This is by far the easiest party menu ever! There is very little preparation, and the beauty of this meal is that everyone cooks together. Hot pot meals are considered the ultimate in communal cooking—they’re meant to be shared with friends and loved ones who want to gather together in the most social of meal experiences.
You take a single burner or two (I got mine for $13 at Amazon.com and use one of them for making meals in hotels on long trips! You can use your stove instead if you like.), plug them in on a center island or table, and place pots of hot broth on the burners. The group gathers around, customizing their meal fondue-style. Thinly sliced meats, shrimp, and chicken; vegetables; and rice noodles all cook within 3 minutes in these communal pots.
With fine mesh strainers, slotted spoons, or hot pot strainer scoops (all of which can be purchased at Amazon.com or your local kitchen store), you can put the foods you want for your meal into the hot broth and allow them to cook. Your guests who are new to hot pot meals will be surprised by how fast everything cooks.
Serves 10–12 people
The Broth
10 cups of bone broth (make this well in advance to freeze and take out to thaw a day or two before the party, or make fresh one to two days before the party). The best options from The Bone Broth Secret recipes are: Louise’s Favorite Bone Broth, Kitchen Sink Bone Broth, Heather’s Easy Oxtail Broth, The Local Butcher Shop Bone Broth, and Balanced and Bright Bone Broth. A lightly flavored chicken broth is also a great option. (All recipes are in Chapter 4 of The Bone Broth Secret)
Vegetables
- 2 cups spiral-cut, julienned, or thinly sliced half-moons of yellow summer squash and zucchini
- 6 baby bok choy or 1 head large bok choy, thinly sliced lengthwise
- 1 head of broccoli, chopped up (use florets and save stems for future bone or vegetable broth)
- Pickled Ginger (this is exceptionally good if you use the optional carrots in the recipe in Chapter8)
Noodles
- Organic rice noodles (you can often get these gluten free, fast-cooking noodles in your grocery or health-food store, and of course they’re available online; King Soba Organic Thai Rice Noodles is a good brand)
Meat, poultry, and fish
- 1 lb. chicken thighs
- 1 lb. beef eye of round
- 1 lb. jumbo shrimp
Dipping sauces
(Typically, there are 3 to 4 dipping sauces. Our group of 12 did not eat much of the dips and enjoyed the food on its own.)
- Make your own sauce: The recipes in Chapter 6 of The Bone Broth Secret for Artichoke Tahini Sauce and Aioli are great options (or if you want a shortcut you could purchase one, like Majestic Garlic’s basil dip, from your health-food store)
- Coconut Secret Coconut Aminos or wheat-free tamari (you can typically get these at your health food store or from sites like Amazon.com)
- Organic German mustard (this is mustard and horseradish—you can also mix Dijon mustard with prepared horseradish)
Dessert
- Cinnamon New Year Cake (this grain-free and refined sugar free recipe from Chapter 11 of The Bone Broth Secret freezes well and can be made well in advance and frozen or made the day of the party)
- Moroccan Vanilla Spice Ice Cream (this can be made weeks in advance or up to 2 days before your party and is found in Chapter 11)
- Optional: fortune cookies (even though many of us don’t eat the cookies, we like to get them just for the fortunes!)
Tools
- One or two single burners. You can use your stove if you like; it’s up to you! If you want to use burners, you can get them at your local kitchen store or department store, or from Amazon.com. They start at around $13 and go up from there. I take a single burner on trips to heat bone broth and other healthy foods while traveling and staying in hotel rooms—it has come in handy many times!
- A deep saucepan for each burner (about 8- to 10-cup capacity)
- One or two stainless steel fine mesh strainers (OXO fine mesh strainers have a silicone handle and all stainless strainer, and these were our favorite hot pot tools)
- Optional: tongs, slotted spoons, or hot pot strainer scoops to scoop smaller things out of the broth; chopsticks for the meal.
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