Lucy Dearlove: This is Lecker. I'm Lucy Dearlove. This

month...Hot Pot is for Everyone, with Melanie Xu.

Melanie Xu: Let's buy some coriander for dipping sauce.

Lucy Dearlove: Great.

Melanie Xu: And let's get some mushrooms as well.

We've got some Chinese leaf at home already

for some veggies to go in...could get some...let's get

some Morning Glory, that'll be nice.

I really like it and the little hollow tubes are very good for

hot pot.

Where is Andrew with his trolley?

Lucy Dearlove: I guess I should probably take a step back and

ask you to explain what it is to somebody... if somebody had

never heard of it before, how would you describe it?

Melanie Xu: Yeah, so I would say hot pot, I guess in its like,

basest, most simplest form, I would consider hot pot, as we're

discussing it to be like, you take a big bowl of broth of some

sort, flavoured broth of some sort. And then it comes on the

dinner table. And there needs to be a heat source. And then what

you do is you put in all your raw ingredients, and you cook it

in that broth, and you eat that at the table. I think those are

what...that's what I would consider to be like, the

fundamental sort of pillars.

Lucy Dearlove: Oh is that the one where you cut it and it's

got the holes in it?

Melanie Xu: Yeah.

Lucy Dearlove: I've never seen it whole

Melanie Xu: It's soooo tasty in hot pot...and just so tasty in

general. Big fan.

Let's get some....soy bean sprouts.

Lucy Dearlove: Soy bean sprouts! Great.

Melanie Xu: Which are nice and soupy.

Because I know there's like other things that are like

called hot pot and like that sort of thing.

Melanie Xu: Yeah, a Lancashire hot pot and like I think, you

Lucy Dearlove: Like a Lancashire hot pot!

know, like certain sort of, like, Korean stews as well, but

when I think about like hot pot I think of cooking it at the

table in a broth, and like, you know, that broth gets kind of

like, cooked down, like more complicated over time. And like

you eat it over time and that sort of thing. I think like, for

me, it's like you're actively cooking all the time, you know,

because there are like instances of it that you get kind of, sort

of the ingredients are all in the pot and like the broth's in

there. And you cook it and then you bring it over and like

that's also a hot pot, but I wouldn't consider it the same

type of hot pot, if that makes sense.

Lucy Dearlove: Yeah, yeah.

Melanie Xu: So like maybe splitting hairs but like...

Lucy Dearlove: No, it's you answering the question, you

know, you can be as as dictatorial as you like!

Melanie Xu: But for me, it's definitely like there's a heat

source on the table. There's a big bowl of broth in the middle

of the table and the idea is that you're like cooking things

in that to like eat and you can do that kind of like as a

constant stream.

Lucy Dearlove: Wow this place is amazing.

Melanie Xu: I love it so much

Lucy Dearlove: Like, genuinely incredible.

Melanie Xu: There are closer like Chinese supermarkets to us,

but it's just not as good and I love it.

Lucy Dearlove: Yeah that's fair.

Melanie Xu: So...let's get some tofu. Got some of that already,

deep fried tofu. Think we've got some rice cakes at home

actually. So we can put those in. And let's put in...let's get

some of this.

When it comes to hot pot, I'm very much like obsessed with the

vegetables and like the vegetarian side of it. So I like

the meaty bits and they're good. And I certainly wouldn't like

skip out on it. But like personally I'm just very

obsessed with having a really big variety of like vegetables

and stuff because they soak up all the broth and like that's

where you get all the different textures and stuff. Absolutely,

we'd have like lotus root, love some like bamboo sheets there,

like you know, a ridiculous variety of different tofus is

like ideal, loads of different types of mushrooms are also

great in it...like lots of kind of like leafy greens because

they kind of like soak up all of the oil and the sauce and it's

sort of...I just love anything that like takes up all the

flavour of the spicy broth basically. So yeah, like for me

it's actually like loads of vegetables.

Right? I'm gonna get us some of the frozen meats, thinly cut

ones.

Lucy Dearlove: Oh yeah.

Melanie Xu: Get some of that. And then. I think over there

they'll have some like lamb, lamb as well. So it's kind of

like...normally it's like thinly cooked beef or thinly cut lamb.

You can have chicken and pork and stuff as well. It's just,

it's just a preference.

Europe's number one sliced meat brand!

What else shall we go for? Ummmm...

My one caveat is...you have to have spam. Like, will not accept

hotpot without spam. I mean, obviously, I will. But I would

really encourage everybody....

Lucy Dearlove: It will not go unnoticed!

Melanie Xu: I would really encourage everyone to have spam

in the hot pot, because it's just perfect and delicious.

Lucy Dearlove: Do you just slice it and put it in?

Melanie Xu: Yeah, just slice it and put it in. It's delicious.

Game Changer.

Lucy Dearlove: I've never had it...non fried.

Melanie Xu: Really?

Lucy Dearlove: Yeah.

Melanie Xu: Right, it's great. It's amazing. It's one of my

favourite things. We've always had it like...or like luncheon

meat in like some form like, like, it's always been part of

like, hot pot for me.

Lucy Dearlove: So how do you generally approach like buying

hot pot ingredients? Like, do you have like a number per

person? Or like, do you not really think about that?

Melanie Xu: No, because I'm like a chronic over feeder. So

basically, it's always fine. I always put too much.

Lucy Dearlove: It's much better that way though!

Melanie Xu: I'm probably more just a...going into the shop,

seeing what there is and being like, this is what I'd like to

have today kind of feeling. But every time we have hot pot at

home, I always make far too much of it....I chop too much up. And

then we're like eating chopped up stuff for days...

Lucy Dearlove: Yeah what's the leftover situation like?

Melanie Xu: It's fine. Because it's like, uncooked stuff right?

Lucy Dearlove: Oh, yeah, yeah...so you've just got

Melanie Xu: Yeah, you can, like use it for other things or you

Lucy Dearlove: Yeah, I understand that.

raw....?

can do a sort of like Gan Guo thing, which is basically like a

dry hot pot. Like you can stir fry it with the stuff. It's not

really too much of a problem and like, not enough food makes me

very nervous. I don't know why, like, really, I can't deal with

it. It makes me really like stressed.

Melanie Xu: The other thing that I like, but I don't ever really

do at home, partly because if I'm honest I don't know entirely

where to get it. And like I'm not very good at like prepping

offal, but like so...I'm not a big offal person. That's what I

will confess. And I always feel like a little bit ashamed

because I feel like I should be more of an offall person. And

you know, it's very good to eat all parts of the animal. I agree

with all of that. But I never really find myself thinking,

mmm I just really want to eat some kidneys right now. But

offal in hot pot is like, great. Like, it's a great vehicle for

it. Like, you know, like the flavours are really like good

and strong. So I think for someone like me, who sometimes

finds like offal, like a bit too, sort of like, yeah, like a

bit bold. It's really good because it really kind of like

covers all of that up and then all the stuff. Yeah, and then

you're just like in there with all the good textures because

like I get it from like a texture point of view. So kinda

like...there's a lot of like stomach and like, I think

when...we often have like, kind of like duck intestines and

stuff and like, so when we go back to like China or like go to

a restaurant that's kind of prepping all this stuff. It's

quite nice to

Lucy Dearlove: Yeah, that would be intense to prep that.

Melanie Xu: Yeah, I don't even know where to start, to be

honest, there would be a lot of Googling and then a lot of

like...I still don't know if this is right! A really good

friend of mine. His mom is like an absolutely phenomenal cook

slash chef. And I remember going to her home for hot pot and they

do it like quite differently to us actually. So they kind of

like eat it almost in sort of like courses, so it's kind of

like all of like this ingredient's gonna go in now and

they're gonna cook it and stuff. So they did that with with like,

kind of a sort of like offaly starter kind of thing. So I

think like all the like little chicken hearts went in it and

like we all just had like chicken hearts for a bit. And

then like some of the intestines went in and we did that and that

Lucy Dearlove: Very organized hot pot.

was really delicious.

Melanie Xu: Yes. A very different way of doing it. But I

like that, like I feel like hot pot's very kind of like, you

know, flexible, you can do whatever you want with it. And

like, I don't know, it's one of those things where I...it's just

not too precious, you know? Like, like, it's sort of like,

well...

Lucy Dearlove: it's what you make of it.

Melanie Xu: Yeah, exactly. And yeah, that's why I kind of like

really like, about it, it's good.

I think the only order I have are there are are certain things

that like take longer to cook.

Lucy Dearlove: Yeah.

Melanie Xu: So like the lotus root, for example. And like

sometimes people put like potato in and things like that. They

just like go in first. Yeah. And then they're just like, you just

leave them until they're done. But otherwise and I'm very much

a like, you throw in a bit of everything and then you just

fish out what you want kind of thing. And like I'm very kinda

like, I'm very pro sort of like, you just kind of dump in en

masse, and then people pick out what they want. I, I have

definitely like seen hot pot etiquette stuff where it's like,

you can't take other people's things. And I'm like, What is

that on about? Like, how do you even know what's your thing?

Once it's in the pot, it's in the communal pot, guys. Like,

Lucy Dearlove: It's fair game!

Melanie Xu: Yeah, it's fair game... you just take out like,

you know, don't be a dick! Because if someone's, I don't

know, really desperately eyeing up something, don't take it from

them! But otherwise, like, I've never, yeah, I've never felt

like there's any particular rules. Maybe I'm just blindly

wading through hot pot, like, offending everyone that I know,

but no one's said anything to me about it.

Lucy Dearlove: Or maybe you're the true expert.

Melanie Xu: Maybe, I don't know. I don't know if that's true

either. But certainly, I've never felt like there's this

sort of like, oh, I put this in. So it's mine.

Lucy Dearlove: Right, right.

Melanie Xu: I think the only time when that is obvious is

kinda like if you put in sort of like, the really thinly sliced

meats that you often get, or like, offal, so they don't go in

for very long.

Lucy Dearlove: Yeah.

Melanie Xu: Often you like, hold on to that in your chopsticks?

In which case, no one's gonna take it. But that's like, you

know, the reason for that is about timing. It's not to...hold

on to it. Like YOUR food. I feel like...Yeah, like that...I

protest against that.

Lucy Dearlove: Yeah, I think that's fair. It's kind of goes

against the ethos of this, like communal...

Melanie Xu: Once it's in the pot? I think it's like, it's

everyone's pot. That's what I think. You can just take what

you want. It's absolutely fine.

Lucy Dearlove: So have you got the base?

Melanie Xu: Yeah. So they do sell bases...where are they? Oh,

here. Yeah. So the one I get is very similar to this. But I

basically just tend to when we go back to China, I will

normally tell someone stuff that I want, and then my cousin will

buy them for me or send them across. Premade bases is really

what I would recommend, because they're really good. And they

make things very easy, basically. Yeah. And like, can

make your own but you know, like, why? When you can just buy

a block of it for like £4. And they probably do it a lot better

than I could, to be honest. I mean, I guess that's

specifically to like, Ma La hot pot. I think there are other hot

pots which are quite easy to do at home. Yeah. Alright, let's

go.

I've literally never done a shop this speedy before.

Lucy Dearlove: Yeah, that was impressive.

Melanie Xu: So I'm from Chongqing and like, there's

like, special sort of like Chongqing Ma La like hot

pots...so like the spicy, sort like Sichuan peppercorn hot pot.

And to be honest, that's pretty much all I ever have and like,

what I'm obsessed with. And what I'm gonna eat. And like I'm

fully aware that there's like a million different varieties of

hot pot and I think like you can get lots of them in like London

and elsewhere now, but I literally just want this single

type all the time. That's pretty much what we did, like when I

was like young in Newcastle with my family as well we'd go out

and like there would always have to be a spicy broth on the

table.

Lucy Dearlove: So is your first, is your like, earliest memories

of it eating it at home?

Melanie Xu: Er, no my earliest memories of it are having it

when we'd go back to China.

Lucy Dearlove: Okay, okay.

Melanie Xu: So...and like I loved and like when I was a kid

going back - and even now - like the thing that I will request

most regularly is that we can...please can we go out for a

hot pot meal because like I absolutely love it. Everyone

knows that I love hot pot so like the various people we see

You're always like, do you want to come out for hot pot? And I'm

like, absolutely. I will come out for hot pot...and yeah, but

yeah, so like my earliest memories are like going back to

China and like being taken out for a meal and like having

hotpot out.

Lucy Dearlove: Yeah.

Melanie Xu: And I would love it because like, whenever we go

back as well, like, often, it's quite a lot of people...so you

know, like family are there or like family friends are there

and they've brought lots of people and like my memories of

it always, like loads of us around the table. It's like

quite noisy. It's quite chaotic. And like there's just loads of

food and it's really fun. Like it's my favourite thing about it

is that...it's social eating and I think that's what I love about

you know, eating and making big meals and dinners in general, is

like the social aspect but hotpot is like that, sort of

like very much intensified.

Lucy Dearlove: Can you remember the first time you as an adult

like had it? Was that like a big moment, like doing your own

hotpot at home?

Melanie Xu: It wasn't actually too much of a big moment. The

first time I can remember doing hot pot as a sort of adult was

actually at university. So...with one of my friends who

was also there. We were such greedy, greedy people all the

time, I can remember we were always like cooking together and

it was so nice. It was like, such a nice like friendship and

like relationship to like have, I think, at university where we

were just obsessed with food. And I remember he cycled to my

room with his rice cooker in his rucksack and we had hot pot in

the rice cooker, like you just like plug it in and stick it on

the warm function, so...

Lucy Dearlove: That's genius.

Melanie Xu: Yeah. So that was like the first time I had like

hotpot, kind of like at home as a sort of like adult, if that

makes sense...we just like did it on the floor in my, in my

like room at uni. We were going to use my rice cooker but we

decided it was too small which I think was right because we were

so greedy and so he cycled with his...with his in his backpack

and we just like got all the things out and it was great. And

like so...it was a really great memory and I loved it and I

remember actually like being so full, like you know when you

actually like can feel how full you are and it kind of feels

like you've eaten like up to like your throat?

Lucy Dearlove: And you're like, I will never be hungry again.

Melanie Xu: Yeah, I remember that like distinctly because we

absolutely stuffed ourselves, but I feel like it didn't really

like clock it as like this necessarily like momentous

occasion which was nice. So it was that transition of like

being away from home. Like look, we can still do hot pot.

Lucy Dearlove: Yeah, and doing it in your own way.

Melanie Xu: Yeah, but it felt quite natural. I think it felt

quite like oh, we could do hot pot. Yeah, that's really easy.

Lucy Dearlove: The rice cooker is so clever!

Melanie Xu: Yeah, so like if you don't have a....in general, I'd

say the one like slightly tricky thing about doing hot pot at

home is that like portable stove, right? So like if you

don't have a camping stove already or we haven't like you

don't have one for like hot pot,

Lucy Dearlove: Got one of those little induction plug ins

Melanie Xu: Yeah, like it can be a bit of a pain but if you've

got a rice cooker, yeah, you can use it. And like to be honest, I

imagine you can probably use like a slow cooker or whatever

and yeah, just need something that's like hot with a pot! I

didn't do that on purpose I swear!

Lucy Dearlove: Fundamentally, that's all you need!

Melanie Xu: That's actually all you need. But rice cooker on its

warm function or like even on its cook function if you can do

it with the lid open, you can just like turn it on and off as

you need it.

Lucy Dearlove: Yeah, I've got...I don't have a rice cooker

but I've got an Instant Pot and you could definitely do it in

that because it's got like a saute function

Melanie Xu: oh yeah just just put that on

Lucy Dearlove: It is massive though!

Melanie Xu: No such thing as too much hot either though. So like

that is absolutely fine.

Lucy Dearlove: The limit does not exist

Melanie Xu: exactly exactly. And like, the larger the pot, the

better quite frankly.

Yeah, so it's basically just chopping and washing, washing

and chopping. Nothing very complicated going on. Okay,

there's the meaty stuff that needs to go in...do the lotus

root...need to do the tofu and the spam. Do you want to get the

spam out?

Andrew: Yeah, do you want me to pop the spam?

Melanie Xu: Yeah, your job to be getting the spam out.

Lucy Dearlove: Spam duty.

Melanie Xu: We have very different methods...

Lucy Dearlove: Oh yeah?

Melanie Xu: With spam. As in like just, oh- getting out of

the can.

Lucy Dearlove: Yeah. Yeah.

Andrew: Apologies!

Melanie Xu: Andrew's a brute force [Bang Bang Bang]

Lucy Dearlove: So that's not your preferred method?

Melanie Xu: No, but like it is much faster and more effective.

Lucy Dearlove: Oh, there we go. Yeah, it's out.

Melanie Xu: I like to do the like squeeze and coax. But I

will fully, readily admit that Andrew's method is much faster.

Oh, yeah, you can be a garlic crusher duty because that does

need to be quite a lot. [Chopping sounds]

Lucy Dearlove: It's so beautiful.

Melanie Xu: I love it, it's so nice. And then what is there?

Prawns? Which I think we could just put straight in. And the

fish? Fish cake I'll do on a chopping board. This is very

beautiful spam, Andrew.

Lucy Dearlove: Oh look at it! It's like when you found slices

of avocado

Melanie Xu: Yeah, very lovely. That's for guests only, I don't

think we're usually like that.

Lucy Dearlove: That's the special spam.

Melanie Xu: Yeah.

Lucy Dearlove: Oh what's that? That's fish cake?

Melanie Xu: Yeah, fish cake, and some fish ballls which I would

say are only very subtly different in flavour...as in the

types that I bought, which I thought they were going to be

more different and they weren't.

Lucy Dearlove: They look different on the plate.

Melanie Xu: I mean they're all different shapes and that does

make a difference! because thei flavour profiles are quite

similar. Need to chop some coriander. And then make the

soup borther....then I think maybe we're ready to eat.

I think that like restaurants must feel like I feel it when I

do it for dinner. Just like this is great. This is such a good

con! Like everyone's like, Oh my God, this looks amazing. It's so

exciting to see everything on the table. I'm like, I've

literally not cooked anything. I made a stock. That's it! Get

going.

Lucy Dearlove: I guess you could...you're the hot pot

curator. Yeah, you've selected the best possible ingredients.

Melanie Xu: Yeah, that's it.

Lucy Dearlove: That is great, though. Because like, I've been

sort of been thinking about this a lot recently. And especially

because since being obsessed with kitchens, like the idea of

how the most impressive...like in the...I feel like you know,

like British food culture, the most impressive dinner party

like in the sort of heyday of dinner parties, which I guess

like the 70s, 80s, 90s would be you know, three courses which

would basically require the...whoever was cooking to be

essentially chained to the stove for the entire...you know, if

you're like doing, I dunno, a Crepe Suzette or something,

yeah, you gotta be, gotta be there. Which kind of undermines

the whole point of having people around for dinner, which is to

see them. You know, they're not....they would go to a

restaurant if they really wanted a good meal. Like, they're there

to see you. And it just seems really ridiculous.

Melanie Xu: That's true. I agree.

Lucy Dearlove: So hot pot is the ideal.

Melanie Xu: Yeah.

Lucy Dearlove: Everybody wins!

Melanie Xu: Everybody should do hot pot.... dinner parties

should just be hot pot for, for everybody, forever.

Lucy Dearlove: Because I didn't realize the bases were so kind

of widely avail...I guess that I just never really thought about

it. I just assumed everyone eating hot pot at home was like

making their own bases. And I was like, I just don't know if I

can do that. That just seems really intense. You know, I've

made stock and yeah, soup brother.. But like, that's a

lot. But now I was like, I was like, I can do hot pot at home.

Melanie Xu: You can do hot pot at home, it's so easy. I think.

I think certainly, like, buying bases has become easier in like,

recent years, I think for sort of, like the last three, four

years or something. Like it's been a lot easier. And there's

been like, way more variety. And there's always been

something...there's always been, like, certain types of like,

bases that you can add, but I think kind of like, you know,

like a Ma La sort of, like, quite authentic, I say in

inverted commas, but you know, like, sort of has all the spices

and the peppercorns and stuff in like, looks quite fancy.

Lucy Dearlove: Yeah.

Melanie Xu: That's quite a sort of, like, recent thing that's

like, made it over here.

Lucy Dearlove: Okay, yeah.

Melanie Xu: Like normally, that's something that I would

have, like brought back from China.

Lucy Dearlove: Okay.

Melanie Xu: You know, but kind of, I think the last sort of,

like, few years, they've been quite, like, widely available.

And I think like, you know, Haidilao and stuff like that.

That's kind of like...their kind of soup bases are kind of like

everywhere as well. Like, they contributed a lot to that being

available. And like just chains, I guess, like more hot pot

chains making it over into sort of like more Western cultures. I

feel like...cuz you see a lot of like Little Lamb kind of stuff

as well.

Lucy Dearlove: Okay. Okay.

Melanie Xu: I think that's kind of, like, been part of it. But

there's lots of like, other like hot pot bases that you can do

which are really easy to make home...like to be honest, you

could just do like a simple chicken stock. Like sometimes at

home, like I think when I was like, much younger in Newcastle,

like that's what we would do sometimes as well. Like, you

know, I've talked about the Ma La only but that was like very

much like if we go out there's definitely a spicy base but

sometimes like at home, just like an easy meal. And actually,

hilariously, my parents used to do it in the very early days in

a fondue pot that they'd like bought at like TK Maxx or

something. I remember this really like cute little thing

that we had.

Lucy Dearlove: But that's perfect!

Melanie Xu: Exactly, and that's what we used to use for it. But

I think a lot of the time then as well, it would sort of be

like if it was an easy sort of like quick hot pot dinner, it

would just be like a good like chicken stock or a good like

master broth kind of thing that they'd made. And you know, you'd

spice it up with stuff like chili oil or whatever in terms

of different sauce. So it kind of like....doesn't always need

to be like really complicated and like you know, bells and

whistles and stuff. Yeah, I think I very much back myself

into a corner because what I want is spicy complicated.

Lucy Dearlove: Yeah, yeah.

Melanie Xu: That's the one that I'm always like....I want it.

And yeah, whenever I like make it myself, it's never quite as

good. And you can get it out of a packet so I just get it out of

a packet!

Lucy Dearlove: What's the point?!

Melanie Xu: They normally say like one block of these to a pot

but I probably do like half and I feel like that's on the spicy

side.

Lucy Dearlove: So do you have to melt it first

Melanie Xu: I quite like to fry it off a little bit and I think

that that is like what's suggested but also if you just

dumped it straight in I really don't think it would be a

problem. But these are...these blocks are...so I think mostly

like one animal fat of one way or the other. Yeah, it's quite

good to kind of like melt it off a bit and fry it, and get the

spices going, I suppose. But I think they probably do that

already. Yeah, pre process.

So I'm gonna put out some separate meaty chopsticks.

Andrew: I got spares as well.

Melanie Xu: Okay, good. Yeah, but, you know, it's all going in

like boiling broth. I feel like if you just like shove 'em in

for a sensible amount of time....it's fine. But you know,

if you're that way inclined, you can also use a...use a separate

set of chopsticks.

Lucy Dearlove: Look at it!

Melanie Xu: Yeah, so I normally add stock if I've got it. But I

think to be honest, if you just had water that is actually also

fine...like...

Lucy Dearlove: There's enough flavour in the base.

Melanie Xu: Yeah, it's kind of like you know, I think it should

be like a relaxed affair. Like what's nice about it is that

it's like relatively gentle prep, so I don't think there's

any need to like stress yourself out being like, I've got to make

stock for it or whatever. So if there's only water you can do

it. It's fine. I won't judge you!

Lucy Dearlove: No, hot pot etiquette here.

Melanie Xu: Absolutely none! As ever. So just wait for that to

come to the boil. And then I think that's it!

Variety is key.

Lucy Dearlove: Yeah.

Melanie Xu: I think having a big spread of things and I think

kind of like that's why the sort of like hot pot buffet set up

works so well right because there's like so much stuff and

you can kind of like go and get a little bit of everything that

you want. And yeah, I think it's just you it's quite hard to get

that full spread. I guess every now and then...everyone just

wants some hot pot and maybe you can't round up enough people

like while the urge is hitting.

Lucy Dearlove: Yeah.

Melanie Xu: It does like make me think of....like this was like

years ago but there was like a...can't remember what I was

called but they opened up like a sort of like singular person hot

pot place in like Chinatown. And it was like, quite, I guess

unusually for the time. Maybe? It was like reviewed in quite a

lot of the like, big newspapers. Like the Guardian did it. Like

yeah, I'm sure like Jay Rayner went and like the usual lot kind

of went and reviewed it. And I really can't remember the

specifics of, like the reviews anymore. Yeah. But like my

overriding memory was like, no one like really rated it. But

mostly because all their articles were like, I don't

understand how to eat hot pot, therefore I didn't enjoy eating

hot pot.

Lucy Dearlove: I mean, that sounds like a classic, a classic

broadsheet food reviewer response.

Melanie Xu: Yeah. I was just like, at the time I was...I

remember reading them and being like, but surely like,

Lucy Dearlove: Would you not have just asked one person to go

with you? I don't know. Like...

Melanie Xu: I was just like isn't it your job to like,

figure out how to eat this like first, like, literally so that

you can enjoy the food on the basis...of it?

Lucy Dearlove: You would think so...it's like someone going to

review a play and being like, I actually don't really know

anything about theatre.

Melanie Xu: Yeah, I didn't know that there were intermissions. I

felt like it really ruined the vibe and the flow for

me...really bad.

Lucy Dearlove: It really, like interrupts, like, the narrative

for me.

Melanie Xu: Yeah. So that was...and I think like, partly

that was just sort of like, you know, maybe like, not great

reviews, as in like, not great journalism if I'm allowed to say

that. Maybe I shouldn't say that....pretentious. But also I

think part of that was because it's singular, one person hot

pot, right? Like if you're there and it's like a group thing they

would have had to have to have turned up with like a few

people.

Lucy Dearlove: That's true.

Melanie Xu: You would have like, maybe had to have had someone

who understood what was going on a little bit more....like I

guess it's just like more convivial and it's like more

social and it makes it a bit more fun. I did think it being

like a single person thing and then they were all...mostly

they're complaining that they didn't understand how to do this

thing. And it felt like loads of fuss to do it for themselves and

that sort of thing. Yeah, like, I think it suffered being...a

one person hot pot.

Lucy Dearlove: Yeah.

Melanie Xu: Mostly it was just people be like, I don't

understand what to do with like the utensils or how to like, do

stuff. And I was just like...but you just cook the food.

It's interesting though, because I do feel like...I do feel like

the vibe has maybe changed in some....maybe...I mean G*les

C*ren and still exists and has a job. So like, maybe I'm being

hasty here. But I feel like Jay Reyner probably wouldn't write

that review now.

Yeah, I like to think it wouldn't happen now. And I think

more people are aware of hot pot than they were....like, actually

it's really funny that we're doing this now because, like,

just in the last like, couple of weeks, or maybe it's because

like hot pot's on the mind, and I'm noticing...

Lucy Dearlove: Yeah, what is it? Synchronicity.

Melanie Xu: it's so strange. But like lots of people on like

Instagram or whatever are like suddenly having hot pot and

they're not like people who I would like necessarily have

assumed would have hot pot regularly. I mean, it's not

like...any anyone can have hot pot. I don't mean it like that.

I mean, yeah, people who've not had hot pot before are like

posting pictures of going to hot pot. And I'm like, Oh, great. I

feel like yeah, Jay Rayner, or, whoever, whoever, like did the

various reviews probably couldn't even, like, claim that

level of sort of ignorance anymore. Like, I think you're

probably like, you couldn't write an article about being

like, I don't know how to eat this anymore. Because it's just

kind of like, more in the public consciousness. Right? Or at

least in a London food scene consciousness. Maybe that's the

right way of describing it. But like, yeah, I'd be shocked if

sort of someone in one of the like, big newspapers now it was,

was just like, I literally don't understand how this works. And

I'm like, Really, you don't understand a boiling pot of

like, yeah, soup, and then you put something in it. Like it's

basically fondue!.

Lucy Dearlove: Let me explain it to you in terms you understand!

Melanie Xu: You all know how to do fondue!

Lucy Dearlove: Yeah, you don't seem to have any trouble with

those little forks!

Melanie Xu: What I love when you go to a hot pot restaurant is

they'll often just have like giant bowls full of crushed

garlic just like...huge mounds and it's just really glorious.

Lucy Dearlove: Yeah. Makes you really appreciate the effort

that's gone into that as well.

Melanie Xu: They've probably didn't even use a crusher, to be

honest.

Lucy Dearlove: Yeah, just chopped it.

Melanie Xu: Much finer knife skills than I've got.

Lucy Dearlove: Yeah, I felt quite overwhelmed by the sauces

at Haidilao.

Melanie Xu: Yeah...

Lucy Dearlove: I was trying to like work it....You know, cos

they give you recipes, but I was like, well...

Melanie Xu: People do really complicated things. And I've

never been a complicated sauce person. So...

Lucy Dearlove: That's good to know.

Melanie Xu: Always just like ...

Lucy Dearlove: Keep it simple.

Melanie Xu: Yeah, garlic, sesame oil, salt. And coriander if you

want it. I'm pretty happy with that.

Lucy Dearlove: Yeah, there was some sort of like viral Tik Tok

hot pot sauce. I kept seeing it. I can't remember what was in it

now. Everyone was, everyone was making it...

Melanie Xu: It was like, Oh my God, you have to have this...

Lucy Dearlove: You have to try this hot pot sauce!

Melanie Xu: Oh, I guess that's the other thing is like post hot

pot. I feel like if you've done it properly, you will smell of

garlic for like several days.

Great!

where I think I felt I felt very at home. I felt very...to be

honest, like Chinese. I felt very much like I was from like

Chongqing like finally. So my Chinese is like, horrible. You

know, my family or my friends back there always make fun of my

accent...probably mispronouncing a whole bunch of things here

now, but like when we're just there and we're like eating

everyone's always like, oh my god, I can't believe you can eat

the spicy broth and like my parents would be like, yeah,

she's fine. You know, it's so funny. She's only like six but

she loves it. She's totally fine with it. I'd be like yeah, I'm

totally fine with it and great and you feel so like included

and like you know, sort of like...I feel like yes we're

finally peers, we're eating hot pot. You know what I mean?

Lucy Dearlove: Thank you to Mel and Andrew for their hot pot

hospitality! I've never craved something so much when editing,

and i haven't done my Instant Pot Hot Pot yet but I'm going

to. I'll report back. Thanks so much for listening to this

episode! I'd love to hear from you....tell me your stories

about hot pot. What's your favourite sauce? How do you like

to eat it? What goes in first? What's your hot pot etiquette.

You can find Lecker on Twitter, Instagram and now TikTok, which

is fun. I'm having a great time there! If you’re in a position

to do so, I'd really appreciate your support on Lecker, whether

that's leaving a review on Apple Podcasts, telling a friend about

it, or buying some merch, you can find links to that in the

show notes, or if you're in a position to donate financially,

either one off or as a monthly patreon, I'd be hugely grateful

and it just means I can devote a bit extra time every month to

making Lecker. Music on this episode is by Blue Dot Sessions.

I'll be back next month with another episode.