A bite of Chongqing--the hot pot

Hotpot is the most famous and favorite dish in Chongqing. Chongqing local 

people consider the hot pot a local specialty, which is noted for its peppery 

and spicy, scalding yet fresh and tender. People gather around a small pot 

boiled with charcoal, electric or gas filled with flavorful and nutritious soup 

base. You have a choice of spicy, pure and combo for the soup base. Thin 

sliced raw meat, fish, various bean curd products and all kinds of vegetables 

are boiled in the soup base. You then dip them in a little bowl of special 

sauce. Be carefulwhenthe spicy soup base is burning hot.

Hotpot first eaten by poor boatmen of the Yangtze River, and then spread 

westwards to the rest of Sichuan. Now is a very popular local flavor and can

 be found of every corner of the city. There are a great variety of hotpots,

 including Yuanyang Hotpot, Four Tastes Hotpot, Yaoshan Hotpot and 

Fish Head Hotpot. If you are adventurous enough, you can basically cook

 anything with hot pot, e.g., pig's brain and duck's kidney.

Chongqing people love their hotpot, especially when the weather is steamy.

 The fire dances under the pot, the heavily oiled and spiced soup boils with 

hazy steam, and the people are bathed in sweat. Although hotpot can be found

 wherever there are street vendors or small restaurants, Chongqing hotpot has

 the greatest variety and is known for its delicious soup base and dipping sauce.

First Published by cqnews

http://www.yourmandarin.org