火锅Hot Pot at Home
Huǒguō
A split pot, spicy on one side and tomato on the other, over a quick daikon and carrot stock, with a timed run of show from 60 minutes out.
- Time
- 1 h hands-on, 1 h total
- Makes
- people
- Chapter
- 火锅 Hot pot
- Source
- Worked out in a cooking chat, Sep 2026
配料 Ingredients
Stock
Meat
Table
做法 Method
T-60
Take 1½ lb sliced beef and 1 lb pork belly rolls out of the freezer, still sealed. Put 4 qt water on high and peel 1 daikon and 3 carrots while it heats.
Cut half the daikon and carrots thick (1 cm half-moons) for the stock and half thin (3 mm) for the table. Cut 3 celery stalks into chunks.
T-50
Water boiling. Add the thick daikon, carrots and celery. Simmer.
T-48
Wash spinach in a big bowl of water. Halve baby bok choy. Trim shiitake mushrooms. Pull enoki into clumps (don't wash much). Cube 2 blocks soft tofu.
T-32
Make sesame dipping sauce.
T-25
Check the meat. Edges pliable and center still frozen is right. Still a brick? Sealed bag into cool water for 10 minutes.
T-22
Set the table. Pot in the middle on a heatproof mat with the cord routed away from feet. Each place gets a rice bowl, plate, chopsticks, spoon, sauce bowl and a skimmer.
T-20
Strain the stock and fill the pot at the table: about 1.5 quarts a side, well under the rim. Stir 1 packet Haidilao spicy base into one side and 1 packet Haidilao tomato base into the other.
T-12
Load the slow cookers. shiitake mushrooms, the thin daikon and carrots, and fried tofu puffs go in now. Boil, then back off to a strong simmer.
T-10
Fan the meat out on plates and put it straight back in the fridge.
T-0
Taste and adjust. Hot water if it's too strong. Then the meat comes out and you eat. Finish with udon or glass noodles in the tomato side.
Cook times at the table
| Sliced beef | 10 to 20 sec |
|---|---|
| Pork belly roll | 30 to 45 sec |
| Spinach | 20 to 30 sec |
| Enoki | 45 to 60 sec |
| Baby bok choy | 1 to 2 min |
| Celery | 2 min |
| Soft tofu | 2 to 3 min |
笔记 Notes
From cooking it
- About 1.5 quarts per side of the 4 quarts of stock. Food and the spicy base foam push the level up fast, so stop short of the line. Keep the leftover stock warm on the stove for top-ups.
Tips
- Fatty beef and pork belly shine in the spicy side; soft tofu, enoki and spinach in the tomato. Always top up with hot liquid, never cold.
- Chuck forgives a few extra seconds. Brisket is the beefiest but turns leathery fast. Short plate is fattiest and is best in the tomato broth.