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.