Hot Pot

As the most peculiar way of eating in Chinese cuisine，hot pot is also the most simple and lively way of eating.Whatever you want，vegetable，tofu，vermicelli，kelp，mutton，beef，fish，or lobster，you simply put them into the pot，boil，and take them out，then it’s ok to eat.

According to research，people began to have hot pot as early as in the Shang anc Zhou Dynasties.They used a bronze container named”Ding”，which is usually square or round shaped with three or four legs.It is filled with water，and heated by the fire below.People put all the food in，and take the boiled food out to eat.The ding is the earliest hot pot in the world.With the continuous improvement of pot，the hot pot culture entered its heyday in the Qing Dynasty.There was once a historic five-hundred-desk hot pot court banquet in Qianlong Period.

There are roughly three types of hot pot.The first one is soup with light taste.The ingredients are mainly raw，and the seasonings play an important role in this kind of hot pot，for people need to dip food into it.The representatives are Mongolian Hot Pot and Dabian Pot，Guangdong Style.In the second type，the main ingredients are cooked，only some vegetables are raw，people can boil vegetables while having meat，and the pot is for preserving the heat.If the ingredients are all cooked，it’s the third type:The pot is only a container for heat preservation like plates，pans and small bamboo barrels.The representatives are Fotiaoqiang-Steamed Abalone with Shark’s Fin and Fish Maw in Broth（lured by its delicious aroma even the Buddha jumped over the wall to eat this dish.）and Fuxing Hot Pot.

The seasoning of Hot Pot depends entirely on the different tastes of people，for example:Beijing people like salty Mongolian Hot Pot with sesame sauce，braised tofu，preserved leek flower，soy sauce，chili sauce，shrimp sauce and coriander powder.Hot pot in Chongqing is featured with stingily spicy and dense tallow.

People there use chili，Chinese prickly ash，black bean sauce，and tallow as seasoning.Considering the different tastes of people，they provide Mandarin Duck Hot Pot，which divided the pot into two parts:one side is spicy，the other is noYou can find a place for hot pot as long as there is Chinese.No matter whether it is the freezing North East or warm Hainan，we always sit around a pot，boiling food，eating，chatting and laughing-it’s a typical Chinese party.

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