Sichuan Hotpot Base

the red oil broth of Chongqing: beef tallow fried slowly with chilli, doubanjiang, and a whole-spice bag in which cǎo guǒ stands against the fat that carries everything else

Origin: Chongqing & Sichuan, China

From the journey of Cardamom.

Chongqing hotpot began on the Yangtze docks, where boatmen cooked the cheap offal that the butchers could not sell in a communal pot of fiercely spiced fat. It is now one of the most recognisable meals in China and the fat has stayed: a proper málà base is built on beef tallow rather than vegetable oil, and the finished broth carries a deep layer of red oil on top that clings to everything lifted out of it. That fat is the reason the spicing is what it is. Chilli gives là, heat, and Sichuan pepper gives má, the numbing tingle, and those two are what the dish is named for. But a pot of spiced tallow needs something aromatic and slightly bitter to keep it from becoming merely rich, and that is the job of the whole-spice bag, in which cǎo guǒ is the largest and most important item. Amomum tsao-ko comes from the Yunnan highlands to the south, and its resinous smoke is the single most identifiable non-chilli note in a hotpot broth. Cooks in Chongqing will say a base made without it smells of chilli and nothing else. The base is made in quantity, cooled, and cut into blocks that are dropped into stock at the table, which is how it is sold commercially and how most households now do it. The frying is slow and unhurried, and rushing it is the commonest way to ruin the result.

Ingredients

Fat

400 g beef tallow
150 ml rapeseed oil

Chilli paste

120 g dried chillies, mild variety such as erjingtiao
150 g Pixian doubanjiang (fermented broad bean and chilli paste)
40 g fermented black beans, rinsed and roughly chopped

Whole spices

4 whole cǎo guǒ (Chinese black cardamom), cracked open
4 whole star anise
1 stick cassia bark, about 8 cm
2 tbsp Sichuan peppercorns, red
1 tbsp fennel seeds
3 whole bay leaves
4 whole sand ginger slices, or 1 tsp ground

Aromatics

1 whole head of garlic, cloves peeled and crushed
80 g fresh ginger, sliced
4 whole spring onions, in lengths
100 ml Shaoxing wine
30 g rock sugar

To serve

2 litre chicken or beef stock, to make up the pot at the table

Method

Simmer the dried chillies in water for 15 minutes until soft and pliable, drain well, and blend or pound to a coarse paste. This is the cì bā là jiāo.
Melt the tallow with the rapeseed oil in a large heavy pot over a low heat.
Add the ginger, garlic, and spring onions and fry gently for 20 minutes until they are deeply browned and have given up their moisture. Scoop them out and discard.
Add the chilli paste and the doubanjiang and fry over the lowest possible heat for 30 to 40 minutes, stirring often, until the fat turns deep red and the paste smells sweet rather than raw.
Add the cracked cǎo guǒ, star anise, cassia, fennel, bay, sand ginger, Sichuan peppercorns, and black beans, and fry for 15 minutes more.
Add the Shaoxing wine and rock sugar, stir until the sugar has dissolved, and cook for five minutes more. Take off the heat and cool completely.
Refrigerate until solid, then cut into blocks. To serve, melt a block into simmering stock at the table and cook meats, offal, tofu, and vegetables in it as you eat.

Notes

Cǎo guǒ is Amomum tsao-ko, the Yunnan black cardamom, sold in Chinese groceries as Chinese black cardamom; it is a different species from the Himalayan black cardamom and green cardamom is no substitute for either. Pixian doubanjiang is the fermented Sichuan chilli-bean paste and there is no real alternative to it. Sand ginger is a rhizome sold dried in Chinese groceries. For a milder pot, use half the base and make a yuanyang, the divided pot with a clear stock on one side, which is what most Chongqing restaurants serve to mixed tables. Cook in the pot in the traditional order: dense things such as potato and lotus root first, offal and thin-sliced beef last, since they take seconds.

The Gastrographer

Name: Sichuan Hotpot Base
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 1 h 15 min
Total time: 1 h 45 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: China
Ingredients: 400 g beef tallow; 150 ml rapeseed oil; 120 g dried chillies, mild variety such as erjingtiao; 150 g Pixian doubanjiang (fermented broad bean and chilli paste); 40 g fermented black beans, rinsed and roughly chopped; 4 whole cǎo guǒ (Chinese black cardamom), cracked open; 4 whole star anise; 1 stick cassia bark, about 8 cm; 2 tbsp Sichuan peppercorns, red; 1 tbsp fennel seeds; 3 whole bay leaves; 4 whole sand ginger slices, or 1 tsp ground; 1 whole head of garlic, cloves peeled and crushed; 80 g fresh ginger, sliced; 4 whole spring onions, in lengths; 100 ml Shaoxing wine; 30 g rock sugar; 2 litre chicken or beef stock, to make up the pot at the table

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control