In Japan, hot pot is called nabemono, and there are two styles: sukiyaki and shabu shabu (the name of the latter refers to the “ swish-swish” motion made when quickly cooking raw meat in the broth). In Cambodia, hot pot is known as yao hon, and the broth is made with soybean paste, fish sauce, and sometimes flavored with coconut soda. Regardless of how it came about, China is undoubtedly the birthplace of hot pot. To this day, internal organs are still a popular accompaniment to hot pot. Sailors looking for a cheap meal invented the dish, as this story goes, originally adding duck intestines, beef tripe, and pork arteries to the broth - the discarded animal parts from nearby markets.
Over the years, hot pot became much more egalitarian, and today is enjoyed by everyone regardless of rank.Īccording to another story, hot pot originated in Chongqing (still considered the “hot pot capital”), which is a city in southwest China, situated at the convergence of the Jialing and Yangtze rivers. Emperor Qianlong, who reigned from 1735 to 1796, favored the dish, eating it with roast duck and yams. Eventually, despite its humble beginnings, hot pot reached the Forbidden City in what is now Beijing. “This kind of etiquette is part of the communal experience of eating hot pot.The people of the empire absorbed this meal favored by soldiers into their normal diet. If you see the short ribs hit the perfect temp or the taro about to reach its crumbling point, scoop it up and drop it off at a dining companion’s bowl. “There is absolute accountability and responsibility at the hot pot table,” Sze explains. Some hot pot enthusiasts might disagree with this approach, proposing that you start with meat, then veg, then starches, but Sze believes that “the whole point of hot pot is to experience different flavors and textures throughout your meal, and to have strict rules defeats the purpose.” Instead, he pays close attention to each item added in order to ensure perfect cooking. You’ve got all the intel on how long everything should hang out in the broth, so cook whatever you want at whatever pace. A word to the wise: Be prepared when adding flavor sponges (tofu, Napa cabbage) to spicy broths because they absorb heat and can become overwhelming to eat.
“Every time, I pick up new ingredients, like I’m going to try adding taro, or beef top blade instead of just short rib,” Sze explains. If you’ve made hot pot once, he explains, it becomes something you know and from there you can riff. Immediately, he was hooked and started ordering hot pot at restaurants wherever he traveled and perfecting his own game at home. A homesick student, he decided to make it himself for his then-girlfriend (now wife) with whatever meats he could find in the nearest grocery store’s freezer section along with Napa cabbage, lettuce, enoki mushrooms, and vermicelli. But he was stunned to find virtually none in his college town of Ithaca, New York. When he was growing up in Taiwan, Sze was surrounded by many different types of hot pot restaurants. “Everyone is part of the journey with you,” says Eric Sze, the chef-owner of 886 and wenwen in New York City. It demands that you be hospitable as beef slices reach peak medium-rare or thin rounds of potatoes soften to the perfect snappy texture-a signal for you to swiftly ferry them over to your fellow diners’ bowls. It’s a communal dining experience that calls for your attention and participation, as you throw handfuls of chrysanthemum greens or blocks of fish tofu into the broth. Commonly found in East and Southeast Asian cooking, hot pot is centered around a vessel of roiling broth, into which diners plunk meats, seafood, vegetables, and starches. You cannot feel lukewarm about hot pot because hot pot does not feel lukewarm about you.
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