Dishes · A classic of Sichuan · Chongqing

Chongqing hotpot

Also Málà hotpot, Huǒguō

A pot of beef-tallow broth thick with chilli, Sichuan pepper and chilli bean paste, kept boiling at the table for cooking raw meats, offal and vegetables.

What makes it chongqing hotpot

  • Beef tallow, melted and fried with chilli bean paste, dried chilli and Sichuan pepper.
  • Raw things cooked at the table — tripe, beef, tofu, greens.
  • A dip of sesame oil and garlic.

Where it comes from

Chongqing, down the Yangtze from Chengdu, claims the fiercest hotpot. It's usually traced to the city's riverside, where boatmen and porters cooked cheap offal — tripe above all — in a pot of chilli and tallow.

Now it's what both cities go out for. The pot is often split, fiery on one side and clear on the other, and each piece is dipped in sesame oil and garlic, which cools it on the way from pot to mouth.

How it varies

Yuānyāng guō
'Mandarin duck pot', split in two: fiery and clear.
Chengdu hotpot
Often with more vegetable oil and less tallow.

Be the first here

Start your own chongqing hotpot
No one here has made chongqing hotpot yet. Start it as v1, and every version after is an experiment the next cook can learn from.

Near it

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