My Favorite Sichuan Hot Pot Recipe, from 1972

[@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.

[@zachweyrauch2988]

You should have gotten more love for this. Great joke.

[@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

[@tree_eats]

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

[@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

[@272arshan]

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

[@artonion420]

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

[@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!

[@TsunamiWombat]

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

[@IneaCylean]

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

[@adamwhite_f7ck697]

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

[@lindyrm]

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

[@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.

[@chocolatemilk8213]

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

[@travis3565mathew]

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

[@OlEgSaS32]

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

[@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!

[@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.

[@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.

[@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!

[@gojimoji9085]

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

[@nobody4248]

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

[@kiricappuchin]

How it feels everytime I eat a pack of Buldak...😭

[@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.

[@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

[@Rethaxian]

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

[@forteandblues]

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

[@zw7484]

Wow! Didn't expect I would learn that much knowledge of a regional Chinese food from a foreigner! 👍

[@scorpiloo]

I love the drawings ^^ nice video once again

[@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.

[@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! :)

[@iamnotfooled]

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

[@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!

[@III-vg4dp]

Never had hot pot and I want to but I'd never thought of making my own. I make soup all the time so I think I'll give this a spin, thanks for your great breakdown.

[@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!

[@parker-b]

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

[@whatiswritten1579]

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

[@giuseppelogiurato5718]

You know, I like the recipes, but what I really like is how Chris and Steph talk... Pleasant tone and cadence, easy on the ear... they speak clearly and plainly, without distracting "up-speak"/"vocal fry"/silly new words/millennial mush-mouth syndrome that infect so many people under the age of 40... It's easy to listen to this guy, because he doesn't sound like a fool... (Yes, Steph has an "accent", but it's not ugly or annoying; we can understand understand every single word she says, and her accent is actually really nice and musical... this channel is really good, imo.

[@DisdainusMaximus]

Steph has an "accent"? That's an understatement. While you are spot on about Chris, Steph's entire voice is like nails on a chalkboard. Impossible to follow and relax at the same time.

[@giuseppelogiurato5718]

@@DisdainusMaximusI can see how her accent could be harsh, but I grew up around Chinese people speaking English as a second language, so I'm used to it, and her English is actually VERY good, compared to others... I am an "accent bigot", I admit... I'd rather listen to "Chinese Stephanie" than "South African Stephanie"... "South African" accent is the one that horrifies me. I want to pierce my own eardrums when I hear it.... Even Trevor Noah is too much for my ears.

[@stadtrandkollektiv7498]

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

[@peterparker9495]

I love the (presumable) hand drawings!

[@GeorgeWashingtonLaserMusket]

I love Chinese culture but my god I love Chinese food. I just wish we could get along in an honest and transparent manner. One day friends.

[@jeremychoo934]

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

[@grugparty]

Thank you for these videos.

[@grugparty]

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

[@larswesterhausen7262]

I always tend to go the whole way first at least once before I know where to take short cuts. I followed your char sui sauce recipe literally to the letter - and getting dried monkfruit in Germany cost me more than an arm and a leg - so why would I shy away from following Chef Wang's hot pot recipe? No way. So I also meticulously replicated it, sourcing all the required ingredients (my wife thinks I'm a total nutcase anyway) and it turned out to be delicous. Time to give this recipe here a shot.

[@jinxd8842]

How long did it take for you to make it? And did it take a long time to make everything? I'm craving hotpot, but don't have much time to spend on cooking since I'm in school now :(

[@larswesterhausen7262]

@jinxd8842 It is not something you do just between getting up and putting your socks on. There is a lot of prep work and slowly cooking out the aromats in beef tallow can't be rushed. If you are an experienced cook I would say it takes an hour and a half. Search for "Chef Wang spicy hotpot soup base". There are English subtitles.

[@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

[@IAmTheUltimateRuler]

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

[@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

[@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

[@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

[@abuttandahalf]

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

[@celalkayiran172]

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

[@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!

[@Slave2R0cknR0ll]

Ooooooh man, this looks lovely.

[@lovelydeath04]

I have always wanted to try Sichuan hotpot!!!

[@julzamidala2865]

I love Steph's shirt! 😍

[@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.

[@willworkforfood7028]

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

[@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.

[@dskim8075]

Great video as usual!

[@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.

[@jasonrice2731]

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

[@Ocho-y6j]

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

[@krono5el]

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

[@ookamichibach.3616]

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

[@brucegraham7652]

Thanks for the sesame oil + msg idea!

[@GabrielePastoreAlchemikal]

It is so addictive honestly.

[@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🎉

[@jakx2ob]

Thanks for bringing us the people's hot pot

[@haphazardprism]

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

[@Davyjones5454]

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

[@venicawood3894]

Love your outro music.

[@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.

[@IAmTheUltimateRuler]

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

[@akiyamato3299]

Now I understand why you have to tell people how to “properly” eat Chinese food or they would just do it the western way which would appear “silly” but Since only the cooking needs to be authentic, the correct way of eating is not strict, millions of Chinese residents (young people especially) can’t hold their chopsticks right, old recipes won’t tell you exactly how much ingredient to add but “add appropriate amount” one dish has many way of eating and cooking with same result. No Chinese would judge you from enjoy food your own way.

[@davysmith1934]

Cheers! I'll remember that! 😊

[@Cpt_John_Price]

As a filipino, i will pour some of that hotpot soup over a tub of rice, then spoon it away.

[@mathewweeks9069]

Awesome video

[@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.

[@tightywhity377]

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

[@seeky907]

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

[@npoon16]

Where did you get the painting or the map at 1:35?

[@christianbignon163]

Great as ever. Regards

[@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.

[@FortunateJuice]

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

[@Anish20778]

What can be a good substitute to beef/pork tallow ? Duck fat ?

[@garfieldclass10]

wow this was good!

[@guidow9616]

It was a very good hotpot ... but next time we put the peppercorns into some kind of tea sack, to remove them from the broth after cooking. It was good at the beginning but in the end it wasn't fun anymore. The spicyness level was really good and the broth had such a good aromatic but the peppercorns were a burden in the end. Next time we consider the tea bag or filtrate the broth ... even though I liked the broth except for the corns.

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Yeah, we love biting into Sichuan peppercorns but I understand not everybody does. Do use a spice strainer if that's what you want to avoid, and you can let it boil alongside like brewing a tea. Don't strain the broth just because of the peppercorn though since there're a lot more other flavoring agents in it.

[@waywarddown140]

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

[@empatheticrambo4890]

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

[@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.

[@zachweyrauch2988]

Man. I gotta get me one of those clay pots. Right now, im doing that over 4 fire bricks wired together

[@araminrain]

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

[@brighthsu8027]

If you have chance in Shandong, i hope you will visit Master Chef Chen陈宗明. He keep promoting Lu Cuisine in China, which is theoretical and historical. Maybe he have interest in promoting to the west.

[@dpm3740]

Another great video! Nice work!😃

[@DjinnandTonik]

I find the modern variety of CQ hot pot a bit too intense. Used to live there and eventually went off how it would make me feel for the next few days after. This recipe might be more for me.

[@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

[@cekuhnen]

I am German and most of there food I grew up with as a kid was better than what you can get today. Recepies were simpler more honest and produce was of higher quality.

[@someguy4476]

She is adorable!!!

[@deadfr0g]

Yessss! Sichaun hot pot is very possibly the absolute best food in the world that I alllllmost can’t handle. 🥵 Almost. 🔥🔥😈🔥🔥

[@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.

[@Tempest374]

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

[@Zend0r]

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

[@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?

[@fajarsetiawan8665]

Can we add simple five spices to the broth?

[@LeonDerczynski]

Woah 6:32 is this an all-tripe hotpot? Not bad!

[@UltimateArts13]

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

[@zxejanjan-counter3122]

Always wonder that, why don't you put your gas plate starter towards you instead, rotate it 180 degree? Isn't that bit dangerous when you have bend yourself towards the fire when turning the gas plate off each time. Also why dont you use a wider table when you cook, seems bit too small, at least a table twice wider would do it.

[@nickpatella1525]

They way people cook on cooking shows and the way people cook in real life is different. He does it that way for presentation.