WE'RE GONNA NEED A LITTLE HELP WITH THAT ONE:

The hot pot is perfect for the Lunar New Year or any occasion (HSIAO-CHING CHOU, 1/25/06, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER)

If you've never experienced a hot pot (or fire pot, which is the more accurate translation of huo guo), it involves dipping raw ingredients into a simmering pot of broth that sits on a portable tabletop burner. You choose the ingredient you'd like to eat and add it to the broth. When it's done cooking, you fish it out with your chopsticks or a hot-pot strainer. Then you dip the meat or vegetable in a condiment of your choice and eat it. At the end of the meal you can sip the broth, which now has been enriched by all those cooking ingredients.

You might consider it the Asian fondue.

Hot pot is a common dish that people order out at Chinese restaurants during the winter months for its warming properties. Usually, the pot contains a divider to separate mild and spicy broths. The ingredients may vary from place to place, though a standard offering includes Chinese cabbage, beef, pork, chicken or lamb, cellophane noodles and tofu.

Chinese hot pots vary from region to region. In the northeast, soured Chinese cabbage (similar to sauerkraut) in a pork broth made from pork belly is preferred. The cabbage cuts the fat from the bacon. Frozen tofu, which has a spongelike texture, absorbs the flavors in the broth. The hot pot is rounded out by cellophane noodles. In the south, seafood prevails.

The Hakka have a tradition of eating hot pot on the seventh day of the new year with seven key ingredients, chosen for their names that are homophones of fortuitous words. Celery is related to being diligent, garlic symbolizes someone who is adept at finances, green onion is for intelligence, fish is for abundance, cilantro indicates being surrounded by friends, and chives stand for something that is everlasting.

Hot pot has a long history, dating back to the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.). The most famous hot pot story, however, comes from the Qing Dynasty during Emperor Qianlong's reign (1736-1796), when he held perhaps the largest Lunar New Year celebration with about 1,500 hot pots to feed 5,000. [...]

SICHUAN HOT POT BROTH
SERVES 4-6

* 1/4 cup fermented black beans
* 1/3 cup Shaoxing rice wine or medium-dry sherry
* 1 chunk fresh ginger, about 3 inches long
* 1/4 cup dried Sichuanese chiles, or regular red chiles
* 1/2 cup peanut or vegetable oil
* 2/3 cup beef drippings or lard
* 1/2 cup Sichuanese chile bean paste
* 3 quarts good beef stock
* 1 tablespoon rock sugar
* 1/2 cup Sichuanese fermented glutinous rice wine (optional)
* Salt to taste
* 1 teaspoon whole Sichuan peppercorns

Mash the black beans with 1 tablespoon of the Shaoxing wine, either with a mortar and pestle or in a food processor, until you have a smooth paste. Wash the ginger and cut it into slices about the thickness of a coin.

Snip all the chiles into halves or into 1-inch sections with scissors, and discard as many seeds as possible. Heat 3 tablespoons of the peanut or vegetable oil in a wok over medium flame until it is hot but not smoking. Add all the chiles and stir-fry them briefly until they are crisp and fragrant, taking great care not to burn them (the oil should sizzle gently around the chiles). Remove them with a slotted spoon and set aside. Pour the cooking oil into a separate container and set aside. Give the wok a quick rinse and dry it thoroughly.

Place the beef dripping and the rest of the peanut or vegetable oil into a wok and heat over a gentle flame until the dripping has melted completely. Then turn the heat up to medium. When the oils are just beginning to smoke (250-300 degrees), add all the chile bean paste and stir-fry for a minute or so until the oil is richly red and fragrant. The paste should sizzle gently -- take care not to burn it (you can switch off the heat for a few seconds if it is in danger of overheating). When the oil has reddened, add the mashed black beans and the ginger and continue to stir-fry until they are fragrant. Then pour in about 1 1/2 quarts of the stock and bring it to a boil. (The rest of the stock will be used for topping up the hot pot as you eat.)

When the liquid has come to a boil, add the rock sugar and the rest of the Shaoxing rice wine, with the fermented rice wine if you have it, and salt to taste.

Finally, add the prepared chiles and Sichuan pepper according to taste and leave the broth to simmer 15-20 minutes, until it is wonderfully spicy.

Pizza Rolls and chicken wings seem an easier way to start the New Year.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 25, 2006 9:01 AM