Remember that the food will be hot when you pull it out, so keep things leisurely, and make sure you wait for the soup to get boiling again between batches. First, cook your ingredients gradually and try to pace it to your eating speed. There are a few things to keep in mind as you and your friends dig in. Maotai, or Moutai, is one of the most popular brands of baijiu. It’s packed full of umami and tastes amazing with everything. Here’s a tip: if you see chive flower sauce on the menu, order it. For many hot pot fans, the dipping sauce is a very personal thing, so if you want that extra scoop of garlic, fly that flag. Some might even offer a whole DIY station with individual elements for you to mix, including minced cilantro, oyster sauce, sesame oil, and black vinegar, with suggestions for newbies. Most places will offer a variety of sauces to dip your cooked ingredients in, and you’re welcome to use them or not. You also can’t go wrong with ordering a pyramid of semi-frozen shaved ribeye, a clutch of hand-cut noodles, and bok choy and calling it a day. For example, Tang Hot Pot in New York City offers a beautiful-sounding “Sichuan Adventurer” set that includes delicacies like chicken gizzards, Asian swamp eel, beef tripe, crown daisy leaves, vermicelli noodles, and enoki mushrooms. Sometimes they’ll offer combination platters with a good balance of proteins and vegetables. You could opt for a savory mushroom broth, sweet-and-sour tomato, or, in some places, even a coconut-infused seafood tom kha variant.Īs for the hot pot ingredients themselves, restaurants will usually offer a good mixture of thin-sliced meats-from pork belly to lamb shoulder to filet mignon-meatballs, vegetables, noodles, fish balls, dumplings, and rice cakes that you can order a la carte. My personal favorite is the bold and numb-spicy Chongqing variant, which is chock-full of Sichuan peppercorns, red chilies, preserved mustard greens, and basically anything else you’d typically find in a Sichuanese chef’s spice rack. The most well-known style is a basic cloudy broth made from chicken, ginger, goji berries, and other aromatics. The there are three basic components to hot pot: broth, dipping ingredients, and sauces.Ī single hot pot restaurant in the United States will often offer several broths to choose from, though indecisive folks can sometimes opt for a combination served in the same pot with a metal divider. The latest CDC guidance for vaccinated diners during the COVID-19 outbreak is available here dining out still carries risks for unvaccinated diners and workers. Studies indicate that there is a lower exposure risk when outdoors, but the level of risk involved with patio dining is contingent on restaurants following safety guidelines. For updated information on coronavirus cases, please visit the city of Chicago’s COVID-19 dashboard. However, on July 30, the city issued guidance recommending that everyone wear facial coverings while indoors. Some spots even offer all-you-can-eat so bringing a large appetite is encouraged.Īs of June 11, Chicago restaurants have fully reopened and the city has lifted restrictions on capacity and social distancing. Best of all, diners are free to dial up the heat to their liking and try whatever proteins and veggies they want as hot pot is fully customizable. And thanks to a recent influx of Chinese-based chains in Chicago, there are now plenty of great places to enjoy it. Hot pot, a communal meal that involves cooking items in boiling broth at the table, is always a fun and engaging experience.
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