Comments on: Chinese Hot Pot Guide (火锅)

By: Maggie Zhu

Maggie Zhu — Sat, 05 Apr 2025 13:55:59 +0000

In reply to Bettina.

My favorite one is the Hai Di Lao Spicy Flavor Hot Pot Seasoning (in my blog post, it’s the picture on the right). It is quite rich and spicy.
The Little Sheep brand is also very good. Their spicy base is slightly milder than Hai Di Lao. So if you’re not into super spicy base, the Little Sheep is a better choice.
You won’t go wrong with either.

By: Bettina

Bettina — Sat, 05 Apr 2025 01:34:16 +0000

Hi Maggie,
Do you have a favorite brand of soup base? I’m just not sure which would be a good one to start with as I’ve never made it before.

Thank you

By: Ligaciputra

Ligaciputra — Wed, 07 Feb 2024 00:09:16 +0000

Awesome! I appreciate your post to this matter. It has been insightful.

By: Ian Knott Sinclair

Ian Knott Sinclair — Sat, 21 Jan 2023 20:00:31 +0000

Fantastic recipes. Very authentic

By: David

David — Thu, 19 Jan 2023 20:23:49 +0000

Maggie, for those of us who live in small mid-western towns, would you tell us what ingredients are the essentials? I’m hoping that the essentials will not be so exotic that we would have to go to an Asian store to find them. Sliced beef, pork, chicken we can get. Tofu we can get, but I’ve never seen tofu puffs or any of the other versions of tofu. “Normal” garden veggies I can find, but daikon radish, Chinese broccoli, lotus, etc. are unknown here. Fish balls? Nope. The only mushrooms I see are white or brown. You see my problem? Any suggestions for simplifying and “mid-westernizing” the ingredients list would be most appreciated.

By: Samosa

Samosa — Wed, 21 Dec 2022 20:58:17 +0000

In reply to Veronica. I am about to have hot pot by myself at home tonight. This was SO helpful to me!! Thank you.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Sun, 14 Aug 2022 14:36:11 +0000

Thank you so much for this post. We love hot pot here in Australia but it never occurred to me to have it as a dinner party. Hopefully with your assistance we may have success with this at home. Sincere gratitude. Lisa

By: Maggie Zhu

Maggie Zhu — Thu, 28 Apr 2022 14:24:51 +0000

In reply to Richard. Unfortunately there's not a great way to tell unless they also have English label on them. All the balls shape and look similar, plus each shop might have a different variety that has a different color / texture... I guess you can always ask the store stuff. For me, my favorite ones are the balls with fillings (usually a fish or shrimp ball with beef / pork / fish roes) so you can ask the stuff to point out those or any flavors you prefer.

By: Richard

Richard — Thu, 28 Apr 2022 09:56:51 +0000

Thank you for this . The problem I have is how does one tell what the various type of balls contain i.e lobster balls etc as I cannot read Chinese only visually

By: Maggie Zhu

Maggie Zhu — Fri, 08 Apr 2022 18:58:57 +0000

In reply to Random. Thanks for your kind words! For the Sichuan hot pot base, you can use any neutral oil. I think avocado oil is nice, so does grapeseed oil.