Hot Pot – China

Nothing bubbles with joy like a steaming hot pot, belly full of broth, ready and waiting for the aggrandizing assortment of meat, vegetables, tofu, and muschrooms that await the awakening for flavors.

In Dalian, we used the old school pot, hot at the core with a reservoir of vegetable broth.

The Lamb is the best part, lending its gamey flavor to the broth. The meat is sliced paper-thin, frozen, then fished from the fuming pot.

Squid Balls are sweet but savory with a make-it-yourself spoon to fashion little balls with a bang.

The heavy meats are tempered by a fusion of Fungi and fresh crisp greens.

In Jinzhou, there is Beef and two species of Lamb, or so they claim. One is far tastier than the other, but all three are welcome.

There’s dense firm Tofu, porous frozen tofu, and Blood Tofu, the last of which I avoid like the plague. Otherwise, the porous tofu soaks up the soup, and the firm tofu is a standard part of any pot.

Shrimp Balls add a sharp savory sweetness, though these sucked. I’ve had much sweeter shrimp balls elsewhere.

Chinese Cabbage and Lettuce add a splash of color, a flash of festivity to the gray meat and beige tofu.

Hot pot is a truly guilt-free dish. The chef holds little, if any responsibility for the how the food turns out, and every tastes just peachy after a good dunk in the sauce bowl. As long as the ingredients are stellar, or not bad enough to kill you, you can’t go wrong.