My Favorite Sichuan Hot Pot Recipe, from 1972

Historical Sichuan hotpot was... a little different than it is today. And at home? It's actually our preference.
0:00 - Why the old way is the easy way
1:27 - The genesis of Chongqing hotpot
3:40 - The cooking
6:17 - The eating
8:22 - What to toss in?
FULL, DETAILED WRITTEN RECIPE
...is over on the Substack! Free as always, if it had to be said.
chinesecookingdemystified.sub...
HOW TO MAKE A CHINESE-STYLE BEEF STOCK (as promised)
Ingredients:
* Beef bone with marrow (牛骨/带骨髓), sliced open, 1kg
* Beef shin (牛腱), 500g
* Ginger (姜), a 2-inch knob
* Sichuan peppercorn (花椒), 1/4 tsp, optional
* Water, 4L
Process:
Add the bone, water, and shin to a pot and bring up to a boil, and down to a simmer. Skim. Add the Sichuan peppercorn and the ginger.
After 90 minutes time, remove the beef shin. You can slice some up for the hot pot if you want, or simply portion and reserve for another use (e.g. turn it into a liangban Chinese style cold salad, or top some noodles, etc).
After a total of six hours of boiling (you can go longer if you like), strain the stock.
Set aside the 3 cups that we’ll be using above, and maybe 1 extra cup for refilling the pot during eating. Freeze the remainder.
______
And check out our Patreon if you'd like to support the project!
/ chinesecookingdemystified
Outro Music: คิดถึงคุณจัง by ธานินทร์ อินทรเทพ
Found via My Analog Journal (great channel): • Live Stream: Favourite...

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Hey guys, we're halfway out the door (thus the relatively odd posting time) going to Yunnan and Guizhou for a couple weeks - y'know, "research" :) So forgive me for slacking on the notes a little... might edit some in later, but yeah. We did want to give you guys a heads up on where this historical information generally came from though, so I figured I'd at least copy our 'sources and further reading' discussion from over on the Substack here as well: 1. The recipe itself was adapted from “重庆菜谱” by The Revolutionary Committee of Chongqing Food and Beverage Service Company (重庆市饮食服务公司革命委员会). 2. Most of our historical bits were based on the writing of Lin Wenyu (林文郁). He wrote a book on Chongqing hot pot (火锅中的重庆) discussing the history and origin of Chongqing hot pot in detail, which is widely cited in other books and academic papers. This article in the Chongqing Morning Post is a very decent summary of his work: epaper.cqcb.com/html/202304/22/node_006.html 3. Lin Wenyu extensively cites the work of Li Jieren (李劼人), whose books are a very good source for understanding Sichuan around the first half of 20th century. On a similar note, Chengdu Tonglan (成都通览) by Fu Chongju (傅崇矩) is another good source about the life in (especially Chengdu) around the turn of the century... we actually cited this book in our recent Sweet Water Noodle (甜水面) video. 4. Unfortunately, the above is only available in Chinese. If anyone has any suggestions on further reading in English on the matter, I’m all ears. 5. The absolutely gorgeous historical map from the video can be downloaded here in all its 28075 x 13889 glory: mega.nz/file/QaMR0DQA#x_WXVtL-edE6UyhgWO1DNk4N3iIhclD4gxblOm8sL1A 6. Oh! And while it's of course easily google-able, the pair of Wang Gang recipes are here... the base: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gGXUiqGOo8ugZrM and the pot: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ppnNe6GGn6ZjgNE Be sure to follow us on Instagram if you don't already, we'll be updating it quite a bit when traveling! instagram.com/chinesecookingdemystified/

[@stephens4490]

Nice! Please get OTR to do this!

[@tree_eats]

Enjoy the "research", you two. ;)

[@tuomasronnberg5244]

Hi, thank you for the video, this looks good but I was left wondering what foodstuffs you'd actually recommend for dipping in the hot pot?

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

@@tuomasronnberg5244 Just MSG + toasted sesame oil according to the book, or toasted sesame oil + minced garlic is another classic.

[@tuomasronnberg5244]

@@ChineseCookingDemystified Ah sorry for not being more clear, I meant is there particular vegetables or cuts of meat etc. you're traditionally eaten with this recipe?

[@TheZenomeProject]

Chef Wang, man. His videos deserve to be archived in museums for cultural preservation purposes!

[@bankaied]

Wang Gang truly is a gem of culinary resource! It's too bad his channel seems to have gone silent when he got embroiled in internet "controversy"

[@Balala_]

​​@@bankaiedOh no... What happened?

[@jimiscott]

Yes. I desperately hope he is ok. Fried rice is not a jailable offence - and if it is then something's gone seriously wrong.

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

@@Balala_Silliness. On the Chinese internet, it's the right wing that cancels people. He was soft banned on Douyin - likely mostly risk aversion on their part - and stopped uploading for a spell. Most of the other major platforms are still kosher. Hope he comes back soon

[@tree_eats]

@@ChineseCookingDemystified It's sad when food divides people instead of uniting them.

[@id10t89]

Wow, eating Sichuan Hot Pot in a white shirt. THAT takes real guts.

[@yesfinallygot1]

I love learning about food history. Do more "old" recipes! Along with the history lesson of course 🙂

[@slwrabbits]

not gonna lie, I would like to shove these guys and Tasting History into a room and watch the result

[@NovikNikolovic]

69th like

[@TsunamiWombat]

For anyone like me who fixates on inane things, her shirt says "A cat will be your friend, but never your slave"

[@IneaFaedyn]

Who the hell is out there making cats into slaves? o.o

[@adamwhitef7ck697]

Hahaha, "fixate on inane things"! Excellent lexicon!

[@lindyrm]

My pals and I at the Cat Enslaving Society (CES) ​@@IneaFaedyn

[@toomaskotkas4467]

I thought it says "Dog is friend, not food". I guess I was wrong.

[@PunzL]

Nope, it actually says@@toomaskotkas4467 is waste of oxygen.

[@tree_eats]

Over-rice-ability is such an excellent criterion for dishes.

[@gojimoji9085]

"Gastronomical SM session" - 😂😂😂 what a line!

[@nobody4248]

Me after making a burger with a Carolina Reaper sauce (I regret nothing).

[@queenofdramatech]

You devotion to the anthropology of chinese food is amazing!! It is not a monolith or even a two cusine place. It is thousands of diverse ways of existing together!

[@tktyga77]

Truthfully, no cultural or national food is really a monolith or two spot deal, & likewise for the martial arts realms as conflict & warfare has existed alongside humanity

[@NovikNikolovic]

69th like

[@overseastom]

"Fluvial" means of or found in a river, btw. I was unaware, so I went a-googling, and figure others may not know yet either.

[@artonion420]

All else aside, to think of the hotpot as “a Ma La smörgåsbord” made my swedish heart beat faster! What A beautiful expression

[@272arshan]

I love the drawings so much and I unironically think they add so much to the retention of the history.

[@pinkmonkeybird2644]

Thank you for both the culinary history lesson and the appreciation for home cooks being unable to replicate some restaurant food at home. Sometimes “close enough” may have to suffice, but can still be delicious. Thanks also for your entirely reasonable stance on spiciness. Somehow we’ve arrived at a place where eating extremely spicy food is a flex, which is just silly.

[@alvina_k]

Incredibly interesting learning about the origins and this style of hot pot. Up until seeing this, i always thought hot pot was "all about the dipping sauce" so this showed me another way of how it can be enjoyed. Thank you for sharing your knowledge!

[@bobrong9645]

I've never tried that style (I think), but for the more Chongqing restaurant style, I definitely second your recommendation of brain. I also love quail eggs and lotus root in it.

[@iamnotfooled]

Please keep your wonderful eating traditions. Don’t lose them

[@mathewtravis2254]

Slightly different but the Korean hotpot place near me uses green tea to top up the base which lends a fantastic flavour to things

[@Davyjones5454]

I love it your wife sitting one leg up. Reminds me of my grandpa !

[@FunctionallyLiteratePerson]

I wish this came out sooner! I tried making my own hotpot base this holiday season with a homemade mala chili oil. It came out great, but was a bit more complicated than it could've been, nowhere near as complicated as Wang Gang's though. At least I was able to make my first homemade chili oil, and I don't think I'd ever regret having tasty hotpot!

[@OlEgSaS32]

Stephs shirt is so cute! also while never having done hotpot before, this older approach certainly seems far more accessible

[@ookamichibach.3616]

From time to time i thought NileRed was narrating this video HAHAHHAHA

[@chocolatemilk8213]

I tried your recipe, omg!!!!!! This is the best hotpot I have ever had!! Better than the restaurant and store bought soup base 🤯❤❤❤❤❤

[@scorpiloo]

I love the drawings ^^ nice video once again

[@michaelnash5542]

You can't use phrases like "gastronomical SM session" without warning. I've just decorated my laptop screen with the tea from my mouth!

[@forteandblues]

Very valuable video. I’ve always wanted this dish but have never found a reasonable home recipe. Thanks!

[@jessiwang857]

Just so you know, I have not been able to stop thinking about this video since I watched it. I'm not even a huge fan of Sichuan hotpot! The recipe is great and I'm looking forward to introducing it to my family, but you have to know you BLEW my mind when you used the laozao/jiuniang this way. I've never seen it used like that in all my years of being a Chinese person and watching my family cook Chinese food!

[@dpm3740]

Another great video! Nice work!😃

[@Rethaxian]

What a recipe. 1972? You're right, this is some food history. Food and culture and I love this kind of thing.

[@grugparty]

Thank you for these videos.

[@grugparty]

I'm Australian and have good access to all this stuff but sometimes the names are hard

[@jla3880]

I really appreciate videos about hot pots. If you follows Chinese social media in any capacity, you'd know many, especially the cheap restaurants don't use chef wong methods, they just use some a mixture of chemical known as one drop of incense that don't contain any beef. Making your own is the best way to get a good product

[@peterparker9495]

I love the (presumable) hand drawings!

[@Alice429800]

Thank you for this. I avoid making mala or sichuan style hot pot at home because it's a pure pain in the ass to eat at home. But this approach is literally making me want to try it at home! :)

[@dskim8075]

Great video as usual!

[@parker-b]

wow i am finally gonna do hotpot at home. super approachable as always

[@Waywren]

Another fascinating lesson! I'm not sure I'll have the spoons to actually try this myself, but at least i have a better idea of the kind of dipping sauces I might want to try next time i go out for hotpot

[@Lerf8]

Cooking and history nice

[@starflowers88]

Man, anytime I watch these videos I just fell in love more and more with Chinese coulture :) awesome food, great video!

[@bastianversteeg9221]

I was not prepared for such a casual "try it with brains" recommendation at the end of the video. Love it! (not sure it's available in markets in the Netherlands though...) Cheers!

[@geologist1235]

Probably not unless you go to an actual butcher.

[@nofahz]

Nice tabletop charcoal burner. I was given a Thai bucket charcoal burner for Christmas. I am looking forward to some outdoor cooking adventures in the coming weeks

[@celalkayiran172]

man I fckin love you guys. been waiting for this for some time now to drop. greetings from turkey

[@hudsonliu2640]

Fortunately, at lease in the US, the soup base for modern hotpot can be bought in many Asian grocery stores.

[@jack19677]

Those are imported from China

[@stadtrandkollektiv7498]

Celsius frying Temperatures, Love it! Thanks for that Detail.

[@IAmTheUltimateRuler]

Steph eating a red, oily meal in a white shirt is braver than any marine

[@lovelydeath04]

I have always wanted to try Sichuan hotpot!!!

[@Slave2R0cknR0ll]

Ooooooh man, this looks lovely.

[@mathewweeks9069]

Awesome video

[@whatiswritten1579]

I LOVE history! in the west, far east history is so hed to find reliably... thank you

[@julzamidala2865]

I love Steph's shirt! 😍

[@jasonrice2731]

Looks like its time to buy one of those tabletop induction stoves

[@willworkforfood7028]

0:10 As one quote from Mao said. "You can't be a revolutionary if you don't eat chilies."

[@someguy4476]

She is adorable!!!

[@krono5el]

Once the world got a hold of chili peppers they went ballistic.

[@AutumnApproaches]

Interestingly enough, the recipe I had been following for a Sichuan style hot pot base that I got from Omnivorous Cookbook is fairly similar to this, though it might have more spices and chilies in it

[@jeremychoo934]

We’re lucky enough to be able to buy quite easily the ready-made 海底捞 hot pot soup bases 😝

[@sfeng1813]

The "Sichuan" style hot pot in Taiwan is very different from the actual ones in Sichuan. This recipe is actually very similar to the ones you find in Taiwan.

[@abuttandahalf]

I need to get my hands on Mao's little cook book

[@CowsEatKale]

The videos are awesome and I love the little history lesson, but I would appreciate it if you could explain more of WHY certain ingredients are being used. For example, I am interested to know that the fermented rice adds to the flavour and/or texture of the dish. As someone who is not familiar with many of the ingredients used, I'd like to know not only what they are and where to find them, but also what they bring to the table. Thanks!

[@venicawood3894]

Love your outro music.

[@christianbignon163]

Great as ever. Regards

[@brucegraham7652]

Thanks for the sesame oil + msg idea!

[@GabrielePastoreAlchemikal]

It is so addictive honestly.

[@garfieldclass10]

wow this was good!

[@geneard639]

my local large Asian Grocer has 'instant hot pot' mixes. I haven't tried them, mostly because I'm unemployed. I just go there for the inexpensive ramen and occasionally spices.

[@FunctionallyLiteratePerson]

I would recommend them! I've had good experiences with them.

[@pinkmonkeybird2644]

Same here, they are quite good. I’m not into chilies as much as other people are, but the tomato and golden soup bases are great. But yes, eating hotpot can get very expensive, especially if you want to replicate restaurant versions or the curated versions on social media. It adds up fast, especially if you are going meat heavy. It can be economical if you focus on cheaper vegetables, like cabbage, carrots, potatoes instead of the pretty ones like king oyster mushrooms and some fancy greens. Same with meat, just buy the cheaper cuts instead of the wagyu you see everywhere. You also don’t need a million different items, just a meat or two, some tofu, a handful of vegetables, and rice and/or instant noodles and you’ve made a tasty dinner to share without breaking your budget. Once in awhile you should splurge if you can. Best of luck to you.

[@nonominomi9688]

You can divide the mix to make a smaller hotpot and drop in a portion of ramen to finish the meal. That's how I like my 'hotpot for one' in winter.

[@93hothead]

Chinese restaurants are always making new food that raises your chances of getting heart attack

[@fallinginthed33p]

If I ever open a spicy hotpot restaurant, I'm calling it "Gastro SM Session".

[@FortunateJuice]

"gastronomical SM session" You better copyright that because someone is gonna swoop in on that one.

[@empatheticrambo4890]

I love Sichuan hot pot, but doing it at home is very tricky!

[@l3cubed]

Korean sikhye isn’t really fermented rice. It’s usually a sweet barley water that has cooked rice in it. Most forms in the US are going to be the canned drink which is pretty sweet.

[@donbert]

It isn’t “fermented” in the yeast sense but with Nuruk (aka Koji, aka Qu, aka Aspergillus Oryzae), a mold that produces the amylase enzyme that breaks the rice starch down to sugar.

[@Zend0r]

Fantastic! Question: is there any source where you can find old, traditional Chinese cookbooks, translated into English?

[@TheNewMediaoftheDawn]

Cool🎉, you could even just go water; soy sauce, Chinese wine, sesame oil, chillies, garlic, Ginger, onion, left over chicken bones or shrimp shells, whatever really than the stock would flavour with the ingredients you used, pretty simple really. Cheers🎉

[@user-ce5vd2qv7y]

you know it's good when Mao approved this recipe himself

[@seeky907]

I'll try it this way next time. I normally use Fuschia Dunlop's recipe.

[@l1mi13]

8:06 Dog walking around next to a hot pot.. he is not aware of the danger.

[@jakx2ob]

Thanks for bringing us the people's hot pot

[@toin9898]

I love hot pot but I found out most of the premade bases use broad beans which my partner is allergic to. I might take you up on this one! When it's nice out again in Canada I want to have a backyard hot pot party. 😎

[@seksualnybozek4707]

I always wanted to make hot pot, but I've never had a chance, so I'm curious, after finishing eating what u do with broth?

[@fart-gravy]

love chinese food its the best in the world .

[@araminrain]

Who drew these cute little stick figure images? They are adorable

[@IAmTheUltimateRuler]

I'm pretty sure that the dripping you can buy in UK supermarkets is basically the same as tallow

[@UltimateArts13]

Would vegetable or mushroom broth be a good alternative to the stock?

[@marekkristof557]

Hi, I really love your content. I was at the china for the 9 weeks at Thaicang and I really loved three dishes: frist three fortunes made of eggplant, potatoes and peppers. Second it was some sort of appetizer it was some cucumber with garlic. Third was beef with pepper and onion and it always came in aluminum foil still warm. Don’t you have some recipes of this dishes ? Or do you know them? I will really like to make this dishes to my father because he is really big fan of Chinese food.

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

I guess you're talking about these three? kzbin.info/www/bejne/q3fbfKt3obF2ecU kzbin.info/www/bejne/jmaklKBulLmca8Usi=lVUJ2dqbnKeoLmCb&t=585 kzbin.info/www/bejne/g3KtfJJ_p5uqqpYsi=A2MbNNJY9jOakmug

[@marekkristof557]

Yes thank you so much.

[@RyanLesNOVAL]

Gastronomical sm, brilliant

[@karasumaru2805]

What is that metal thing in the background in the shots where she's eating? Almost looks like a fermenter, but maybe a water boiler?

[@Fishofrank]

can you share the link to wang gang's second video thanks

[@Tempest374]

whats the purpose of adding the sweet fermented rice in the hot pot bases?

[@kelthuzad4634]

hmmmm you can taste great leap forward

[@allisonbrady1364]

the amount of intense spices is to distract our ancestors from the lack of food.

[@ml8207]

is there a reason you seem to have stopped recommending indian mustard seed oil as a sub for caiziyou?

[@EmsThaBreaks441]

Perhaps because of health warnings in the US

[@waywarddown140]

A cat will be your friend. Hello, from Pennsylvania.

[@fajarsetiawan8665]

Can we add simple five spices to the broth?

[@sithconsole]

I used to love spicy food, but it seems like after taking antibiotics my stomach became unable to handle anything spicy so now I'm stuck with mild. Wish there was a way to fix this.

[@tightywhity377]

So basically a butload of season😮my in the broth then blanch the meat and veggies? Sounds good

[@Maiasatara]

Your spread at 8:49 looks delicious! Where I'm neither a fan of offal nor anything above an American medium, I would adjust the spice and do mostly veg, fish balls and tteokbokki, with some thinly sliced (Korean) beef and maybe some boneless, skinless chx. As always thanks for the history and a doable home version. Are you precooking potatoes, daikon and lotus r letting them sit in the broth to cook?

[@yesfinallygot1]

my guess is leave it raw to cook in the broth

[@Ratseeker]

Did you guys have the potatoes and daikon prepped in some kind of water before adding to the hotpot?

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Just soak the potatoes in water until it’s ready to go in, daikon doesn’t need other treatment.

[@mariannejnb]

Definitely going to try this but would welcome ideas for vegetarian components if anyone has them?

[@cckonettaxptor611]

Oh my god the dog didn't get a treat at the end

[@haphazardprism]

People weren't worried about posting a picture to instagram in 1972, so i believe the food is probably better.

[@DC-uh8le]

What do you guys think of the recent boom of the mala hotpot trend in Thailand as Chinese expats in BKK? I wonder how authentic or different it is compared to the original 🤔

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

It’s fun! Like, if I had to be a critic or whatever, I’d say that often the bases seem to lack (1) depth and (2) are sorely missing quality Sichuan peppercorn. But not all cuisine needs to strive to some sort of aesthetic ideal. Sometimes you just want to hang out with your friends in front of a conveyor belt and some bubbling broth. I do think though that there’s inspiration that could maybe be taken from Lanna cuisine to potentially make a Mala hotpot using cheaper Thai ingredients - e.g. maybe leaning on Ma Kwaen, other spices you might see in a Northern Laab, etc?

[@abcabc-uv6ce]

Just a noob question, can it be stored and used again later? If yes, how often? Im asking because i don’t think i can used up everything in one meal.

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Alright, so what I do is strain out any solids, keep the stock and the oil, store in the fridge for one night, then sperate the oil and store it separately, then use it as part of the oil for the base next time. As for the soup, after the oil's taken out, I would use it to make a quick noodle soup the next day and finish it as it won't last.

[@faigelable]

What kind of brains do you recommend? It’s illegal to get ox brains in the UK due to the mad cow epidemic a couple decades back

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

It's usually pork brain that's eaten in Sichuan.

[@deathpyre42]

So, and this is a weird question I know, what does each step in the complicated modern hotpot base actually add? Like, how does the base taste if you just use fried whole chilies or just a fried re-hydrated chili paste instead of a mix of both? What happens if you add the aromatics later or don't use tallow, etc?

[@CToast]

Not a Chinese cook of any kind, but I can answer the tallow question. It's basically cow-lard, so it has a lot of the properties of lard with a different taste.

[@silviufleaca8250]

I think the idea is that you layer up the flavors by using different ingredients at different stages, kinda like using several temperature steps and several crushed chili sizes for tastier red oil. Both recipes will taste the same overall, but the complicated one will have more going on. Of course, for some ingredients timing matters, for example you should only add Sichuan peppercorns at the end, because the aroma is very volatile and you boil it off if you cook them for too long.

[@Default78334]

Tallow is used because it's solid at room temperature, so you can make a shelf-stable premix for easy use.

[@sevenandthelittlestmew]

Souped Up Recipes has a great video for making restaurant style hot pot base. It has a lot of spices, and there are a LOT of steps, but (!) it can be made in advance and frozen for later use. Also, the base can be used in other dishes to be served over rice. Your recipe here, however, will likely be our base this weekend. We don’t need to feed a lot of people - just the two of us, and simple homestyle dishes are just easiest for us right now.