Chinese Steamboat
A steamboat is a traditional Chinese social meal.
A large pot is heated by hot coals and filled with stock. Thinly sliced raw meats and vegetables are added to the pot and allowed to simmer until cooked.
Each person scoops cooked meat and vegetables from the broth. Varieties of noodles are often also added, and then the broth is often served as soup at the conclusion of the meal.
When the broth is getting low, it is topped up with more stock, or boiling water.
Although steamboat is commonly associated with Chinese cuisine (steamboat being the Cantonese name for the meal) , the process has origins in Northern China, emerging in primitive forms over a thousand years ago. Mongolian nomads would cook meat and vegetables in a "Hot pot" over the embers of a camp fire, and it is this culinary tradition which has been adopted in various forms in many provinces of modern day China.
A Sichuan style Hot pot is markedly different from the style eaten in Taiwan, for example. Quite often the differences lie in the meats used, the type of soup base, and the sauces and condiments used to flavor the meat, to name a few. A southern style steamboat will usually feature seafood, where as this is rarely found in a northern style Hot pot. In Xishuanbanna, near Myanmar, the broth is often divided into a yin and yang shape – a bubbling, fiery red chilli broth on one side, and a cooler white chicken broth on the other.
Today, in many modern homes in China and Taiwan, particularly in the big cities, the traditional coal heated steamboat or Hot pot has been replaced with electric or gas versions.
Table of contents |
Stock
Common ingredients
Meat
- Thinly sliced beef, pork chicken goat
- Fish pieces
- Prawns
- Scallops
- Mussels
- Meatballs
- Fishballs
- Offal, ear and other delicacies
- Squid
Vegetables
Condiments
- Hoisin sauce
- Soy Sauce
- Satay Sauce
- Chilli
This list is by no means comprehensive. Because steamboat and Hot pot styles change so much from region to region, many different ingredients are used. Whilst not being strictly traditional, one of the best things is to experiment with ingredients and sauces according to one's own tastes. The addition of South East Asian influences like coriander and lemon is a good example.
The Chinese steamboat is sometimes referred to as hot pot, not to be confused with the British hot pot.
Categories: Chinese cuisine