Hot pot, called "antique soup" in ancient times, is named after the "splash" sound when food is put into boiling water. It is one of the original delicacies in China, and it is also a kind of food suitable for all ages.

Hot pot generally refers to a cooking method in which a pot is used as a utensil, a pot is cooked with a heat source, and water or soup is boiled to cook all kinds of food, and it can also refer to the pots and pans used in this cooking method. It is characterized by cooking while eating, or the pot itself has the effect of heat preservation, and the food is still steaming when eating, and the soup is integrated. There are similar dishes all over the world, but they are particularly popular mainly in East Asia.

Hot pot is hot when eaten, spicy and salty, oily but not greasy, and suitable for the climate of mountains and rivers. Now it has developed into a mandarin duck pot, spicy and light, with different soups and foods according to personal preferences, suitable for all ages and best in winter.

Typical hot pot ingredients include all kinds of meat, seafood, vegetables, bean products, mushrooms, egg products, staple foods, etc., which are cooked in boiled water or the bottom of a special soup pot. Some ways of eating will be dipped in seasonings and eaten together.

characteristics of dishes

nowadays, with the progress of science and technology and the development of cooking skills, the varieties of hot pot are also colorful and have their own characteristics, including charcoal hot pot, gas hot pot, electric hot pot and alcohol hot pot according to fuel.

in terms of texture, there are tin chafing dish, aluminum chafing dish, stainless steel chafing dish, enamel chafing dish and so on.

According to the structure, there are conjoined chafing dish, split chafing dish and Yuanyang chafing dish.

according to the cooking style, there are soup-stewed hotpot, stewed hotpot and boiled hotpot.

the variety of hot pots adds a bit of excitement to the dining table. Thousands of miles of different winds, hundreds of miles of different customs, China's hot pot colorful, thousands of pots and flavors.

Guangdong's seafood chafing dish is made of seafood and the like. The ingredients are very particular, and the most important thing is delicious taste and taste. It is delicious but not greasy.

The hot pot of chrysanthemum in Suzhou and Hangzhou is made of chicken soup or broth, supplemented by thin slices of meat, fish, chicken, etc. and eaten with chrysanthemum, which is fragrant and refreshing and has a unique flavor.

Yunnan's Yunnan-flavored hot pot is characterized by the fact that it must be filled with cloud legs and served with raw materials such as mushrooms and fish. It is tender, spicy and full of flavor.

The beef omasum hotpot in Chongqing has the characteristics of diverse raw materials, rich and fresh marinated soup, spicy and mellow taste.

In addition, mutton hotpot in Beijing, Basheng hotpot in Zhejiang, Sanxian hotpot in Hangzhou, game hotpot in Hubei, white meat hotpot in Northeast China, beef hotpot in Hong Kong, assorted hotpot in Shanghai, and mutton hotpot in Shandong also have unique flavors.

making method

the bottom of the pot is heated to give full play to various characteristics of seasoning.

in order to adjust the taste of the bottom of hot pot, we must make full use of the fat solubility and water solubility of condiments when heated, so as to achieve "harmony of five flavors".

This requires that the cooking temperature, feeding sequence and decocting time should be correctly grasped, and four or five flavors should be mixed and the proportion should be appropriate.

Hot pot condiments are an organic combination of various condiments, and there is a subtle relationship between the five flavors. Too much of one condiment will cover up the flavors of other condiments, resulting in "taking the lead".

Therefore, it is more appropriate to put all kinds of condiments in the hot pot seasoning. Of course, the proper proportion is relative. We should grasp the internal contradictory relationship between salty and sweet, hemp and spicy, which are the two dominant pairs in the hot pot flavor. In the bottom of the hot pot, salty and fresh are the main ones, and sweet is the main flavor, which makes the bottom taste mellow and long.

Instructions for Eating

The way to eat hot pot is different from that of Chinese food. You can't eat cooked dishes when they are served on the table. Instead, some semi-finished dishes are brought to the table, and they are operated by themselves (cooking) and cooked by themselves. The scalding (boiling) temperature of dishes is in the hands of diners. Therefore, diners must know how to eat hot pot in order to eat well.

scalding, boiling in a pot

The key point is: first of all, we must distinguish various materials, not all of which can be scalded. Generally speaking, the materials that are tender and crisp and can be cooked in an instant are rinsed: that is, the materials are clipped and suitable for scalding (rinsing) foods, such as duck intestines, kidney slices, liver slices, pea seedlings, spinach, etc. And the texture is a little dense, and it is not easy to cook in an instant, so it should be scalded for a while, such as hairy belly, mushroom liver, beef slices, etc. Secondly, we should observe the changes of soup brine. When the soup brine boils and rolls constantly, and there is enough grease on the soup brine, it is delicious and can be kept warm. Thirdly, we should control the heat, if the heat is too high, the food will get old, and if it is not, it will be raw; Fourth, when scalding, you must hold the food firmly, otherwise it will be easy to boil and melt if it falls into the pot.

Cooking: that is, putting the ingredients into the soup to cook

The key points are: firstly, we should choose the materials that can be cooked, such as hairtail, meatballs, mushrooms and other raw materials that are relatively dense and must be heated for a long time before eating; Secondly, we must master the heat, and some of them should be boiled for a long time.

The experience of eating hot pot should be meat first, then vegetarian

When scalding, the soup must be boiled away, and all of it should be immersed in the soup for scalding; Secondly, those who like spicy taste can adjust spicy taste by: those who like spicy taste can eat hot food from the oil on the edge of hot pot; On the contrary, hot food is cooked from the middle boiling place; Once again, when eating hot pot, you must have a cup of tea to stimulate appetite, help digestion, relieve oil and get tired, change your taste and reduce the spicy feeling.

Put Chinese herbs in the hot pot and decoct together

Use 1g of Chinese herbs Dendrobium, 1g of Radix Scrophulariae and 1g of Radix Ophiopogonis, and wrap them with gauze. Boil in hot pot for 15-2 minutes, then remove the gauze bag and serve. It has the function of nourishing yin, reducing fire and promoting fluid production, and can prevent the phenomenon of "getting angry" induced by eating hot pot.

Put some vegetables or tofu in the hot pot.

Vegetables such as spinach, celery, lettuce and green beans. Tofu and its products such as old tofu, louver, etc. Vegetables contain a lot of vitamins and chlorophyll, and tofu contains gypsum, which is cold in nature and has the effects of clearing away heat, purging fire and removing annoyance. It can prevent eating hot pot from getting angry.

add a little beer to the hot pot

adding 2 spoonfuls of beer to the hot pot can make the hot pot soup mellow and delicious, because the beer is rich in various nutrients, which not only balances the nutrition, but also is a wonderful way to prevent the hot pot from getting angry.

eat some fruits after tasting hot pot

after eating hot pot, eat some cool fruits, such as pears, apples and oranges, every 2-3 minutes to prevent "getting angry", but don't eat hot oranges.