Love letter for Sichuan hotpot

My favorite type of food in Sichuan is the hotpot. The soup base is scarily red and oily, but the complexity of flavors and texture is such a wonderful thing. The most popular people think of is probably the hotpot as well. The home of hotpot is in the city of Chongqing( 300 kms) away but this store ( 锦城印象） is up to Chongqing standards.

Sichuan has tons of hotpot chains and there are as many hotpot shops as McDonalds in New York, you get the idea. This blog covers some of the most popular hotpot places in Chengdu. Each chain has their own special recipe but the main difference is the in soup base and the freshness and the processing of the ingredients used in hot pot.

My favorite chain is one owned locally. This joint is locally owned by four owners and they have a policy of never rushing customers to finish and the taste of the soup base is heavenly.

The soup base is usually offered in two different types. 1. Butter 2. Rapeseed oil. Butter adds a different dimension of smell and taste and texture to the soup base. The making of the soup base takes many hours and up to several dozen spices. First the butter is melted, then dried chili peppers are added to give it the spicyness and color. Under a very small fire to prevent the spices from burnt, the butter is cooked for a few hours with many different spices and fermented bean sauce ( 郫县豆瓣酱). Once the chef has deemed the product ready to serve, all the spices are then removed to give the soup base clarity. Lots of sichuan peppercorns are added and then lastly, a sweet fermented glutinous rice is added to give the soup base sweetness and balance. I am sure the chefs add soy sauce for umami and vinegar for acidity to balance the richness in the oil. Then the butter is put in the fridge (pic above) and when it is ready to be served, slices of ginger, young sichuan green and red peppercorns are added and then bone broth. All of this is allowed to be cooked until the butter is completely melted and the aroma it gives off is something very very special. It has the characteristics of Indian and Mexican cuisine because of the spices used but the blending of all the spices with butter gives it a truly salivating aroma.

sichuan hotpot stone mill to grind chili powder

Usually the hotpot is eaten with a dipping sauce of sesame oil, hoisin sauce, sugar, garlic, vinegar, chinese cilantro and green onions. The butter hot pot base is said to be "heaty,hot" and the sesame oil is thought to be "cool" thus balancing itself out in your body. An entire can of sesame oil is to be added into the bowl and sesame oil is stored in cans to ensure freshness and seal the aroma. With a click of the can you fill your nostrils with freshly ground sesame oil.

Here comes the good part, the ingredients that you put into the hot pot. Sichuan is big on intestines because Sichuan is the breadbasket of China and many produce is shipped out to surrounding provinces and usually the intestines are kept local, thus the local cuisine evolved to learn to compensate for the strong smell of the intestines. However, the wonderful plus side is the beautiful texture. Notice the contrasting textures next time you eat Sichuan food.

The most famous dish at this chain is goose intestine. An entire intestine is brought to your table and cut for you and put into the hotpot.

Next up is the duck tongue. The tip of the tongue is soft and very pleasant to eat. The back is a little chewy.

Another specialty is a very specific part of the beef intestine. A cow has four intestines and this (毛肚）which translates to furry intestine is thought to be the creme de la creme of beef intestines as a cow only has very small amounts of this intestine. The texture is extremely crispy and crunchy. Coupled with the aroma of the soup base gives it a very unique taste.

Onto the vegetables. This is the a cousin of the asparagus and it is shaved into very very thin slices to be only cooked for 5 seconds in the boiling butter base. The aroma reminds me of a cross between broccoli and asparagus.

This is pork esophagus, it is crispy and does not have any taste of its own after it is cooked.

Pork kidney slices, very tender and only needs around 15 seconds in the hotpot.

Now to cool off with a Sichuan desert ( 冰粉）translated as icy vermicelli. It's a beautiful mixture of tasteless jelly, raisins, peanuts, sesame seeds, unrefined sugar and dried hawthorn flakes topped with shaved ice. It is truly a blessing for a spicy hotpot.