Everyone Hot Pot: Creating the Ultimate Meal for Gathering and Feasting

Chef Pickowicz (More Than Cake) demonstrates in this exciting guide how to prepare hot pot meals at home. She shares a detailed list of equipment, noting that a Dutch oven on top of an induction cooktop works just as well as an electric hot pot. While strainers are essential for starchy vegetables that need to cook for a longer time in the broth, a pair of oversize chopsticks are perfect for quickly cooking thinly sliced meat. The recipes are organized by each hot pot component, with a mixture of traditional and playful offerings. Broth options include mushroom dashi, mildly spicy beef, and ginseng and pork bone, while sauces range from sesame chile crunch to cashew-lime salsa macha. For a starchy element, Pickowicz offers “not-just-scallion” pancakes made with whatever herbs one has on hand, caramelized mushroom and cabbage dumplings, and garden wontons. For crunchy sides, there’s Thai basil and eggplant agrodolce, cucumber and peanut pyramids, and chile crisp snack mix. Drinks and desserts, such as watermelon shiso slushies and raspberry and coconut ice cream, nicely round out the meals. Throughout, Pickowicz offers helpful substitution suggestions: if calamansi juice is unavailable, for instance, a mixture of equal parts lime juice and orange juice will work. This is a must for hot pot aficionados. Agent: Katherine Cowles, Cowles Agency. (Jan.)