Spicy Food in Asian

Hot Pot in Si Chuan Province


Hot Pot is but another Sichuanese institution – like teahouses and foggy skies – without which the locals would slowly wither and die. In fact, the overcast Sichuan sky and the damp conditions of the Sichuan basin make hot pot, chili peppers andhua jiao peppers a necessity.

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Basically, hot pot is a combination of water, oil, and fiery hot peppers into which you dip bits of meat, vegetables, and tofu, fondue-style. The meat’s sliced very thin so it cooks up in a flash. My father-in-law chose ten types of protein-laden goodies ranging from the pedestrian (chicken, pork, lamb) to the somewhat bizarre (at least by wimpy American eating standards): pig livers, duck tongues, and tripe.

Hot Pot in Chongqing

Chongqing is the birth place of the hot pot in China. Once upon a time, it was a seasonal food designed to protect against the low temperatures and frigid windsof the winter. People would sit around a table, eat hot pot, and revel in the instant warmth that would flood their bodies. Hot pot has become more and more popular today, and it is widely enjoyed by people and regardless of seasons and regions.

Hot Pot in Cheng Du

         The dirty truth about Chengdu Hot Pot is not just that restaurants might recycle their oil or even use oil intended for the sewers, but the unspeakable fact that so-called Chengdu or Sichuan hot pot originated in Chongqing. Chengdu Hot Pot is actually chuanchuan, which is a pot of hot spicy oil filled with skewers of vegetables and meat. The pot of oil is used by all customers, the only thing that is ordered fresh are the skewers, which might help to explain why the taint of recycled “Cancer Oil” did not really put a dent in the city’s hot pot business. Lines still stretch out every day at famous local hot pot restaurants because, for a lot of local people, recycled oil means flavorful oil.

How to make a professional hotpot?