Hot pot is an incredibly wholesome experience centered around the communal cooking (and eating) of a soup. You gather up a few friends, get seated around a massive pot of a boiling broth, and dunk every raw morsel the servers bring you. But, as anyone who loves hot pot will tell you, the bill adds up quickly. And the workaround, apparently, is to sneak your own food in and dunk that shit before the servers see it.
At least that’s what a bunch of people over in China are doing these days. In hot pot places like Hai Di Lao and Imperial Treasure, patrons are sneaking their own raw ingredients inside. And it’s not just modest amounts of vegetables, either—it’s whole-ass chickens and raw fish. Weirdly, this has become something of a viral trend in China, with people recording their raw ingredient dunking for internet clout.
Here’s a video compilation from a Vietnamese Facebook group:
Obviously, some of these snuck-in ingredients are okay. Bok choy, cilantro, noodles and watercress? Sure. But an entire chicken? An actual uncooked fillet of fish? Plus, these kids are smuggling the goods via personal bags and purses, which gives random lint balls, receipts, and hair the opportunity to glue onto fleshy raw meat before their spicy broth bath. Gross.
[via Asia One]
96 Comments
This thing restaurants do where they convince people to cook their own food and pay handsomely for it is pretty clever.And if you’re sneaking your own food into a hot pot restaurant to cook it you’re an imbecile, since you can do that at home.
at least with hot pot it makes sense- you’re dipping the food for such a short period of time to cook it that it wouldn’t work if someone made it in the kitchen and brought it out to you.
It’s not something I’d do every day but going out for fondue ever once in a while is fun.
Fondue? Fondon’t!
Fondue is definitely a going out thing. I know I’m way too lazy to clean the cheese off while it’s hot, not after I’ve eaten a bunch of it.
Hot pot is better at home anyway
Once you have the stock – e.g., shrimp shell stock from prior meals requiring shrimp – the rest of a hot pot is, like, trivial to prepare. Truly the only way to go: fileted fish, shrimp, sliced veggies (etc etc etc), (black) mushrooms, very thin pork or beef slices, if you want a little more seasoning then some hondashi (sp?) powder thrown in.A very easy, fun food, social dish.[a korean stove with a large bowl-like pan, ladle, and tongs finishes it off. BTW, the “korean stove” is a small single-burner can-of-gas powered stove that gets REALLY hot – more than hot enough to CORRECTLY stir-fry anything but good enough by far to bring stock to a boil fast]
An induction hot plate does a surprisingly decent job. You have to concern yourself with the electrical cord, of course, but you don’t have to worry about replacing the gas cans or accidentally burning yourself.We like to keep it simple. sliced beef, pork neck, and some greens – usually napa, mustard greens, watercress and a-choy so we get a mix of stuff that cooks slowly and quickly. And we’ll usually get some sort of seafood to balance it out.
Sometimes pre-prepared food – like beef tendon – is a real win but takes a long period to get to a chewable state BEFORE adding to the hot pot. Different types of mushrooms is not unusual and “veggies” in my original post covers just about everything – daikon, carrots, onions, bok choy, etc etc etc. If seafood is the theme then scallops, mussels, shrimp, fake crab, squid are the norm.
This is cool and all, but I’m not sure why you’re trying to mansplain hot pot to me?
This is cool and all, but I’m not sure why you’re trying to mansplain hot pot to me?
That’s not “mansplaining”. Let me explain to you what “mansplaining” is, little miss. You seem to think it’s when a man explains something you already know. It’s worse, so much worse. I mean, first, the man has to know you’re a woman. already at this point, genitals are involved somehow.
OK, that was pretty funny.
You can make a simple broth with miso paste and gochujang for a spicy hotpot which is easy to adjust the spice level.
Also I’d add that the style of portable burner that can be found in Japan and Korea can be easily purchased in a more rugged version in most American camping supply places. They are easy to come by and are extremely cheap. I have a Coleman with butane cannisters that operate like a Iwatani.
I looked up “korean stove” right after making that comment and saw that the model I have (or one like it) is REALLY cheap – under $20. Yet the model I have has a REALLY hot flame that heats up a hot pot fast and actually is fantastic for stir-frying as well (a long time ago when I actually had spare money I bought an outrageously expensive ($4000+ =wholesale=) Thermador gas stove because it supposedly had a couple unusually hot burners; they were hot relative to other gas stoves but not really sufficient for quality stir-frying. Just last week I took my el-cheapo korean single burner stove and sat it on top of the Thermador and stir-fried some veggies MUCH faster and apparently at a hotter or better distributed temperature (judged by evaporation/boiling off of water)).
I just looked up Iwatani – that is an impressively hot stove.
whhhaattt hot pot is great i go to a great one in chicago $24 all you can eat.
Eh, it’s a nice experience. You might not have the resources to set up hotpot at home, you might not have an apartment that can really have company over, the restaurant can offer a variety of products that would be a real pain to prepare yourself.
I worked at a place a few years ago where the other guys I worked with loved hot pot and went out for it all the time. I went with them once to a place they swore was great and was drastically underwhelmed by the experience. It was a lot of work to sit there cooking my own food, it took forever, and it was just as expensive if not more so than getting similar food just, you know, cooked by professionals. There was a slight appeal in the novelty of having a meal in a different way but it was drowned out by everything else. I mean the quality of the ingredients was good, the company was good, the restaurant was nice, but aside from that momentary “people really do this?” novelty factor I just didn’t find anything appealing about it at all.
Stick to Mcdonalds.
Last time I ate at McDonald’s was ten years ago, fucknuts.
Fine. Burger King then.
12 years!
Korean BBQ is the only thing that matters in my life. The hyperbole is necessary. Also, I love smelling like I’ve been at a campfire when I walk out of a restaurant.The internet: Why don’t just build a campfire and cook your own meat?Me: (looking at 30-40 small plates of pickled vegetables, eggs, and grain) No.
Korean BBQ is a different animal, because you want to marinate your food before putting it on the grill. It’s deceptively complicated, and I am with you on going to a restaurant to enjoy grilling and smelling like Kalbi for a couple of days.
You are my friend for life.
dont have to prepare the soup broth or clean everything up after though if you go out.
Plus you don’t have to buy a shitload of ingredients just to use a little bit of it once. It’s like those salad bags you buy and eat one salad and think, “What the fuck do I do with the rest?”
You eat a salad again the next day. This time it will be just a little bit sad however…the wilted lettuce reminding you of faded dreams and whatnot.P.S. I don’t eat a lot of salad so I’m totally speculating.
In addition to what kinjalooksawful said, some hot pot restaurants also have their own proprietary broth— so you’re paying for the broth made with different herbs and seasonings as well as not having to deal with the aftermath mess. Other hot pot places also feature a dipping bar menu in addition to that, to save you the trouble of having to go out and keeping a store of those condiments at home.
That said, I get what you’re saying. I have a buddy (Chinese as well) who refuses to do hot pot in a paid setting unless it has choice ingredients to offer (such as the time when we went to Japan and had real wagyu beef to broil (Korean bbq style) and all-you-can-drink whiskey).
U might find googling “social experiences” interesting, mr alien
Ambiance, man, ambiance.
You sound fun at parties.
I don’t think they’re doing it for economical or logical reasons; I think they’re doing it for the thrill, like shoplifting or exhibitionism.
The one with the two guys and the fish that was way too big for the pot really got me.
The one with the two guys and the fish that was way too big for the pot really got me.Just the one!? There were several of them with fish that literally spilled over the edges of the pots. How do you think you’d get away with something like that. But yeah, I was laughing out loud with the two guys breaking out that fish and it’s like 3ft long!
It was the lady coming up behind them that really did it.Priceless.
Some of these look staged, so… yeah, some are fake.Yet I’m sure this happens in China, and if the restaurant staff confront them, they’ll probably kill the poor restaurant staff. Because China.
So I guess salmonella isn’t a thing in China?
I think salmonella is the least of your food safety worries in China.
You liked them pushing on the raw chicken with wood chopsticks too?
I swear they’re all immune to it.
I agree. I’m married to a Chinese woman and she thinks nothing of leaving something out or in the pot with the heat turned off all day and coming home and eating it for dinner after it was cooked that morning. I kid her that she must have missed that week in Chinese public school when they studied “Refrigeration Is Our Friend”.
My wife is Taiwanese, and although she does refrigerate stuff, her mom… Man… Pot of soup with chicken in it that sits on the stove for three to four days. Just re-heat and serve.
This is my nightmare.
It’s technically fine if you spend enough time to reheat it sufficiently. You are essentially killing off any pathogens if it boils for 10 minutes. The major downside is that any buildup of those dead pathogens makes the flavor get worse over time.
Salmonella is from raw chicken, dipping raw chicken into hot pot cooks it, how would there be salmonella dimwits
it’s almost like… bacteria is still in the environment. almost like its….. everywhere.
Salmonella is from raw chicken, dipping raw chicken into hot pot cooks it, how would there be salmonella dimwits
For the most part, salmonella is a highly over stated risk of raw chicken.
Talk to real chefs who work in restaurants about it. They have a totally different view of how dangerous it is than a home cook, because they have more experience with it.
By and large, most raw chicken isn’t carrying salmonella. That being said, I still would recommend practicing good kitchen hygiene and separating chicken from other meats/produce onto it’s own cutting board.
No. New diseases who’s origins are a “complete mystery” are… Weird.
They have no idea how this (not SARS) is spread…..no idea at all.
It’s not a thing in lots of places. Sorry did you not know the US is an embarrassment on agricultural safety standards? In Britain there’s the Lion Mark, which certifies a product has never ever ever been within a hundred miles of any salmonella infection, and its not even difficult for our tiny food safety authorities to enforce. There hasn’t been an error in decades.
There were multiple people in there dropping raw food in and then licking their fingers, so…. maybe not
It is… but Americans have gotten really precious about hygene. It’s one of these things that left and right agree on.
Salmonella is the 6th flavor profile, just after umami.
I get that it is for the viral internet points but who has the time to wait for that small pot to cook an enormous fish or a whole chicken? Assuming it actually cooks through and you don’t just die.
Eventually one of these kids is going to ruin it and bring the rawest of chicken and prep the whole thing at the table.
The civilized thing to do is just go to an all you can eat place, there are a couple here where $25 will get you two broths in a yin-yang pot then unlimited lamb, beef, chicken, fish, noodles, veggies, tofu, whatever you want without worrying about the cost.
But this seems less about actually saving money than viral video.
That’s expensive for alot of people. Most of the meat they pulled out will be far cheaper store/farm bought than if they bought an all you can eat pass (which is time limited too anyways).
Where? You pay $25 for a party of 4 at a run of the mill family hotpot place.
Yeah, the $25 is an expensive one with great meat, seafood (shrimp, crab), bing-su bar, drink bar, everything’s all you can eat, and best of all you get to make your own broth so you can get it as spicy or tonkatsu or miso or garlic or mala as you want. This is where we go to for special occasions.
https://www.yelp.com/biz/shabu-works-san-diego-5More typically it’s $12. These are San Diego prices though, I’m sure it’s much cheaper in China.
Some of you folks are apparently not aware of the r/scriptedasiangifs. This is obviously all done just to get some laughs.
For those who really want the food done their way, it’s great. I do enjoy the quality of food and understand how to cook. For those who bring their chicken, I would suggest a corkage fee. In the united states, you cannot bring outside food into the restaurant.
These appeared staged as if for a cheesy comedy show – the looping laugh track didn’t help either…
Social credit penalties for everyone! No more bank loans, train rides, school admissions, or jobs!
And.. yeah. Social credit points… Holy crap…I can’t believe people actually want that system in North America… Talk about no more freedom.
It’s like they watch Black Mirror, miss the point, and say “Yeah, I want that!”
Exactamundo. “Nosedive me please”
It’s almost like…. 99% of these are….. fake.
Just the spread of disease from the process is real so no worries.
How so? If everything is a prop, then it’s not like they’re using their actual purses and bags.
If you have to ask that… I mean.. if you can’t see the issue of disease etc from doing what they are doing…
I understand the thought of salmonella. But again. If the purses aren’t actually theirs. Just a prop. Then they go to the trash after anyways. They will wash their hands. The table will be cleaned up. etc. The clothes on their backs go to the wash or trash. whatever. There’s no issue of disease in what they’re doing because it’s all fake.
Lol. Man.. I am not hating on you, but you REALLY need to get a grasp on how disease works. It’s scary that you are out there. LolAgain.. just giving you the gears but, damn.. You really don’t see ANY other issues with what you are describing? It’s soo not ok that people believe what you are saying..there is sooo many other ways to spread disease in what you described. You are misinformed imo.
Please explain how what they’re doing in going to spread disease, if it’s all staged. Please. Because just saying: “Dude….. you don’t even know man….” isn’t a persuasive argument. It sounds more like an anti-vax mom trying to get her point across.
Raw chicken is often contaminated with Campylobacter bacteria and sometimes with Salmonella and Clostridium perfringens bacteria. That’s only 3 oL about 100! Leterosis is transmitted to humans in those conditions easily too. Guaranteed those tables are ‘cleaned’ with ‘clean’ USED rags from other tables, mixing the threat of disease, The fact you think a table wipe wth a used rag and splashing some water on your hands will just make it all go away makes you naive and basically dumb. I expect you must be one of those super smart individuals and therefore defending actions that commonly dum down our life and spreading disease. Do you cruise to WuHan and shake your friends hands when you return for fun?Dude. Open a book..use that magic box in your hand to learn.
Again. Staged. You are still thinking that this isn’t a set. At least half of these look like they’re from a show, which means they’re at sets, not in a restaurant. Regarding cleaning of an actual restaurant. Maybe places use cleaner as well as just a rag. You’re a bit too used to American Mall food courts i think. Go to an asian country and walk through food areas. You will probably be put off by the slightly unclean look of everything. And you’ll be missing out on amazing food as a result. Regarding Wuhan. Go read up on it. The hysteria surrounding it is out of control. It’s not nearly as lethal as it’s being made out to be. Just like SARS and H1N1. Media treats them like it was an end of the world Pandemic. And yet waaaaay more people die from the standard flu than any of those three combined so far. Coronovirus has the same level of infection as the standard Flu. And it’s killing far less people. It looked like it was gonna be a shit show, because the media went so far into crazy town that people are genuinely crossing the street to avoid walking near an asian person.
You are so incorrect and misinformed you are no longer worth my energy. Go to WuHan then. Go somewhere that your obviously naive and ridiculous thought process doesn’t affect people with brains.
Yah. .ok. 9k infected in half the time of sars is not dangerous. By your definitiion, I am missing out if I don’t eat in a dirty restaurant. You don’t see the silly there? I hate to break it to you. Sets aren’t clean enough to warrant no germs or threat of disease from carrying around raw shit. American mall mall slur? Yeah. Good comeback. They aren’t grinding up dogs there or using gutter oil though. You can loook THAT up. GUTTER OIL. Still an edge in safety at the mall imo . I like how you automatically assume I’m in an American mall? You are too naive and too misinformed to be anything other than a waste of energy. Go to WuHan then. Leave if you hate Americans at the mall. Go somewhere that your obviously naive and ridiculous thought process doesn’t affect people with brains and turn that country to shit. We have enough dum dums here already without you defending these idiots who can’t figure out why disease spreads.
I live in a place with lots of high tech, and with it an increasing number of Chinese chains opening up. They seem to be all pretty high-end in terms of pricing – which is in line with the upper class image conscious Chinese consumers’ desire to be seen eating there just as much as the food itself. We tried out one of these new hotpot places for a weekday lunch once – no alcohol, one main meat entree (8 pieces of normal grade meat), and 2 other small side items. It was $100 + tax for 2 people.
sounds immeasurably stupid
I used to think shit like this was mainly a Westerner, and mainly American at that, thing. But I guess stupidity knows no bounds. How did some of those people think that a chicken would cook that quick or that big ass fish?
Perfect timing, just when there’s a mysterious new disease spreading in China!
Cheap bastards.
I think I accidentally bought one of these on Amazon.
I don’t mean to be THAT guy but this was posted from a Vietnamese account with clearly Vietnamese writing on the video and captions – idk but this anti-China propaganda from the media is pretty dumb to be honest.
Sorry but a make your own soup restaurant? Really?Can’t say that I have made a batch of any soup, stew, or broth in less than an hour. How would that even work they just keep pots of broth at a rolling boil all day long?I think the most “authentic” restaurant I have ever been in was probably genghis grill. Five giant woks flash boiling enough sauce straight to steam that the entire place was teriyaki glazed from the floors, to the seating, to the silverware, to the food, to the ceiling, and the waiters too……
I’m assuming it’s just a matter of time before someone brings in live animals to butcher at the table and tossing it in to up the ante.
The genius behind the hot-pot business model is you don’t need to hire full time chefs. All you need is basic food prep done by part timers and the customers do the cooking. Makes a huge difference at the end of the month.
Thats how they get those weird viruses !
What is it with all the casual racism in the comments? jfc is that necessary?
pfft. Amatuers!“loose-fitting-pants with plastic pocket inserts” + “all-you-can-eat-buffet” = success in life.