Hong Kong hot pot: Gourmet gimmicks we can't resist

Mon, 12/12/2011 - 05:00 — Anonymous Hot pot -- diners sit around a bubbling
pot of communal broth and dunk raw pieces of food. Once the morsels are
cooked they are slathered in various sauces and eaten immediately. Hot pot is
the Chinese socio-gastro activity of choice. It is a low-maintenance meal
that feeds a lot of people. Having to cook each piece of food individually
before we can eat it turns hot pot into the slowest of slow food meals.
Cooking time becomes bonding time. Besides, in the winter the steaming
cooking pot doubles as a room heater. Where there's demand, there is crazy
competition. Hong Kong hot pot restaurateurs try to out do each other with
wackier combinations of broth-plus-meat each year.read more