Hot pot is a popular communal dish in many cuisines, featuring a broth and a variety of raw ingredients cooked at the table. Chinese, Japanese, and Southeast Asian variations exist, as well as European fondue.
A hot pot is a common dish that is popular in many cuisines. It typically features a piping hot bouillon broth placed in the center of the dining table with a variety of raw, home-cooked ingredients. Ingredients include meats, seafood and vegetables, as well as noodles or dumplings. Foods can be added to the hot pot with skewers or chopsticks. Condiments and dipping sauces can also be served with a hot dish.
Hot pots are ideal for communal dining in both family and social settings, especially in Asia. A hot pot is served in a metal container with a shallow circular ditch for the broth surrounding a tall fireplace for burning coals to heat the broth. The clay pots can be used for hot dishes and the water heater can be installed as an appliance in the dining table.
These dishes are popular throughout China, where they are called pots. There are many regional styles, particularly in Beijing and the provinces of Szechuan, Yunan and Canton. Chinese cuisine includes Mongolian and Manchurian stews, and Taiwan has its own regional style.
The broth for Chinese pots ranges from mild to spicy. Ingredients include a range of meats, seafood and vegetables. Noodles, dumplings and tofu are often added towards the end of the meal when the broth is served as a soup. Condiments may include soy sauce, hoisin, and chili paste.
Japanese cookware is called chankonabe, shabu shabu and sukiyaki. Chankonabe is a hearty stew popular with sumo wrestlers. Shabu shabu is a lighter dish with thinly sliced meat as the main ingredient in a seaweed broth called dashi. Sukiyaki is a combination of beef, tofu and vegetables in a broth of soy sauce, sugar and mirin, with raw egg as a topping.
Variations on the hot pot are popular throughout Southeast Asia. The Korean version, similar to sukiyaki, is called chongol. In Thailand, suki hot pots feature fresh ingredients in a light broth with a chili, lime, and coriander sauce. In Vietnam, hot pots called lau are made with fish in sour broth. Malaysian steamboats feature seafood as the main ingredient in a broth with lemongrass, lime and ginger.
Fondue is the European version of hot pot, with variations in Swiss, French and Italian cuisines. Fondue pots are filled with oil for cooking meat and cheese sauce for dipping bread. Fruits or sweets can also be dipped in the chocolate fondue.
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