Why should we cook and eat hotpot often?
Have you ever cooked and eaten Chinese style hotpot?
If yes for the first question, do you like to cook and eat it?
I have read a few hubs about hotpot.such as Shearers Mince and Potato Hotpot, Spicy, Warming Lamb Hotpot with Sweet Potatoes, and Culinary Content: Winter Greens, Hotpot, Chili, and More. I found that all the authors of these hubs are talking about completely different cooking techniques and eating habits.
The hotpot I am writing about in this hub is a kind of cooking where we eat from the cooking pot while we are cooking. It's really hot in a sense that we pick our cooked food from the boiling or just boiled pot with chopsticks, forks, or any other kitchen tools. So the temperature is hot and the flavor is hot too because most of the time we add in some spicy hotpot sauce bought from Chinese grocery stores. See photos in Fig. 6.
Preparation
1 or 2 packages of hotpot sauce (Fig. 6.), we buy those from Chinese grocery stores such as Super 88, Chinese supper market, or Ming Market. Actually one package can be used for 2 or three times depending on the flavor preference ot those who are going to eat the hotpot.
Thinly sliced pork, lamb, beef, or any comnbination of them as in Fig. 2.
Sliced fresh mushrooms (Fig. 3).
Washed fresh vegetables (Fig. 4), they are called you choy.
Some frozen dumplings, fish balls, wudong noodles, and some starch noodles.
Tufu cubes as in Fig. 5.
These are the most common ingridents we use in our hotpot. Actually, you can add in any vegetables you like, such as spinich, lettuces, and others.
You get everything you want to put in the hotpot ready, Now it's time to
Cook and eat at the same time
You need special pot and heater as in Fig. 1. The pot has a wall in the middle separating it into two compartments so that people who prefer different flavors, spicy vs not spicy, can cook and eat from different compartments.
Usually we boil water on our stove then pour the boiled water in the pot, you can directly boil water in the pot. Once the water is boiling, you can put in the hotpot sause, then put in the sliced pork, lamb, or beef followed by any ingredients you like to put in. As soon as the meat changes color, looks cooked, you need to pick it out and eat. Don't cook it too long to avoid hardening. Other ingredients? You can pick them out to eat anytime you like.
This is the hotpot we should cook and eat often because:
It is easy and simple. You get everything ready, then put them in one pot with two different flavors, anybody can choose whatever he likes to put in and pick out.
It is nutritionally rich. Short time of cooking can preserve as much nutrients as possible and one pot can cook as many kinds of meats, vegetables, and other ingredients as you like.
Very good for a family and/or friends to get together. People sit close around a table with a hotpot on the top, which create a very warm environment. Cooking, eating, and talking together can strengthen relationship among those who are involved.
That's why I say we should cook and eat hotpot often. We eat this kind of hotpot almost every Saturdy as dinner. My son who is 15 years old likes the hotpot very much and if we skip one Saturday evening hotpot, he will say:"We have not eaten hotpot for so long, I want more meat this time!" Yes, he is growing taller and taller, he needs more nutrients.