Why Don't You Like Hot Pot?! Part I By Nan Qu

火锅

Why Don’t You Like It? Blog Post by Nan Qu

Sometimes people tell me they don’t get the charm of Chinese hot pot. I am sorry. But don’t blame yourself too hard. Check if you have fallen prey to some of the rookie mistakes. Try our suggestions. Things may look different.  

Chinese hot pot is just like a big family life. Those who questioned it probably did not see it from a better angle. If order and privacy are your utmost values, that’s too bad. Hot pot is about mixing food in a confined heated environment and putting them through different soups/sauces to test possibilities and spark sensations. To appreciate it, you need to learn to embrace chaos. Haters would fuss over eating each other’s saliva in a shared pot. We lovers call it a group orgy.  

Try some animal organs. If they taste funky and chew like rubber, you might want to level up and try them in a soup base that is at least medium spicy.  The spices can cancel out the raw animal taste and escalate it to a level of umami, which then helps to open up your heart to its chewiness. Don’t worry about diarrhea. It’s a problem for another day. And a small price to pay to embark on a brand-new dietary adventure.   

Forget about timing the cooking. Wing it. How would I know if it’s over or undercooked, you may ask? Trust me, you will know. If not this time, you will know next time. It’s important to remember if you are stressing about the cooking element of hot pots, even for just five seconds, you are doing it wrong. Have you ever had a next-table neighbor, who put too much in their pot, then lost track of time chatting and laughing, and all their food sunk and stuck to the bottom of the pot and smelt burnt? They knew how to have fun. Be like them.  

To Be Continued in Part II Coming Out Next Week…