How to eat hot pot, one dunk at a time.

Seven steps

Hot pot, start to finish.

1. Choose your brothsMala (numbing, with Sichuan pepper and chili) and a mild one — chicken, mushroom, tomato or bone — is the classic pair. A split pot keeps everyone happy; some chains divide the pot into as many as four sections.
2. Build your sauceHead to the sauce bar while the broth heats. Start with a base, add aromatics, finish with oil or vinegar. Recipes for three good ones are below.
3. Slow things firstCorn, radish, pumpkin, potato, meatballs and dumplings go in early. They take minutes, and starchy vegetables sweeten the broth.
4. Swish the thin meatHold thin-sliced beef or lamb in the broth with your chopsticks for 15 to 30 seconds, until it just loses its pink. Don’t drop it and forget it.
5. Seafood and tofu nextPrawns turn pink in two or three minutes; clams are done when they open. Tofu and fried tofu puffs soak up the broth beautifully.
6. Greens lastLeafy greens need under a minute. Add them right before you want to eat them, or they go limp.
7. Noodles to finishFresh noodles take a minute or two in the now-rich broth. It is the best bowl of the night for a reason.

The timer

Hot pot cooking times.

Times are for a steady simmer. Seafood should be opaque and meat should have no pink left; when in doubt, give it another few seconds.

The sauce bar

Three dipping sauces to copy.

Taste one cooked piece before you add more salt or chili. Make a second small bowl halfway through — sauce goes watery as broth drips in.

• The classic: two spoons of sesame paste, one of soy sauce, a little fermented bean curd, then garlic, scallion and cilantro. Mild and nutty — it calms a fiery mala broth.
• The garlic oil: sesame oil, a big spoon of minced garlic, scallion and a pinch of salt. Simple, and made for spicy broth.
• The seafood one: sacha (shacha) sauce with soy and a little chili oil. Rich and savoury, great with prawns and fish balls.

Order this

A first order for four.

• Two broths in a split pot.
• Three trays of thin-sliced meat (beef, lamb, pork belly).
• One seafood tray or a plate of prawns, plus fish balls.
• One vegetable platter, a plate of tofu or tofu puffs, and corn.
• Noodles, ordered later. Start small and reorder; overcooked leftovers are the only real mistake.

Haidilao-style

What to expect at a big hot pot chain.

Haidilao, which started in Jianyang, Sichuan, in 1994 and opened its first branch outside China in Singapore in 2012, is the chain many people picture now. At many branches you order on a tablet with photos, pick a broth for each section of the pot, and build your sauce at a long self-service station that often has fresh fruit too.

Order the hand-pulled noodles and a staff member stretches the dough beside your table in a short, swinging routine before it goes into the pot. If there is a queue, snacks and drinks are often handed out while you wait. Details vary by branch, so check before you go.

Sharing a pot

Hot pot etiquette.

• Raw and cooked never share chopsticks. Use the serving chopsticks or tongs for raw meat and seafood, your own for eating.
• One strainer each. Fish out your own food; don’t dredge someone else’s corner.
• No double-dipping into a shared sauce bowl.
• Lower things in gently and turn the burner down if the broth spits.
• Skim the foam off the mild broth now and then to keep it clear.

Keep it

Snap the spread before the first dunk.

Once the steam rises, every photo looks like fog. Take one picture when the trays arrive and the pot is still calm. PlateDiary cuts each tray out as its own save, groups them into one moment at that place, and keeps who was at the table — Lin, Marco and the friend who orders three trays of tofu. Search later for “tofu” and see every place you had it.