Eating Chinese hot pot alone would be about as much fun as watching Rocky Horror Picture Show all by yourself.
Lucky for us, our friends Grace and Bob invited a group of us over to experience this fixture of Grace’s childhood. As a Chinese-American, she says this was one of her favorite meals growing up, and she was eager to share the hot pot experience with the rest of us.
A divided pot offers twice the options for broth.
We arrived to find four broths bubbling on the table in two divided pots: chicken, vegetable, shrimp and spicy fish. Plates scattered about the table contained raw beef, pork, scallops, salmon belly and shrimp, along with cubes of tofu, fish balls, shrimp balls and fish and tofu balls, several types of mushrooms and Chinese cabbage.
In front of Himself is a plate of thinly sliced beef and pork. To his right is a platter of pot stickers and tofu.
Balls! The sculpted looking ones at the top are a combination of fish & tofu; the pink ones in the center are shrimp, and the white ones at the bottom are fish.
Enoki, boletus and shiitake mushrooms each have their own texture and add their distinctive flavors to the broth as well.
With Chinese hot pot you select what you want to eat, drop it into the broth of your choice, pull it out when you think it’s done and chow down. But after awhile it’s hard to tell what you’re fishing out of the broth or who dropped it in. That’s just fine, though, because we all got plenty, and it was all tasty. I tried to take extra care with the salmon belly, scallops and shrimp, to be sure they didn’t overcook. I babysat them the best I could amidst the happy confusion that results from 10 people all simultaneously cooking and reaching and eating and talking around the table.
And yes, the oysters! I’m sorry I didn’t shoot a close up of them (that’s a hazard of having too much fun when you’re trying to document a free-for-all). Those were the biggest, most beautiful oysters I’ve ever seen in my life. When Grace revealed those dishes of salmon belly and oysters, I knew we were truly among the ranks of the elect.
My bowl, with some pork, a fish and tofu ball, a scallop and a chunk of tofu, along with a tangle of noodles fresh out of the broth. The bits of tomato and cilantro were already in the broth, each being quite flavorful before the cooking began.
These are just a few of the dipping sauces and ingredients from which dipping sauces were made. All have different flavors and run the gamut of heat from tame to “I can’t feel my lips!” But nothing disappointed.
The idea is that after cooking and eating all the meat, seafood and veggies, you throw noodles into the broth and have a bowl of soup and noodles to finish the meal. But here’s the kicker, something Grace didn’t tell us until we were too full to do anything about it: All the time we were tossing meat, fish and veggies into the broth and cooking and eating, that broth was becoming so unbelievably rich and flavorful as to constitute some sort of drinkable ambrosia, barely legal for it to be in the possession of mere mortals. She says the best breakfast of all is a bowl of that super-rich broth with some noodles thrown in. It’s certainly her kids’ favorite.
regrettable dessert!
Grace asked me to bring a Chinese dessert, laughing to herself because she knew full well that the Chinese don’t eat dessert, not very often, anyway. But I had fun with it, recalling every Chinese buffet I’d ever seen. There’s always fresh fruit, usually melon, and an almond gelatin. For authenticity, I even made it with agar agar, a seaweed-based gelatin that’s popular with the vegan crowd. Everyone took a bite just to give it a try, or so as not to hurt my feelings, although I’d already assured them I wouldn’t be hurt if they didn’t eat it. A couple of people liked it okay. One person actually liked it well enough to carry some home with him.
We feasted extravagantly but didn’t feel stuffed or overindulged because it was lean, healthy stuff. No reaching for the antacids afterward.
Himself and I are eager to do Chinese hot pot ourselves now. Grace said they stopped at 99 Ranch Market and bought all the meats, seafoods and assorted items pre-prepared and ready to drop into the pot. That means the prep was all done–all they had to do to get ready for a dinner party was to tidy up the house, set the table and make some broth.
Hot pot is most definitely a social food. So make a lot of broth, buy extra ingredients and invite people over, or ask them to bring something to add in. I brought regrettable but fun dessert. Wesly brought his portable bar and mixed cocktails that paired well with the meal. It was a grand feast and a great evening. And certainly a memorable one.
