Essential Chinese Hot Pot Cookbook: Everything You Need to Enjoy and Entertain at Home

Wow. I love this book! It's got everything you need to learn how to make a great hot pot. The cover is simple looking so it might not grab your attention but don't let that deter you. Inside is a plethora of knowledge and colorful images to help guide you in starting your first hot pot. There's not a ton of colorful images, but there's enough to show you how fun and tasteful it all is. The images are only on the chapter pages so keep that in mind.I've made my own hot pot before by watching videos. I've also eaten at a few hot pot restaurants and enjoyed them all. I wanted to really get into using my hot pot pot so figured I should at least buy a book. This is my first hot pot book and I'm very happy with it. I've learned a lot. For instance, I didn't know what spoons/utensils to use to scoop out the food. I was basically using generic scoop spoons not realizing there were specific spoons for the hot pot.Overall, definitely worth the buy. Will continue to use this book as a reference book.

I’m not only adding a hot pot to my Christmas list, but my grocery shopping list is already growing with items from the broths I want to make from this beautifully laid out book. My whole family is excited to help out and Jeff Mao has written this in a way that makes sense for beginners or for the seasoned cook. What a great gift or treat for yourself.

We recently got this book and love it. For someone like me loves hot pot but knows next to nothing about how to actually make it, this book was really helpful to learn how to make it at home. It also seems like a great Christmas gift, and I’m thinking I may grab a few extras.

Thus book is a great way to learn about Chinese cooking traditions with step by step directions.

Fun entertaining ideas. Vegetable and noodles in spicy broth. Shrimp and fish meatballs are easy and unique. Good equipment recs

Great cookbook! A perfect gift!

Wow!So we've been eating hot pot since 1992, when we had to bicycle, with our 6-year-old and 1-year-old on the back of our bikes, about half an hour down very dark streets from our apartment in Beijing to get to the nearest place that had it-- and one of the very, very, very, very, few restaurants of any kind in our area of Beijing. What a treat though! And what a difference 30 years can make-- hot pot is all over the place in Beijing, that first restaurant is long gone, and our new (new for ten years or more) favorite place for this is a 15 minute cab ride from the hotel where we usually stay when in town. But the hot pot is the same-- copper bottom, tinned bowl, charcoal (wu yan mu tan--smokeless charcoal), and around 70 tables, each with the same thing. (I mention this because Americans are afraid they'll die instantly if they use a charcoal hot pot in their house-- which is ridiculous. Crack a window, turn on a stove vent, and unless you're in the tiniest apartment imaginable, you'll be fine. Just pay attention to the heat on the table-- I use a cutting board under a porcelain plate under the copper pan under the hot pot itself, and that's just to protect our dining table.)But you need more than the hot pot itself-- you need the know-how, and here it is, comprehensive, clear, detailed. Mao starts at the beginning (always a good place to begin, but not every writer seems to know that) and guides one through the process in a logical order, providing inspiration and clarity at all the forks in the road: vegetarian or not? Spicy or not? Divided or not? He does not leave the reader *guessing*, which would be a sin in any cook book.Hot pot is simple in some ways-- the individual steps to a wonderful meal are pretty easy, small, discrete- and complex in that there are a *lot* of steps. There is a great deal to prepare-- the pot, the broth, the proteins, the vegetables, the **sauces** and oh yeah--the equipment. Imagine sitting down to a great Chinese dinner and finding no chopsticks (or silverware). Right! Mao thinks of everything, and that's important if making hot pot isn't second nature. When our friends in Beijing have us over for hot pot, it seems effortless, in part because they have all the equipment already (the pots, the cooking implements, the strainers and ladles and and and) and because they've done it many times a year for years. The first time on a bicycle is a little wobbly-- and before you know it, you've got a ten speed with hand brakes and someone riding on the back and you can look at and wave to a neighbor as you pass by. Mao brings you to that level of skill with hot pot your very first time out.I should mention that while I am hidebound when it comes to hot pot (I like one kind of broth, I prefer a certain set of foods, and one, particular, accompanying sauce) Mao is not-- his book covers the range of styles from north to south and all the way west. Where I see what is essentially a single dish, he sees an entire cuisine. Thus, whatever region of Chinese food you prefer- from the rather calm, lamb-focused style popular in Inner Mongolia, to the firecracker popping hot Sichuan peppered pot, to the southern coastal seafood style (and more) it's simply All Here.In a way, the book title is misleading, Essential Chinese Hot Pot suggests these are just the basics. As far as I can tell, the book would be more appropriately named Comprehensive Chinese Hot Pot, because I see literally nothing omitted. Whether for a first timer who needs the step-by-step guidance, or a seasoned hot potter looking for new inspiration, this is simply *the* place to go.