My Cup Boileth Over

Tonight I met a couple of friends for "hot pot." Similar to shabu shabu (Japanese), this is a type of eating that interestingly enough isn't that far away from the Sirloin Stockade of my youth.

I think it works best to work from outside in as I describe the environment. Picture it. A large pot that holds probably 3 gallons of water. Divided in the middle (or two pots - not sure), garlic, ginger, and other flavoring herbs fill its steaming walls. One side is spicy, the other more mild. Directly orbiting of this pot is an enormous lazy susan. It along could hold approximately 10 good sized serving bowls. In roughly Neptune position, our plates sat small and bowl sat dwarfed. And lastly, the "Plutos," our group sat around the perimeter of the table which had been made to fit 10, but we were just 7.

Like a good buffet, hot pot involves lots of random and unique food - food that scares you slightly under normal circumstances but because it comes on a lazy susan, is ordered for the whole of the table, and is small in quantity, you try. None of the things I tried tonight will I be running out to buy in bulk at the Sam's Club anytime soon, but I must say that the steam and smells eminating from the center were enticing and the flavors of the food very fresh.

My favorite things were the fresh meets, shaved wafer thin and brought to the table on platters in little rolled up fashion. Picking your desired flesh, you used chopsticks to take it from the tray and into the boiling water. There it would slowly cook itself into a flavorful bight after about 2 minutes at which time you would pluck it from the water with a ladle and into your bowl. The meets were beef, pork, and lamb. The other items were mushrooms, tofu, tofu skin, a fungi (no one gave me a name), Chinese greens, radish, blood tofu (not my favorite), dumplings, and fish balls. In shabu shabu, rather than leaving the food in the pot to cook, you actually hold the food in the hot water. This was less work for us.

I like hot pot a lot (minus a belligerent customer that came a little too close to our table in his tantrum) but must say that now, three hours later, my stomach is going...blahhhh...bllllah....bbbllahh. I think I might need to do a little training before any marathon sessions.