The Hot Pot
Welcome to this edition of China Lifestyle Journeys, the series that brings you chats, discussions and insights on all aspects of Chinese living. We will cover festivals, food, traditions, customs and much, much more. I’m your host Jocelyn … and I’m Mat, just an English guy with lots of questions. So, Mat, what’s your big question today?
(Mat)
OK, so today we’re talking about hotpot. Now, this is a bit confusing for a British person, because when we hear the word “hotpot”, we think about a very traditional English type of food. It’s a dish from the northwest of England actually. It’s very famous.
I’ll give you the Cambridge English dictionary definition of “hotpot”. Hotpot, a mixture of meat and vegetables, usually with sliced potatoes on top, cooked slowly in a covered dish inside an oven.
So can you imagine that? It’s meat with vegetables, and it’s slow-cooked in like a stone pot with potatoes on top, and it’s cooked inside an oven for about one hour. So for me, that’s “hotpot” – so you can understand how I’m confused when I came to China, and everyone said “Let’s eat hotpot”. I’m thinking about the slow-cooked meat stew with potatoes on top, so obviously my first question is ... what is Chinese hotpot?
(Jocelyn)
Well, the Chinese name for hotpot, huǒguō/火锅, literally means “fire pot”. It’s a shared, communal meal, and there’s usually a large pot in the middle of the table, and the pot filled with a special soup, and the soup is constantly heated underneath, then we take different kinds of raw food items, like raw meat, raw fish, and raw vegetables, and we cook them in the soup, everyone joins in this cooking activity – and then you take out the cooked pieces of food one by one from the soup and use special dipping sauces for extra flavour. So sometimes the soup is made ofvegetables, sometimes from meat and sometimes it’s really spicy.
(Mat)
I see, so you cook the food yourself, and everyone shares the big pot of soup in the middle of the table. But you said the soup is really spicy – but what if I don’t like spicy food. What happens then? You said everyone is enjoying the spicy hotpot, spicy soup, but if I don’t like spicy food, do I have to go hungry? Do I eat nothing?
(Jocelyn)
Ah, that’s where it gets interesting. Nowadays, many people choose a twin or double hotpot, and the soup dish is divided into two – and you can have one half spicy and the other half not spicy. And there’s also another solution, you can even get individual little hotpots, so each diner has their own little soup pot in front of them and everyone can choose what kind of soup they want, not spicy, a little spicy, spicy or really spicy. That way everyone is happy.
(Mat)
OK, I see, but I still don’t really understand why this is popular. In my culture, when we go to a restaurant for dinner, we don’t want to cook for ourselves. We want someone to cook for us, the cook, the chef. I want someone else to do the cooking.
(Jocelyn)
Well, that’s the great thing - everyone participates in cooking while enjoying the food at the same time. SO IT’S AN IDEAL PARTY MEAL – it’s a wonderful shared experience. So that’s the special part of hotpot – sharing the cooking and sharing the eating.
So hotpot restaurants can be found everywhere in China and most of them are quite cheap – so everyone can enjoy the experience. But lots of Chinese families still enjoy having hotpot in their own homes. The feeling is the same – we cook together at a table and we eat together.
(Mat)
Right, I think I’m starting to understand – it’s not just about the food – it’s also the act of sharing, cooking together and eating together – like a friend activity – enjoying it together. So, I guess my next question is, and this is the big question, what things do you cook in Chinese hotpot?
(Jocelyn)
Well, one of the important things is the soup or we call it broth - the liquid in the pot. Hotpot in different regions uses different soup or broth. And some are really simple, just hot water, and sometimes bone soup, and some light flavours, for example like in Beijing, others are really special and complicated using a long list of ingredients, and even some secret ingredients, and a lot of preparation, like Sichuan style.
Then, when you’ve got the soup or the broth, you just need the raw ingredients. There are so many things that can go into a hotpot, actually I think you cook almost anything!
Beef, lamb or pork, meatballs, canned meat, spam, in Chinese, we call wǔ cān ròu
/午餐肉, that’s one of my favourite, obviously they are cut into slices. And almost any kind of fish, usually thin slices, shrimp, squid, fish balls and other seafood, such as crabs, clams, mussels, etc. So you can add all kinds of tofu, mushrooms or any kind of vegetables. In many parts of China, people add different kinds of noodles to the pot too.
So you can see, when I say you can put almost anything in hotpot, I really mean “anything”.
(Mat)
You are making me hungry now, so, if I want to try hotpot at home – what equipment do I need?
Well, that’s a good question, and some kind of pot, obviously, with heat, usually electronic, that you can put on the table. And it must be big enough to hold lots of liquid and ingredients you want to cook.
Some small dishes or plates to hold the dipping sauces, usually everyone has their own plate of dipping sauce.And then some food to cook in your hotpot. And of course you need some friends or family members to enjoy the experience together.
Well, that’s it for today. We hope you enjoyed this episode, thanks for listening. We hope to see you again next time. Until then, goodbye. Stay wise.
Key words and expressions：
dish n. /dɪʃ/
a flat shallow container on which you serve, cook, or eat food,and you can also use it for the food itself
本意为盘子，例如：do the dishes 洗碗（盘）
也可引申为一道菜，例如：a vegetarian/fish dish一道素菜；一盘鱼
mixturen. /ˈmɪkstʃə(r)/
a combination of different things
混合物
例如：a mixture of A and B A和B的混合物
slice n. /slaɪs/
a narrow piece or portion of something (particularly food), like a slice of bread or a slice of pizza
（切下的食物）薄片
sliced（食物）已切成薄片的
例如：sliced fruit 切片水果
pot n. /pɒt/
a deep round container used for cooking things in
一般指比较深、有锅盖的锅
confuse v. /kənˈfjuːz/
to make somebody unable to think clearly or understand something
使迷惑、使混淆
confused主语一般是人，例如：He was confused by the problem.
confusing 指某物使人迷惑，例如：a confusing problem
stew n. /stjuː/
a dish of meat and/or vegetables cooked slowly in liquid in a container that has a lid
炖煮的菜肴
例如：a bowl of beef stew 一碗炖牛肉
communal adj. /kəˈmjuːnl/
for or by a group rather than individuals
公共的；群体的
例如：a communal kitchen 公共厨房
raw adj. /rɔː/
uncooked
生的；未烹制的；未煮的
例如：raw eggs/ vegetables 生鸡蛋；生的蔬菜
diner n. /ˈdaɪnə(r)/
a person eating a meal, especially in a restaurant
进餐者，食客
brothn. /brɒθ/
liquid in which meat and vegetables are simmered
肉汤
例如：chickenbroth鸡汤
ingredient n. /ɪnˈɡriːdiənt/
one part of a mixture
（尤指烹饪）原料
例如：If you're making chocolate chip cookies, flour is just one ingredient you'll need. 如果你要做巧克力碎饼干，面粉只是所需的一种原料。
cannedadj. /kænd/
stored in a jar or can
罐装的
例如：canned fish 鱼罐头
mussel n. /ˈmʌsl/
a small shellfish that can be eaten, with a black shell in two parts
贻贝
equipment n./ɪˈkwɪpmənt/
the things that are needed for a particular purpose or activity
设备，用具
例如：a useful piece of equipment for the kitchen一件有用的厨房用具
electronicadj. /ɪˌlekˈtrɒnɪk/
Used to describe machines and devices that require electrical currents to run, and that use microchips and transistors to direct that current
电子的；电子器件的，例如：electronic devices 电子设备
dipping sauces
蘸料
be make of
由……所组成；由……制成
例如：This table is made of solid oak. 这张桌子是用实心橡木制作的。
注意和be made from作区分。“of”表示制成成品后，仍可看出原材料是什么，制作过程仅发生物理变化。“from”表示从物品的外观上看不出原材料。
be divided into
被分成（几份）
例如：The course book is divided into 30 lessons. 这本教科书被分为30课。
(be) filled with
被……充满
例如：The bottle is filled with water.瓶子里装满了水。
