Serves: 5

The Chinese Firepot, a festive type of chafing-dish cookery, is used not for single dishes but for preparing whole meals. Although the cook does all the advance preparation, the actual cooking is done by the diners right at the table.

The basic technique is a simple one. It calls for a large pot of simmering stock a wide variety of meat, fish and vegetables, all raw, all cut wafer-thin and a selection of condiments. The diner, with chopsticks (or other utensils), picks up one piece of food at a time and immerses it in the stock just long enough to cook it. (Cooking time is extremely brief, ranging from a few seconds for leafy vegetables to a minute or two for pork.) The diner then dips the food in a blend of condiments he has mixed in his own bowl and eats it. The meal proceeds at a leisurely pace, in a relaxed, party-like atmosphere, and usually takes anywhere from two to three hours.

Firepot cookery is essentially a winter activity, most appropriate when the weather is cold, brisk and nippy. It's known by many names: Boiling Firepot, Stove Party, Winter Chafing Dish or Chrysanthemum Pot (the latter, because white chrysanthemum petals are sometimes used as a garnish.) The Chinese name is Ho Go or Huo Kuo.

EQUIPMENT:
The firepot is literally a pot with a fire in it, fueled with either charcoal or alcohol. It is large, round, and made of shiny brass, with a funnel, like a small chimney, in the center. Surrounding the funnel is a container for the stock. Brass firepots, imported from the Orient and available in Chinese hardware stores, are luxury items. Other utensils, such as electric deep-fat fryers and large electric saucepans, can substitute nicely. (They should be set at high heat to bring the stock to a boil, then set at medium to maintain the simmering.) Large chafing dishes, earthenware casseroles, or simply large soup pots set on electric hotplates or hibachi stoves can also substitute. (With hot plates and hibachis, which do not generate very strong heat, the stock can be brought to a boil first over the kitchen stove.)

THE STOCK:
Firepot soup can be made with chicken stock, meat stock, or just plain water. As a rule the stock is served clear, although sometimes ingredients such as porkballs, smoked ham, sliced Chinese cabbage, mushrooms, bean curd and bamboo shoots may be added in advance to further enhance the flavor. During the party cooking time, the pot should be kept half full of stock, with more being added as it evaporates. It must also be kept constantly bubbling and simmering.

THE INGREDIENTS:
While the stock cooks, the raw ingredients can be sliced wafer-thin, then arranged attractively one layer deep on separate plates. To suit all tastes, about a dozen varieties should be provided. These can include:

MEAT AND POULTRY-beefsteak, lean pork, roast pork, chicken, duck, ham, lamb, chicken livers and gizzards, calves' liver and pork kidneys. All raw meat should be cut as thin as possible, then in 1- by 1 1/2-inch strips. (The meat may be frozen first, thawed slightly, then sliced paper-thin and arranged on plates to complete the thawing.) Pork kidneys should be cleaned and parboiled before they are sliced.

SEAFOOD-clams, oysters, prawns, shrimp, lobster, fresh and dried squid, fish balls, mussels and fish such as black bass, striped bass, halibut, pike, rock cod and sole. Clams and oysters are left whole, or cut in half, if large. Prawns, shrimp, lobster, mussels and fresh squid are sliced. (Dried squid must be soaked first.) Fish is boned, sliced as thin as possible, then cut in 2-inch squares.

VEGETABLES-spinach, Boston lettuce, mustard cabbage, water cress, Chinese lettuce, bamboo shoots, snow peas, water chestnuts, bean curd, cucumbers, Mushrooms, dandelion greens and vegetable steak (see SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION, 20- Glossary of Chinese Ingredients: T-Z). Spinach and lettuce leaves are left whole, Chinese lettuce and mustard cabbage cut in 2-inch sections all other vegetables sliced thin. The tough stern ends of water cress should trimmed off.

CONDIMENTS AND SEASONINGS:
Condiments are never added directly to the stock, but each is served separately in a small sauce dish. They can include several of the following: soy sauce, sherry, hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, sesame paste, sugar, vinegar, red bean cheese, shrimp paste, soybean paste, plum sauce or hot mustard. Other dishes can include a selection of such seasonings as ginger root, fresh or pickled leeks, scallions, garlic, Chinese parsley or tea melon, each served separately. The soy sauce and the hot mustard should always be available and in the largest quantities-about three sauce dishes each. For the others, allow 1/4 to 1/2 cup each. Ginger root should be finely shredded or chopped, scallions and leeks cut in 1-inch sections the tough ends of parsley should always be trimmed off.

NOTE: Other ingredients which can be set out include cornstarch (to be mixed with soy sauce and sherry as a coating for the meat before cooking) and raw eggs (to be combined with various condiments or poached directly in the soup at the end of the meal).

THE TABLE SETTING:
The table should be round, insulated against the heat of the firepot and protected against staining. (A formica-topped table with an asbestos pad is best.) At its center, within easy reach of all, is the firepot, and around it the plates of raw ingredients and the condiment dishes.

The individual place settings should include the following:
one dinner plate
one soup bowl
one soup spoon
one pair of chopsticks (for cooking) or an individual wire mesh strainer, like a tea strainer (for dipping the ingredients) or a small skewer or a fork and spoon. Separate sets of chopsticks or silverware may be served for eating purposes.

THE COOKING TECHNIQUE:
The diner picks up whatever ingredients he wishes (meat, poultry and seafood at the beginning of the meal vegetables toward the end) and dips that ingredient into the section of the firepot directly in front of him. He may plunge the raw ingredient, as is, into the broth, or dip it first in a mixture of cornstarch, soy sauce and sherry. As soon as the meat changes color--or any other ingredient is cooked to his taste--he removes it and either eats it directly or dips it in a sauce mixture he has prepared in his own bowl. (He makes this mixture by taking small quantities from the various condiment dishes and blending them to suit himself. He may, for example, make an elaborate mixture with 1 tablespoon each of sugar, vinegar and sherry 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 teaspoon minced scallion, 1 teaspoon red bean cheese and 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil. He may also have a second bowl in which to beat a raw egg and may, for example, make a simple mixture by combining a small quantity of egg with 1 tablespoon of soy sauce and a few drops of sesame oil.) He then eats the seasoned morsel along with a bit of parsley, garlic or scallion.

The diner usually puts only one or two pieces of food into the stock at once and hangs on to them until they're done. He can, however, if he wishes, leave a few pieces in the pot to flavor the soup. About halfway through the meal, a small quantity of peastarch noodles (separately soaked in boiling water about 20 minutes to soften) is added to the stock. At the very end of the meal, the diner helps himself to the soup, which by then has become subtly and marvelously flavored by all the ingredients cooked in it. He adds this soup, spoonful by spoonful, to his bowl (which still contains some of his previously mixed condiments) until he gets the balance he likes between soup and seasonings. He then transfers to his bowl some of the peastarch noodles, which have now absorbed the good soup flavor. He may also add a raw egg to thicken his soup or poach an egg directly in the stock pot and eat it at the very end.

The finale of the meal comes when the majority of diners feel they've had enough to eat. There is no dessert as such. Sometimes a hardboiled egg floating in warm sugar-water is served at the end of the meal.

The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook. ©1994 by Gloria Bley Miller.

More Recipes from the Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook Cookbook:
*Firepot Cooking
*Mongolian Grill
Brazier-Grilled Lamb
Firepot Ingredients
Firepot Sauce
Firepot Stock
Mohammedan Firepot
Mongolian Grill Seasoning Mixture