We Tried the Best Hot Pot in Hong Kong

Bon Appétit

Today, Bon Appétit joins Lucas Sin at Big JJ Seafood Hotpot in Hong Kong to try their hotpot. This no-frills restaurant opened quietly during the pandemic and has since become a cult favorite for Hong Kong locals.

Transcript

00:00Welcome to Lan Kwai Fong.

00:06This is the drinking capital of Hong Kong.

00:08Down this street is where all the party happens and today I'm a little bit nervous to be honest

00:13because we are covering one of my favorite restaurants in Hong Kong.

00:17This is Big JJ Seafood Hot Pot Restaurant.

00:20The kitchen has started prepping so let's go see what's happening inside.

00:29So this is the prep kitchen in the back.

00:31They have a little bit of deep frying that they're going to do.

00:32Hot pot is all about the prep.

00:34They're doing the prep right now.

00:35The soups are over here.

00:36Beef is over here.

00:59Let's go out.

01:14This is the prep kitchen.

01:15So chef here is taking care of all of this beef.

01:18One thing to keep in mind is that Western butchery

01:48and Eastern butchery is a little bit different.

01:50Something that might look like a strip loin or might be served as a strip loin is actually

01:53butchered in a different way for different textures.

01:56At the end of the day what hot pot is is a very quick cook of beef to lock in that flavor

02:01and lock in that texture and as a result the names are unique to Cantonese hot pot.

02:07So the beef that's featured at this restaurant are from neutered oxen.

02:10Neutered oxen tend to produce a little bit less testosterone which means a more even

02:14marbling of the fat throughout the cow.

02:17Actually chef is doing kind of an interesting technique here.

02:19He's butterflying each slice of beef to make it slightly larger.

02:21The first cut doesn't go all the way through.

02:24The second cut does take it all the way through to create slices that are double in size.

02:28Easier for chopsticks to grasp as it goes inside of the hot broth.

02:32One of the core components of hot pot are the balls, the beef balls, the fish balls

02:35and in this case chef is making a fish and lamb ball.

02:39The combination of the fish and lamb make for a pretty umami, pretty savory, delicious

02:44ball.

02:45The idea for this ball is texture.

02:47So for that texture you want that beef ball to be bouncy and that bounciness comes from

02:50developing the myosin and when he's slapping it together he's extending those protein strands

02:54which will trap air within the ball making it nice and bouncy and light.

02:58Once chef has achieved the texture that he's looking for he's just gonna let it chill,

03:01let it rest and serve it to the customers whenever it's been ordered.

03:05By the way, hot pot is a social activity.

03:08You don't come to this place alone, you don't really do hot pot alone, especially not at

03:11Big JJ.

03:12The key is that you're gathering around the table, you're drinking a bunch, you're eating

03:16a bunch, you're sharing, you're cooking for each other, that's what the spirit of hot

03:19pot is.

03:20Let's just put some things down before our friends arrive.

03:22First is the pork bone soup that we saw earlier, yellow beef, castrated.

03:26Let's just try the hanger tender, the fish and lamb that we saw earlier.

03:34Okay so here's the soup, take a look, celery, clams, pork knuckle and pork bone.

03:40What makes Cantonese hot pot distinguished is the clarity and the delicacy of that broth.

03:45However, the flavor of the broth is worth drinking alone.

03:49So the first step is to actually taste some of that broth.

04:03I hate using non-Chinese references to explain food but the closest reference for a white

04:08soup that most people know is tonkotsu.

04:10So the thing about tonkotsu is the key is emulsification and emulsification is when

04:15things like fat and water don't mix together.

04:17When they are mixed together, you get a milky white broth like so.

04:20Which is to say that the fattiness of the oils leaking from pork, the clams, so on and

04:26so forth, get mixed in thoroughly, homogenized with the liquid itself.

04:32Once most of this bone has been removed, there's some of this marrow here that you can definitely

04:35eat.

04:36I'm going to save it for all of our friends that are joining us.

04:39Before that happens, I think it's probably important for us to make the seasoning.

04:43Yeah.

04:44Sesame oil, cha-cha sauce, chili oil, fried garlic, black vinegar, cooked garlic, puree,

04:51scallions, red chilies, cilantro, and soy sauce.

04:54The thing with soy sauce is that a lot of people assume that the word sauce means that

04:58this is ready to go out of the bottle.

05:00But soy sauce, as it's done properly, requires a little bit of seasoning and a little bit

05:03of balance.

05:04Now here is the basis for everybody who doesn't know how to put together their own condiments

05:08and their sauce.

05:09In Cantonese hotpot, I believe that the base of that flavor should be two things, cha-cha

05:14and soy sauce.

05:15I'm sure that people are going to tell me that I'm wrong, but those are the first two

05:18things that I add.

05:19First is this cha-cha.

05:20Cha-cha is actually a cooked condiment made of dried fish, shrimp, oil, aromatics, that

05:26sort of thing.

05:27Popularized mostly in Taiwan, but technically it's part of like Fujianese min-nan-cai.

05:31So that goes on the bottom.

05:33I'm putting it by the table soon.

05:36And then soy sauce.

05:37These two, for me, are the bases.

05:41Sesame oil, a little bit of chili oil, fried garlic, a little bit of that cooked garlic,

05:48puree, scallions, chili, cilantro, a little bit of broth, just to bring the flavors together

05:58and get the party started.

06:03Mix it all up.

06:06Service has begun, which means that we need to eat because they're going to kick us out

06:09at 8 o'clock.

06:10So, friends, stupid to eat hotpot alone, I said it's a social activity, so we're going

06:17to eat.

06:19Hello.

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06:58Hello, hellow, hi, this is Jeremy.

07:03Jeremy had me know that you guys came to visit.

07:06A great number of people that we met here.

07:09Don't worry about that.

07:11Because we're going to have hotpot.

07:13Check it out.

07:14Voilà.

07:15Really.

07:16usually is the beef because that's the main character.

07:19That's the main thing we're here to eat.

07:21And then after that, you would go through your seafoods,

07:23maybe your chickens or lambs,

07:24and the vegetables oftentimes at the end.

07:26The reason is because this broth

07:28is going to get more and more flavorful.

07:30As it gets more and more flavorful,

07:31that's when the vegetables come in

07:33to soak up all that extra protein

07:35that you've donated to the broth.

07:37There are a couple of things

07:38that need a little bit more time to cook,

07:40such as this chicken.

07:41We're gonna throw that in early

07:43so that it can cook while the rest of the things,

07:45while we work through the rest of the beef.

08:16Good thing I got a chicken.

08:18Okay.

08:33Second last thing.

08:34Let's make some fish balls.

08:36These are the three balls.

08:38They come in a size like this.

08:39That doesn't mean that you have to cook

08:41the whole thing at once.

08:42They'll give you a spoon.

08:44You just want to portion them out

08:46into the size that you want.

08:48To be honest with you,

08:49the first time I came here,

08:51came with a bunch of chefs,

08:52and they were just making fun of my stupid canals.

09:13Western chefs are like this.

09:16If we're like this, then it's okay.

09:18How about the lamb?

09:20Okay, let's cook it.

09:21Let's cook it.

09:22Cook it until it floats

09:23and then let it sit for a little bit.

09:24When you mix that meat a lot,

09:25the myosin is released,

09:27which means that it's going to be tender

09:29even if you cook it for a little bit longer.

09:30All of these balls, especially this,

09:33it's pretty hard to overcook,

09:34so you have a little bit of a window.

09:39Imagine that.

09:41When you're having hot pot,

09:41it's rude not to feed your friends.

09:43It's a social activity,

09:45so make sure that everybody is as well-fed

09:48and as well-drank.

09:49Everybody's drinking and eating the same as you.

09:53So, again, let's ask them.

09:55Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

09:58It's so funny, you know.

10:00Happy birthday to you.

10:03Happy birthday to you.

10:07Happy birthday to you.

10:10We're standing outside of Big JJ.

10:12My meal is done,

10:13but the party is still going on.

10:15This is seriously one of my favorite restaurants in Hong Kong

10:19because the beef is so good.

10:20It's special.

10:21It's a local breed.

10:22They're getting slaughtered every day,

10:24and it's served so fresh.

10:25The second reason is the broth is good,

10:27the technique is good,

10:28and the cooking is there,

10:29and as they were setting it all up,

10:31letting that soup simmer,

10:33it was a calm before the storm,

10:34but now is the storm.

10:35The vibe is still going.

10:37It's a very special restaurant.

10:38It's made by Hong Kong people for Hong Kong people,

10:42and I really think this is what we need more of

10:45in my favorite place in the world, Hong Kong.

10:47There's more food to eat.

10:49On to the next.

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