usually heated on a portable induction or gas burner, or an electric hot pot burner with a built-in heating element. The pot should be wide and shallow, allowing for easy access to the food.

Hot pots are a great way to bring people together as everyone sits around the pot, cooking, eating, talking, and relaxing. They are also highly customizable, with a variety of dipping sauces and ingredients such as thinly sliced meat, seafood, tofu, and vegetables.

In addition to being a fun and social activity, hot pots can also be used to keep food warm. The Keep Warm setting on an electric hot pot can maintain a temperature between 140-172 degrees Fahrenheit, ensuring that your food stays hot until you are ready to eat.

How to make a hot pot meal at home

Making a hot pot meal at home is a fun and interactive experience. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to make a hot pot meal at home:

Get the Right Equipment:

You will need a heat source and a pot. A portable stove, such as a gas stove or an electric burner, can be used as the heat source. For the pot, a Chinese stainless steel hot pot is ideal due to its round shape and depth. Alternatively, any wide, relatively shallow pot will work. You will also need chopsticks, preferably bamboo or wooden ones for heat resistance.

Prepare the Broth:

You can make the broth from scratch or use store-bought options. For a simple version, you can use chicken soup with goji berries, ginger, and scallions. If you want a particular flavour profile, you can add different ingredients such as tomato soup base, Sichuan hot pot, or mushroom-based broth.

Gather the Ingredients:

The beauty of hot pot is that you can choose a variety of ingredients according to your preference. The four main categories of ingredients are broth, protein, carbs, and veggies. For proteins, you can use thinly sliced meats such as beef, lamb, or chicken. For carbs, you can have noodles, rice, or dumplings. As for veggies, leafy greens like baby bok choy, napa cabbage, and spinach are great options. Don't forget to include some mushrooms and tofu!

Prepare the Dipping Sauces:

Hot pot dipping sauces are highly customizable. You can use Chinese sesame paste, peanut butter, soy sauce, Sha Cha sauce, Sichuan peppercorn oil, chili garlic sauce, Chinese black vinegar, toasted sesame seeds, fried shallots, or garlic as base ingredients and mix and match according to your taste.

Set Up the Table:

Place the burner and the pot in the middle of the table. Arrange the ingredients around the table on separate plates or trays. Don't forget to include small bowls for each person to assemble their dipping sauces. You can also set up a sauce station away from the table to free up space.

Start Cooking and Enjoy!

Bring the broth to a boil and then let it simmer. Add the ingredients to the pot and cook them according to your preference. Use tongs or hot pot strainers to scoop out the food and dip it into your custom sauce. Enjoy the interactive and delicious hot pot meal with your family and friends!

The best foods to keep warm in a hot pot

Hot pots are a fun and interactive way to cook and eat with friends and family. The best foods to keep warm in a hot pot are those that cook quickly and can be left in the broth without becoming overcooked. Here are some ideas for foods that are perfect for keeping warm in a hot pot:

Proteins

• Beef: Brisket, short rib, ribeye, sirloin, flank steak, or any cut thinly sliced against the grain.
• Pork: Belly, shoulder, or loin, thinly sliced.
• Lamb: Shoulder or leg, thinly sliced.
• Chicken: Boneless breast or thighs, thinly sliced.
• Fish: Tilapia, bass, or flounder fillets, thinly sliced.
• Seafood: Shrimp, squid, scallops, mussels, clams, or mixed seafood balls.

Starches

• Noodles: Udon, mung bean, rice, spinach, or shirataki noodles.
• Dumplings: Frozen dumplings, preferably smaller ones, will cook faster.
• Rice cakes: Thin ovals are best; thick Korean-style rice cakes take longer to cook.

Vegetables

• Leafy greens: Baby bok choy, napa cabbage, spinach, pea tips, watercress, chrysanthemum greens, or yu choy.
• Other vegetables: Lotus root, potato, sweet potato, pumpkin, daikon radish, tomatoes, corn, winter melon, or kabocha squash.

Fungi

Enoki, shiitake, king oyster, beech, or shimeji mushrooms.

Accessories

• Fried bean curd rolls.
• Fish tofu.
• Fish balls: Golden (deep-fried), roe-filled, or plain.
• Beef balls.
• Frozen tofu: Silken, medium, or hard tofu cut into blocks and frozen twice.
• Egg dumplings.

How to set the table for a hot pot meal

Setting the table for a hot pot meal is an important part of the experience. Here's a step-by-step guide:

Choose Your Equipment:

Firstly, you'll need a heat source to keep your broth simmering throughout the meal. A portable electric burner or induction cooker is ideal, placed in the centre of the table. You can also use a gas burner or a two-in-one pot with a built-in electrical heating element.

For the pot itself, a wide, shallow design is best. Chinese stainless steel hot pots are a good choice, and some even have a "yin-yang" feature, allowing you to have two different soup flavours at once. Any wide, relatively shallow pot will work, though.

Prepare the Ingredients:

Wash and slice your vegetables, meats, and seafood. Tofu and noodles should also be prepared according to the package instructions. It's a good idea to keep each category of food separate on different plates or trays. Meat can be partially frozen to make slicing easier.

Set the Table:

Place the burner and pot in the centre of the table. Arrange the prepared ingredients around the table, keeping each category of food together.

Provide each diner with a bowl, plate, chopsticks, and a napkin. You'll also need tongs, hot pot strainers, and ladles so that people can add food to the pot and retrieve it when cooked.

Set up a sauce station with small bowls so that everyone can mix their own dipping sauces. Common sauce ingredients include sesame paste or sauce, peanut butter or peanut sauce, soy sauce, Chinese BBQ sauce, Sichuan peppercorn oil, chilli garlic sauce, Chinese black vinegar, toasted sesame seeds, fried shallots or garlic, and scallions.

Bring the Broth to a Boil:

Fill your pot with your chosen broth and bring it to a boil. You can make your own broth or use a store-bought base. Popular choices include chicken broth, tom yum, ma-la, and savoury mushroom.

Cook and Enjoy:

Once the broth is bubbling away, it's time to start cooking! Add your chosen ingredients to the pot, allowing them to cook according to their required cooking times. Meat, seafood, and vegetables will take different lengths of time, so be sure to keep an eye on them. Don't forget to dip your cooked food in your customised sauce before enjoying!

The history of hot pot

Hot pot, or huǒguō in Chinese, is believed to date back over 1,000 years to the time of the Jin Dynasty. The concept is thought to have originated with Mongolian horsemen who rode across the steppe and into northern China. According to legend, these horsemen would use their helmets as vessels to simmer broth over open fires and cook chunks of meat. Their shields were used as frying pans to sear meat. Over time, this style of eating spread throughout China, with each region adapting it to their local ingredients and tastes.

The hot pot gained popularity among Chinese emperors during the Qing dynasty. The Qianlong Emperor, in particular, was very fond of hot pot and would eat it almost every meal. The dish is also said to have been enjoyed by the Jiaqing Emperor and Empress Dowager Cixi.

Since the 1990s, with the growing number of Chinese immigrants entering the United States, hot pot has become globally recognised. Today, hot pot restaurants can be found all over the world, from Japan to Australia to the United Kingdom.

Hot pot is considered a main course and is usually served without rice or noodles on the side. It typically consists of a pot of soup stock simmering on a heat source placed on the dining table. Diners add an array of raw ingredients such as thinly sliced meat and vegetables, which are cooked in the broth. These cooked pieces are then dipped into sauces for additional flavour.

There are many regional variations of hot pot in China, with Southern styles tending to feature spicy broths and Northern styles focusing more on meat. One of the most famous variations is the Chongqing hot pot or Sichuan hot pot, which is known for its numbingly spicy broth. Other notable variations include the Yunnan Wild Mushroom hot pot, the Manchu hot pot made with suan cai (Chinese sauerkraut), and the Cantonese variation which includes mixing a raw egg with the condiments.

How to make hot pot vegetarian-friendly

Hot pot is a fun and social way of eating. It involves cooking a variety of raw ingredients in a communal pot of flavoured broth at the table. The ingredients are then eaten with dipping sauces.

To make hot pot vegetarian-friendly, you can simply omit the meat and seafood and focus on vegetables, tofu, and plant-based proteins. Here are some steps and tips to make a delicious vegetarian hot pot:

• Choose a broth: You can go for a store-bought option or make your own. For a vegetarian hot pot, you can use vegetable broth or reduced-sodium chicken broth as a base. You can add ingredients like ginger, garlic, soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, and scallions to enhance the flavour.
• Prepare the ingredients: Wash and slice a variety of vegetables into bite-sized pieces. Some great options include leafy greens (such as bok choy, spinach, or napa cabbage) mushrooms, tomatoes, corn, and root vegetables like potatoes or sweet potatoes. You can also include tofu, which soaks up the flavours of the broth. Cut the tofu into bite-sized pieces or use frozen tofu that can be added directly to the hot pot.
• Cook the noodles: If you are using rice noodles, cook them beforehand and then drain and rinse them under cold water. This way, guests can add noodles to their bowls and pour hot broth over them to warm them up.
• Set up the table: Place a portable burner in the centre of the table and put the pot with the broth on it. Let the broth simmer over low heat. Arrange the sliced vegetables, tofu, and any other ingredients on different plates or trays around the hot pot so that each guest can choose what they want to cook.
• Enjoy: Each guest can add some vegetables, tofu, or other ingredients to the hot pot and let them cook for a few minutes before transferring them to their bowls. They can then add noodles, pour in hot broth, and enjoy!

You can also offer a variety of dipping sauces to enhance the flavours. Some popular options include sesame sauce, peanut sauce, soy sauce, Chinese barbecue sauce, and chili garlic sauce.

Frequently asked questions