nom nom nom de plume

Finally! Post number two!! I admit it, I’ve been procrastinating, but I’m still eating, so there are more to come, even if they come slowly.

Unfortunately, I’ve perhaps waited too long…maybe it’s not the right time to write about hot pot (which is very similar to shabu shabu; in fact, sometimes, it seems restaurants use the terms interchangably). I mean, it’s pushing 90 degrees daily where I am. If you’re lucky, it’s not that hot yet for you. And you have a hot pot place available nearby. If not, it’s easy enough to do at home (more on that later).

Hot pot is usually a big communal pot of soup base, plopped into a table that has a hotplate or burner built into it. You add to it whatever your heart desires from the list of available ingredients. There are usually quite a lot of them, too, including all sorts of meat (and seafood) balls, veggies, tofu, thinly sliced meats, and noodles. Then, to add to the fun, there are a bunch of dipping sauces and other stuff (like green onions, garlic, chili flakes, and cilantro) that you can mix to create whatever taste you want.

The pot is usually split into two, so you can enjoy two different tastes. Perhaps you’d like to brave the tongue-numbing spiciness of Chinese chilis or see if the promised beautifying effects of a nourishing soup base actually occur. They all tend to be pretty good: long-simmered secret recipes that are swimming with herbs, some of which will doubtless look completely alien (the last pot I had was a mild concoction that boasted goji berries, ginseng, and…some bark-y thing I couldn’t identify). Eh…it tasted really good, so maybe too much scrutiny isn’t necessary.

So those are the basics.

Because it’s gotten so popular, hot pot now comes in single-serving sizes, too. I had some a few weeks ago for lunch that was, well, still a little large for one person (though I saw a few other tablesful of teensy Asians each digging into their own pots of bubbling soup). These usually include a predetermined group of ingredients and are a little cheaper than normal hot pot, where the prices are based on what ingredients you order, plus a nominal fee for each diner’s portion of soup base.

But enough yammering. You’re here for a little knowledge and a lot of visuals. Of course, I oblige.

Hmm…having just looked over the pictures I took, I’ve come to two conclusions: 1) I’m not a great photographer, and 2) hot pot is not terribly photogenic.

Just…trust me. It tastes much better than it looks. Really.

Maybe we should start off with the prettiest picture.

Jazz Cat
121 E Valley Blvd., San Gabriel, CA 91776
Opening soon: 18558 Gale Ave., City of Industry, CA 91748

This is a really popular hot pot restaurant. I’m not entirely onboard, but it’s not bad. It’s a little pricey (runs around $15+ per person), but the presentation’s good and they have a bunch of broths to choose from–everything from spicy to curry-y to no frills added. They claim to have worked their fingers to the bone to formulate these exquisite elixirs. Umm….yeah.

Note the seafood plate in the picture. That was extra.

Now, onto the less attractive, but better-tasting options.

Cocary Shabu Shabu BBQ
18217 E. Gale Ave., City of Industry, CA 91748
209 S. Garfield Ave., Monterey Park, CA 91755

This is more like traditional Chinese hot pot, even though they call themselves shabu shabu (I think shabu shabu got trendy first–as do all things Japanese–so they hopped on the gravy train). You get a starting broth, whcih is a little bland, then go to their refrigerators and rummage through them for all sorts of stuff. There’re meats (including lamb, beef, pork, and different kinds of seafoods, in various forms), veggies (such as napa cabbage, corn, tomatoes, spinach, etc.), vermicelli, and the sauces and butter for grilling the meat. Each plate’ll cost you, though, so be careful. Oh…and as with most DIY meals, you’ll end up smelling like what you ate.

Here’s what you start with:

I can’t help but stir it a little every time. Beats me–I dunno why, either. Note the little grilling surfaces under the pot.

And this is some of what I dragged out of the fridge the last time I visited. There’re corn, tomatoes, tofu, and napa cabbage in the plate in the bottom right. Those are fish balls to the left of that plate. Then, more tofu behind that, and some seasoned sliced beef for the grill, then a big plate of spinach.

Finally, this is what it looks like when it’s all thrown together. To get the full effect, imagine yourself being spattered with butter and having to remember to avoid hot surfaces…and being in what feels like a hot springs cave.

Finally, one of my favorites (I find myself craving it even on hot days).

Happy Sheep
18414 E. Colima Rd. #T, Rowland Heights, CA 91748

This is what the hot pot experience is supposed to be like. Normally, they serve regular hot pot, which is, as I said before, best enjoyed with a crowd. However, since I don’t have a lunch posse, I make do with a single serving.

With this hot pot, they do it all for you. All you have to do is specify the kind of meat (I usually get either lamb or beef) and how spicy you want the soup (it transforms itself into a lava of chilis, red hot chili oil, and other spices that just gets hotter as it boils).

In this one (which, I admit, wasn’t created to make your mouth water just looking at it), you can see a slice of daikon radish, some beef, the aforementioned goji berries, and lots of green onions and cilantro (yum!!), bamboo, some vermicelli, and a lurking piece of woodear.

The things that keep me coming back are the sauces:

No one’s ever actually identified these for me, but this is what I’ve decided they are (clockwise from the top): some sort of plum-y sauce, satay (which seems homemade and is very yummy if you like satay), a sesame sauce that tastes like peanut butter, and something with preserved fish or shrimp. It’s very salty, but good. Just use in moderation.

Normally, I’d add a picture of my own homemade version of hot pot, but I’ll have to search up one that’s a full-fledged pot. I used to make it for lunch at work, too: you can check it out at my old, defunct blog, along with some other stuff I used to cook up at the office. Ahh…good times.

I figured I’d start off with a fairly simple dish, something that just about everyone can appreciate (or learn to appreciate), and which comes in a whole slew of variations, to suit almost all tastes.

This is one of my all-time favorite comfort foods.  It’s a delicious bowl of soup noodles: a rich, sometimes spicy, beefy broth with chewy noodles, studded with tender chunks of stewed beef.

Ideally, that is.

Unfortunately, with a lot of different kinds of ethnic cuisines, oftentimes, there is a huge sliding scale for a single dish.  It can range from bland but salty to an incredibly savory food that hits the spot on a blustery day.

Every component of beef noodle soup (or, as you’ll often see it shortened, NRM), can vary wildly.  I’ve seen soup that’s just a simple beef broth all the way to something way more complex with flavors that meld to create a liquid you can’t help but slurp up.  The noodles, too, can be anything from simple dried noodles, to ones hand-pulled from fresh dough (which results in a chewier, denser bite), to knife-cut, which is the most toothsome of noodles: a slab of dough that slices are shaved from and dropped into boiling water to cook. It’s similar to the dumplings in chicken and dumplings, which are dropped in as raw dough and cook in the sauce.

If you’re curious about all these different styles, here are some pictures from restaurants in my area. You’ll see what I mean about the variety that’s out there.

Bamboodles
535 W. Valley Blvd., San Gabriel, CA 91776
Found out about this place from Wandering Chopsticks, who’s a fan and has her own post about them. Their Spicy Beef Stew Noodles are good–a tasty, spicy broth that’s flavorful and yet light.  You can see the chili oil floating on top of the beef broth, turning everything a fiery orange.

The noodles are light and chewy–kneading in a unique manner, using a large bamboo pole, gives them that consistency–and fairly thin, as you can see here.

Malan Noodles
2020 S. Hacienda Blvd., Hacienda Heights, CA 91745
These are also made by hand, pulled when you order into one long noodle (OK, maybe two) and immersed into a simple beef broth with daikon radish and some chopped garlic leeks.

JTYH Restaurant
9425 Valley Blvd., Rosemead, CA 91770
This place is well-known for its knife-cut noodles, slippery, eel-like slivers of dough that swim through a really good beef broth. It’s not spicy at all, but the flavor of the soup, as well as the tenderness of the beef (and tendon, in the bowl below), garnished with cilantro sprigs and spinach wilted by the heat of the soup, add up to one of the better bowls of NRM I’ve had outside the home.

The noodles are great for those who love their carbs–chewy and dense, with ruffled edges. No two are exactly alike.

Finally, this wouldn’t be a post on beef noodle soup if I didn’t include my mother’s version, with a broth so spicy it makes you sweat when you eat it. I always include cilantro, green onions, some chopped garlic, and sesame oil when making a bowl. You can see the color of the soup is a dark orange. That’s a satisfying bowl of NRM!

Beef noodle soup is usually found on the menus of noodle and dumpling houses, as well as Taiwanese eateries. Go out and see what your neighborhood restaurants have to offer.

They’re out there: hundreds of food blogs that detail succulent meals, accompanied by gorgeous pictures that make you salivate, ready to lick the screen.  Some of them describe exotic foods, stuff a lot of people–maybe you?–have never heard of.  Perhaps you need to start in more shallow culinary waters.

That’s where I come in.  Join me as I navigate the ever-growing landscape of ethnic food.  I’m learning as I go–and I assume that you are, too, so I’ll take it nice and easy.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to demystify some of the dishes you’d encounter in Asian, Latino, or other cuisines, and introduce you to some restaurants you’d normally need a friend in the know to check out.

I’ll also be including links to other food bloggers, so that, when it’s time for you to move on into greener pastures, you’ll have a place to go.

Of course, if you have any questions or suggestions as to what to try next, I’m always open to those.   Just drop me an email.

Thanks for reading!