In the sixth episode of A Bite of China Season 2, we talked about hot pot.

"A Bite of China Season 2" is a food documentary that explores the relationship between Chinese people and food. It uses food as a window to understand China - through food, people can enjoy it. Get to know this ancient oriental country tastefully. "One side of the country, one side of the land, one side of the people", this film will show the multiple aspects related to food in people's daily lives, depict and perceive the Chinese people's cultural traditions, family concepts, life attitudes and the inseparability of their hometown. People harvest, preserve, cook, and produce delicious food, and in the process they retain and pass on the taste memories, dietary customs, cultural patterns, and homely emotions that food carries. The film has eight episodes, telling the story of Chinese food from seven perspectives: seasons, footsteps, heartfelt stories, family routines, secret places, encounters, and three meals. In addition, the eighth episode reveals the story behind the filming of "Bite of the Tongue".

How to eat hot pot

The way to eat hot pot is different from Chinese food. You don’t bring the cooked dishes to the table and eat them; rather, you bring some semi-finished dishes to the table. On top of that, you have to do the cooking (cooking) with your own hands and scald and eat the dishes yourself; the scalding (cooking) of the dishes is in the hands of the diners. Therefore, diners must understand how to eat hot pot in order to eat well.

1. Blanch, boil in a pot until cooked.

The key point is: First of all, we must distinguish between various ingredients. Not all ingredients can be hot-edged. Generally speaking, the ingredients used for shabu-shabu are tender and crispy and will be cooked instantly: the ingredients are clamped and suitable for blanching (shabu-shabu) food, such as duck intestines, kidney slices, liver slices, pea sprouts, spinach, etc.; while the texture is slightly denser. , those that are not easy to cook immediately should be blanched for a while, such as tripe, mushroom liver, beef slices, etc.; secondly, observe the changes in the soup. When the soup is boiling and rolling continuously, and there is enough fat on the soup, it will be delicious and edible. Keep warm; thirdly, you must control the heat. If the heat is too high, the food will become stale; if the heat is not enough, the food will be uncooked; fourthly, the food must be held firmly when blanching, otherwise it will fall into the pot and it will become stale and boiled.

2. Boil: put the ingredients into the soup and cook.

The key is: first, choose ingredients that can be cooked, such as hairtail, meatballs, mushrooms and other ingredients that have a tight texture and must be heated for a long time before they can be eaten; secondly, you must control the heat. , some have to be boiled apart and melted after being cooked for a long time.

3. The experience of eating hot pot should be to eat meat first and then vegetarian.

The soup must be boiled when hot, and all the soup must be immersed in the hot pot. Secondly, if you like spicy food, adjust the spicy taste. The method is: if you like spicy food, you can add oil from the side of the hot pot. On the contrary, scald food from the boiling point in the middle; thirdly, when eating hot pot, you must have a cup of tea to appetize and digest, relieve oil and greasiness, change the taste, and reduce the spicy feeling.

4. Put Chinese medicine in the hot pot and fry together.

Use 10 grams each of the traditional Chinese medicine dendrobium, radix root, and Ophiopogon japonicus, and wrap it with gauze. Place it in a hot pot and cook for 15-20 minutes, then remove the gauze bag and serve. It has the effect of nourishing yin, reducing fire and promoting fluid production, and can prevent the "heat" phenomenon caused by eating hot pot.

5. Put some vegetables or tofu in the hot pot.

Vegetables such as spinach, celery, green beans, etc. Tofu and its products such as laodoufu, louver, etc. Vegetables contain a lot of vitamins and chlorophyll, and tofu contains gypsum. They are both cool in nature and have the effects of clearing away heat, purging fire and eliminating troubles. It can prevent "getting angry" when eating hot pot.

6. Add a little beer to the hot pot.

Add 2 spoons of beer to the hot pot to make the hot pot soup mellow and fragrant. Because beer is rich in a variety of nutrients, it not only balances nutrition, but also is a great way to prevent the hot pot from getting "heated".

7. After tasting the hot pot, eat some fruit.

After eating hot pot, eat some cooling fruits, such as pears, lotus roots, apples, oranges, etc., 20-30 minutes later to prevent "getting angry", but do not eat hot oranges.