Jane and I arranged a hot pot this past New Year's Eve. It was graciously hosted by Amber and Michael in their beautiful Dumbo apartment and a whopping fourteen people turned up. It was a blast!
I bought two vintage electric woks on the bowery for a pittance. They had been in the basement of the restaurant supply store for at least ten years and one of the boxes was water damaged. I plugged them both in at the store to make sure that they were in working order and then bargained a discount due to the damaged box. It was a deal.
The woks were filled with simmering dashi. This is a break from my mother's method which is to use chicken stock. I, however, like the smokiness of dashi and it also allowed one of the woks to be fishitarian. We started by dropping squid balls and fish cakes into the woks. This was a way to give the broth more flavor. I thinly sliced rib eye steaks and pork loin. I peeled shrimp and various type of tofu and fish cakes were cut into pleasing shapes. All was arranged on platters. Jane crafted personalized skewers for everyone. People used the skewers to stab the food on the platters and to cook it in the broth. We dipped the food in a sauce made from chili oil, soy sauce, sesame oil, and scallions. It was very delicious.
The next step is to add spinach or, in the case of my mother, watercress to the pots. After the vegetables are eaten, glass noodles are added to fill everyone's bellies up!
JP made a tasty chocolate cake decorated with dubya, stenciled in confectioners sugar. Yummy and clever!
1 comment:
When I lived in San Francisco I used to go to the "Other Chinatown" on Clement Street, to a place called The Ocean. The food was always wonderful. Once, a friend from Boston ordered the crabs baked in black bean sauce, which was served in a pottery bowl. She raved for years about that! In the winter I would see people at large circular tables eating from a central "hot pot" where they would put different bits of food to cook. The meal seemed to take a long time! I never tried the hot pot meals they had, but your description of your mother's New Year's meal sounds very similar. That must have been a fun dinner party!
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