I’ve mentioned Chinese hot pot , our huo guo, cooking before, but I want to share with you today the traditional Mongolian fire pot, the original hot pot, which we experienced in a small road side restaurant in Beijing near the drum tower. As with modern hot pot dishes, boiling broth in the center of the table serves to cook individual slices of meat, vegetables, seafood, noodles etc. by the diners, but while modern hot pots are often electric, the Mongolian fire pot is a copper construction in which a coal fire is lit in the bottom most part to heat the broth above.
The bowl part containing the broth is often split and contains mild broth in one half, spicy broth in the other. This is referred to as yuan yang, yin and yang, hot pot. In the mild broth, a few dried aromatics are added, while the spicy side contains a huge vat of ma la - numb and tingly -paste made from Sichuan peppercorn, chili pepper and various spices simmered with oil that will make your mouth just that: numb and tingly with spice. Trust me. It’s an experience.
That red clump in the top right corner is the ma la paste, the plate underneath it holds the aromatics for the mild broth. Finally the three bowls contain a peanut based sauce into which herbs and onions (on the bottom most plate) are mixed; this mixture is used to dip the cooked items into. Our waitresses did the mixing for us:
The restaurant specialized in la beijing shua rou, traditional Beijing-style swipe meat, thin strips of meat that cooks within seconds:
We also enjoyed spinach, bok choy, other cabbages, various mushrooms and noodles, all cooked in the two broths. Let me tell you – leavy vegetables that hardly soaked up the liquid were a lot better fit for the ma la section, while meat and mushrooms reduced us to red, sweating, crying, panting misery. I have mentioned before that I enjoy Sichuan cuisine and the (insane) amounts of heat used in it, but this was clearly too much even for me. I bow to those that can stomach this kind of hot pot without the traditional almond milk to soothe, after.
Nevertheless, a copper fire pot certainly makes for a great, stylish meal.
I’ve mentioned Chinese hot pot , our huo guo, cooking before, but I want to share with you today the traditional Mongolian fire pot, the original hot pot, which we experienced in a small road side restaurant in Beijing near the drum tower. As with modern hot pot dishes, boiling broth in the center of the table serves to cook individual slices of meat, vegetables, seafood, noodles etc. by the diners, but while modern hot pots are often electric, the Mongolian fire pot is a copper construction in which a coal fire is lit in the bottom most part to heat the broth above.
The bowl part containing the broth is often split and contains mild broth in one half, spicy broth in the other. This is referred to as yuan yang, yin and yang, hot pot. In the mild broth, a few dried aromatics are added, while the spicy side contains a huge vat of ma la - numb and tingly -paste made from Sichuan peppercorn, chili pepper and various spices simmered with oil that will make your mouth just that: numb and tingly with spice. Trust me. It’s an experience.
That red clump in the top right corner is the ma la paste, the plate underneath it holds the aromatics for the mild broth. Finally the three bowls contain a peanut based sauce into which herbs and onions (on the bottom most plate) are mixed; this mixture is used to dip the cooked items into. Our waitresses did the mixing for us:
The restaurant specialized in la beijing shua rou, traditional Beijing-style swipe meat, thin strips of meat that cooks within seconds:
We also enjoyed spinach, bok choy, other cabbages, various mushrooms and noodles, all cooked in the two broths. Let me tell you – leavy vegetables that hardly soaked up the liquid were a lot better fit for the ma la section, while meat and mushrooms reduced us to red, sweating, crying, panting misery. I have mentioned before that I enjoy Sichuan cuisine and the (insane) amounts of heat used in it, but this was clearly too much even for me. I bow to those that can stomach this kind of hot pot without the traditional almond milk to soothe, after.
Nevertheless, a copper fire pot certainly makes for a great, stylish meal.