The appearance of the authentic Chongqing spicy hot pot can be traced back to the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty.
It was the trackers in the Yangtze River Basin who discovered the way to eat spicy hotpot. In the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty, boat trackers at Chongqing docks set up pots, put unwanted animal offal, heads, hooves and the like into the pot, and then cooked them with chili, ginger and other condiments.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, it developed into Maodu Hotpot, with porters carrying a load and selling it along the street. "Shui Ba Kuai" is available at cheap and affordable street food stalls in Chongqing docks and on the streets. The shuibapai are all beef offal (hairy tripe, liver loin and beef blood), sliced ??into thin slices and placed on several plates with different dishes. A spicy butter marinade is cooked in a clay pot on the clay stove at the food stall. The diners bring their own wine, choose one, stand in front of the stall, pick up the raw slices on the plate, and eat while hot. After eating, the price will be calculated based on the empty plate. The price is low, economical, and easy to eat and hot, so it is welcomed by dock laborers, traffickers and urban poor.
As for the pure and authentic Maodu hot pot, according to the memories of old Chongqing people, it appeared around the 15th year of the Republic of China. Down). In those days, cattle traders mostly drove vegetable cattle to Chongqing from the Sichuan-Guizhou Road, stayed overnight on the south bank, crossed the river early the next day, and drove the cattle to Zaifang Street for slaughter. The Ma brothers purchased the hard-to-sell beef tripe and xuewang at a low price, and opened a red soup tripe hotpot restaurant on Xiazaifang Street, which uses tripe as the main dish and imitates the preparation and eating method of "Shui Ba Kuai" in the market. Blanch and wash the tripe, remove the stems, and add a plate of sesame paste and minced garlic. It is said that this is the origin and name of Chongqing Maodu Hotpot.
Up until the Anti-Japanese War, there was still an old woman surnamed Ma on the street in Jiaochangkou who opened an authentic tripe hot pot specializing in tripe. The price of tripe on the plate was based on the price per piece (two cents per piece). Authentic spicy tripe hot pot, the tripe is tender, crispy and fragrant, and tastes far better than other beef and pig offal, winning praise from diners.
During the Anti-Japanese War, the government moved westward, and the first era of hot pot came. At that time, it was so popular that "at dusk, people would eat hot pot in the long streets, and every family would go home intoxicated". At that time, Dai Li held a hot pot banquet for 500 people to show his generosity. By the 1950s, hot pot's popularity had declined significantly. In the late 1980s, Chongqing hot pot began to become popular again and became popular among every household.
After entering the 1990s, Chongqing hot pot has continued to innovate and create, combining with the hot pot culture of other places, the fish head hot pot is spicy but not dry, and fresh and refreshing. People who are afraid of spicy food can also try Chongqing hot pot, which is suitable for many people to eat together.
As the years go by, Chongqing hot pot gradually becomes popular all over the country and becomes famous all over the world. Large-scale hot pot brand enterprises such as "Dezhuang", "Little Swan", "Qin Ma", "Kong Liang", "Sister Su" and "Qi Hotpot" have emerged. Yudu hot pot is not only popular in large and medium-sized cities and border towns in China, but also as a culinary culture of Chongqing cuisine, it has traveled across the ocean and is also very popular in Japan, Europe and the United States.
Today, Chongqing hot pot has become an indispensable food culture. It is an important part of the world's catering culture and even China's catering culture.