Dear Steemit Friends:
Today, I'm taking everyone on another food lovers journey to a hot pot restaurant. Get ready to wet your lips! This restaurant is not your average hot pot restaurant, if you take a look at the shells on the ice, you might have guessed that the main offering here is seafood! The first time I heard about this restaurant, I was intrigued by their unique way of cooking the food. This new hot spot style is quickly becoming all the rage across China, follow me and let's see what all the commotion is about!
Hot pot has always been regarded as one of the best inventions of the Chinese culinary arts. Throughout history, Hot pot has enabled people to eat together with friends, whilst combining large varieties of vegetables and meat together. Food cooked with hot pot is usually piping hot from the boiling soup base. It's great for warming the heart and stomach during the winter months.
Two years ago, a disabled person from Guangdong came up with a new idea for hot pot. Specifically, he uses a traditional Chinese cooking method (Steam) to cook the hot pot.
Steam Hot pot's do not use naked flames like the traditional hot pots would. Instead, the entire pot is cooked with Steam at a moderately high temperature that is even throughout. Pretty cool right? Traditional methods of cooking with fire, or electromagnet stoves yield some undesirable results such as uneven heat distribution, less than ideal taste, excessive internal heat as well as safety concerns and environmental friendliness.
First, you add the congee rice to the bowl, then you add the shell fish and seasoning. You'll end up with a seafood congee. Even though the hot pot looks really simple, there is actually quite a bit of innovation going on!
The hot pot has a water inlet device that is independent of the water chamber. This can be heated rapidly in just 3 minutes to generate steam. The moisture and vapour are then reused.
On top of the water chamber, we have the steamer baskets. These have an even distribution of holes which allow the steam to come up from below. We add the lobster, fish and other shell fish atop and we're ready to steam! Sometimes there are many levels of steamer baskets, in which case you can eat one layer, then move straight onto the next.
The seafood congee below the steamer baskets allow the vapour to rise up and mildly cook the seafood on top. This gentle and mild way of cooking ensures the seafood retains all of it's nutritional benefits. I personally really like steamed foods because of their original taste and healthy method of cooking them.
Add the lid on and wait about 10 minutes. You'll soon be able to smell the delicious smell seep through !
I really like the design of this dual layer style of hot pot. You get to cook the congee, as well as steam the seafood on top at the same time. It's like killing two birds with one stone, not only that, it saves time and is more environmentally friendly too.
The lobster meat is amazingly fresh, of course they were kept live so the meat is the most tender and fresh.
Steaming fish works well too!
Immediately after steaming, some sauce is poured over the fish, then it is ready to eat!
We had a serving of fragrant prawns too.
Usually, I eat the prawns with some seasoning and condiments. However, I always taste the first one without any seasoning to get a good taste of the original prawn.
Hot pot's are not the same without it's seasoning and condiments.
To try preserve the original taste of the seafood as much as possible. I chose the sesame paste, parsley and chives. As you can see there are many other's to choose from as you please.
You can also order some side dishes to go along side the main hot pot. For instance, this very green looking Chinese cabbage with garlic. Always a good idea to eat vegetables with every meal.
These are onion and ginger stir fried razor clams.
Sesame paste on fresh raw cabbage. It tastes a little cool but very refreshing. Makes for a good accompaniment to an otherwise very 'warm' hot pot.
With the main foods all cooked, we can use the last bit of steam to steam some buns.
Each of the steam baskets with seafood will produce some juices when being steam cooked. These will drip naturally into the congee below and continually add to the taste of the congee. Conveniently, once you finish steaming the food on top, it's about time to start eating the congee. I have to say, the congee tastes better than I've ever had. It has the taste of all the seafood I ate before. I had one bowl, and then another, and then another..
Supposedly, there is now Steaming Hot Pot's in New York and Toronto too. If you're from those cities, definitely check them out! You are very lucky!
I hope you enjoyed today's foodelicious adventure at a brand new style hot pot place. If you get the opportunity to try this style of hot pot, I highly recommend it. Not only is it more healthy, you also get literally the best congee at the end.
Don't forget to follow me for more incredible food adventures and much more!
今天我想带大家去探索一家火锅店, 而这家店并不是传统的火锅店, 而是火锅里的小发明。看到冰柜上的海鲜，你也许已经猜到，这是一家海鲜火锅店。我自从听说了这个海鲜火锅的新吃法，就非常迫不及待想去尝尝鲜了，现在就请大家一起跟我去了解下在中国最新流行起来的火锅新吃法。火锅一直以来都被大家称为中餐里最牛的发明了，火锅不仅能把朋友们聚在一起，吃的热闹，也把各种荤和素的食材混搭在一起，煮得沸腾起来热烘烘的，既是御寒神器，又暖心也暖胃。
蒸汽火锅不再用传统的火焰直接加热，而是用温和的高温蒸汽来煮一锅没有火焰的食材，听上去是不是很有趣呢？用火或者电磁炉直接加热的传统火锅经常存在加热不均匀、又破坏了食材的真实味道、吃了容易上火、也存在安全隐患、不健康也不环保。首先在这口大锅里放上白粥，再加入贝壳类食材和调味酱料，煮海鲜粥。这口锅看起来简单其实有科学小创新。锅里有把水引入独立水室的装置，能够在加热三分钟后迅速产生蒸汽，之后再利用蒸汽逆流技术实现了水汽分离。在锅上叠上一层层蒸笼，蒸笼上有着均匀的小孔，放上龙虾，鱼和各种贝壳类，盖上锅盖，不到10分钟，缓缓从锅里飘出了蒸汽和海鲜的香味，让我更加期待锅里的食物我非常喜欢这个独特设计上下两层的锅，同一时间煮熟了蒸笼上的海鲜和锅底的粥，一举两得，节省时间，节约能源又环保。
龙虾的味道好鲜美，肉质嫩嫩的。还有刚刚从蒸笼下来的清蒸鱼。放在盘中浇上作料，味道好极了。还有一层是蒸的香气弥漫的虾。我喜欢吃第一只虾，一定要尝它本身的味道，之后才沾调料吃。吃火锅当然少不了调料。为了保持海鲜的原味，我一般都只选择麻酱，香葱和香菜。吃蒸气锅的配菜，我也点了很多丰富的菜系，这个绿油油的青菜，吃了也是非常健康的。还有葱姜炒蛏子，味道也很鲜美。麻酱生菜，吃起来冰冰的，非常爽口，在吃火锅很热的时候，吃上几口凉爽的菜，真的是很好的搭配呢。最后一点蒸锅的蒸汽，还可以用来蒸包子，真的非常充分的利用到了蒸汽。上一层蒸海鲜被蒸时渗出来的鲜香汁液，会一滴滴渗入到粥中，慢慢入味，所以在吃完上层的海鲜后，粥也就差不多可以喝了。撤掉蒸屉，喝一碗养生的海鲜粥，之前蒸过的各种海鲜的味道，将会全部聚集在海鲜粥里，我喝了一碗又一碗，真是回味无穷。听说在纽约，多伦多已经能够吃到蒸汽火锅了，很多国外的朋友有口福了。希望大家喜欢我带大家探索的全新的烹饪方式——蒸汽火锅，之后还有更多有趣的美食再等着大家。