重庆火锅：好吃么，哪里能吃到？ [英国媒体]

Sichuan province is known for its hot food, andChongqing is known as the spice centre of Sichuan. Cathy Adams braves thesignature dish

川菜以麻辣闻名，而重庆则是四川的调料中心。

Here are a few things you need to know about Chongqingin south-west China.

关于中国西南部直辖市重庆，你需要了解下面的事：

First, it’s the largest city on earth. Some 37 millionpeople live in its urban area, and that’s growing by a couple of per cent everyyear.

首先，重庆是世界上最大的城市。市区有大约3700万常住人口，而且每年以百分之几的速度上涨。

Second, the city looks like the future. Built around themeeting point of the Yangtze and Jialing Rivers, Chongqing has 105 buildingsover 150m tall (with 27 more in construction – it’s the fastest growing city inChina). For context, London has just 17 of them. Looking back at the skylinefrom the Yangtze River Cableway, Chongqing looks a bit like New York. Honestly.

第二，重庆更像未来都市。重庆建在长江和嘉陵江的交汇处，拥有105座高度超过150米的建筑(还有27座在建)，而伦敦只有17座。重庆是中国发展最快的城市。从长江的缆车上望去，重庆有点像纽约。

Third, this city is also one of the world’s hottest.During summer, it’s rightfully known as the oven of China (I visited in Augustand can vouch that Chongqing deserves most of its superlatives).

第三，重庆是世界上最热的城市之一。夏天，这里被称为“中国火炉”。我去过八月份的重庆，我敢说，中国火炉当之无愧。

The nickname also extends to its cuisine. Thislittle-known megalopolis is the birthplace – and spiritual home – of thefieriest Sichuan mala hotpot (huo guo in Mandarin) in the world. According tosome estimates, there are more than 50,000 hotpot restaurants in China’s aptlynamed “Hotpot City”.

因为重庆的美食，重庆还有个别名。这个鲜为人知的大都市，其实是世界上最火的四川麻辣火锅的诞生地和精神家园。据估计，重庆大约有5万多家火锅店，被称为中国的“火锅之城”。

Walk around Chongqing’s downtown Jiefangbei businessdistrict and you’ll notice every other shopfront has a neon flame on it and asack of chillis by the door. Chongqing takes its hotpot seriously; it’s builtinto the very fabric of what this city is.

走在重庆市中心解放碑商业步行街，你会发现每家店面上都有霓虹灯，门上都挂着一袋辣椒。重庆重视火锅，火锅已经融入了这座城市。

“Hotpot is an institution,” Jordan Porter, from Chengdu Food Tours,tells me. Where to eat it? “Look for a restaurant with a big atmosphere.” It’sgood advice – in a city with thousands of choices, it’s almost impossible torank one over the other.

“火锅已经成为了习惯”来自成都美食团的乔丹•波特告诉我。那要去哪吃火锅呢? “找一家气氛热烈的饭店。”这个建议很好——在一座有成千上万家火锅店的城市里，对火锅店进行排名几乎是不可能的。

Which is how I find myself at very local hotpotrestaurant Lin Jiang Men in downtown Chongqing, facing down a menu entirely inChinese and without a single English speaker in the restaurant.

这就是我为什么在重庆市中心临江门火锅店的原因。低头看看菜单，全是中文，周围连一个会说英语的都没有。

With hotpot, the first step is to choose the base: aclear broth, spicy chilli oil broth, or half and half. I choose thenine-section spicy red oil soup, which comes bubbling with beef lard,industrial quantities of Sichuan peppercorns and every other kind of spice therestaurant can get their hands on (usually cardamom, MSG, fennel and staranise).

吃火锅，第一步要选择锅底：清汤锅底、红油锅底还是鸳鸯锅。我选择的是麻辣九宫格红油锅底，锅里是牛油、大量的四川麻椒以及各种调料：豆蔻、味精、茴香和八角茴香等。

Ever wondered why your tongue fizzes and goes numb aftereating Sichuan peppercorns? That’s thanks to small amounts of a molecule calledhydroxy alpha sanshool, which produces an effect much like a mild electriccurrent, according to food author Harold McGee.

有没有想过为什么吃了四川麻椒后，舌头麻麻得？美食作家哈罗德•麦基在文章中写道，麻椒中含有一种叫羟基-α-山椒素的东西，它的效果就像给舌头通上了温和的电流。
 
Next into the hotpot goes pretty much anything. Localspecialities include duck intestine and Chinese sausage, bright red with pig’sblood, though there are also more prosaic options like fried tofu, crunchylotus root and strips of rare beef. The process is simple: throw them in andwait for them to cook. When they’re ready (they float to the top of the brothwhen done), yank them out and dip into a saucer of sesame oil, coriander andginger to cool off.

接下来有许食物可以选择。当地特产的鸭肠、香肠，猪血，以及其他普通的食材，如炸豆腐，松脆的莲藕和鲜牛肉片等。吃火锅很简单：把菜和肉放进锅里，然后开始煮。煮好的肉和菜会漂起来。把煮熟菜和肉夹上来，蘸上一碟芝麻油、香菜和姜调成的蘸料，晾凉了就可以吃了。

As Chongqing forges into the future, hotpot remains muchthe same as it was hundreds of years ago when the dish migrated south fromMongolia. The nine-section format – still the most popular soup, judging frommy neighbours in Lin Jiang Men – is a hangover from the origins of the dish.Villagers would sit around outside and throw things into the broth, and themore sections there were, the more people could join for dinner. The communityaspect of hotpot hasn’t changed today.

重庆正在创造未来，但是重庆火锅却一直没变。几百年前，火锅这种饮食方式随着蒙古大军传到了中国南方地区。从临江门食客的点餐来看，九宫格火锅仍然是最受欢迎的，火锅仍然保持着原始的蒙古方式：村民们坐在外面，围着锅，把东西扔进肉汤里煮。锅底分得格越多，就能有越多的人一起吃。火锅的群落面貌直到今天也没有改变。

In Chongqing, hotpot isn’t just a meal; it’s both a nounand a verb. It’s a time for interaction: doing business, celebrating a birthdayor anniversary, or just an excuse to sit down and talk as a family. In LinJiang Men, I’m surrounded by families and groups of friends, all laughing andhaggling over whatever innards they’re pulling out of the steamy broth.Nobody’s in a hurry and nobody’s Instagramming their dinner – the hotpot is thesocial platform itself.

在重庆，火锅不仅仅是顿饭，在这里火锅既是名词也是动词。吃火锅是沟通感情最好时候：谈生意、生日或者周年纪念，家庭聚会。在临江门，一起吃火锅的都是家人或朋友，笑着、闹着从热气腾腾的锅里捞起菜，大快朵颐。没有人着急，也没有人晒照片——火锅就是社交平台。

“Hotpot is the party,” says Porter. “It’s the main event.” Or, atleast, it is for tonight. Tomorrow, my insides – currently humming with 100,000Scoville heat units – might think differently.

“火锅就是派对”，波特说。“火锅是最重要的事。”至少今晚是最重要的。我已经被辣的嗡嗡作响了，应该能达到十万辣度了。不过明天可能就不会这么想了。

How to hotpot

怎么吃火锅？

Hotpot is a celebration. Find a busy restaurant wherethe locals are chugging plenty of Chongqing Beer and laughing at some realityshow on a big-screen TV.

火锅就像一场庆祝。找一家热闹的饭店。这里大家吃着火锅喝着重庆啤酒，笑着聊着天，看着电视。

You’ll be asked a series of questions when you walk intoa hotpot joint: the type of broth, the level of heat and what kind of oil youwant. If you can’t speak Chinese, walk around the restaurant and point to whatother people are eating.

当你准备吃火锅的时候，服务员会问你很多问题：什么锅底、什么辣度、什么蘸料。如果不会说汉语，你可以在饭店里转转，想吃什么就指什么。

Avoid eating in the touristy areas of Chongqing likeHong Ya Dong (home to the Hongya caves). The quality isn’t going to match areliable local spot. Ask your hotel for recommendations.

尽量别在旅游景点吃火锅，特别是洪崖洞。火锅品质跟这个旅游景点的名声不配。你还可以咨询你的酒店。

Order lots and lots of weak beer (Snow or Chongqing’sown brand) to cool off. In Sichuan, it’s usually drunk out of mini glasses orflat ceramic bowls.

多点些冰冻的淡啤酒，雪花或者重庆当地啤酒。在四川，通常都是用一些小杯子或者平底碗喝酒的。

Wear clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty. Forhotpot beginners, it’s impossible to avoid being spattered with red-hot oil.Even better, wear an apron.

尽量穿不怕脏的衣服。刚开始吃火锅，要想衣服上不溅上红油，基本是不可能的。穿上围裙更好。

Take your time. This is a slow food experience.

别着急，吃火锅讲究的就是慢。

Want more spice? If your guts can handle it, tryChongqing’s signature noodle dish, xiaomian, which is spicier than its widelyknown Chengdu counterpart dandanmian. You can find a cheap bowl, swimming inchilli oil, spring onion and coriander, down most city backstreets.

不够过瘾？如果胃受得了，那就试试重庆招牌面，重庆小面吧，比四川担担面更辣。在城市大部分街道都能买到一碗便宜的，漂着辣油、葱花和香菜的重庆小面。



LEWN
Hotpot is utterly gross. Intestines and thinly slicedfrozen industrialized meat floating in some kind of stagnant broth. Cancerfondue I call it. I suggested some of my Chinese friends try it without theTahini-esque dipping sauce and they looked at me like I was weird. The dippingsauce is what they actually like, not the food, same with black pepper steak(the pepper sauce) or sausages (the herb preparation eg Lincolnshire).

火锅非常恶心。动物肠和切成薄片的工业冷冻肉漂浮在混沌的肉汤里。我称它为癌症火锅。我建议一些中国朋友别吃芝麻酱蘸料，他们就像看怪胎似的看着我。他们真正喜欢的其实是蘸料。这就像黑胡椒牛排里的辣椒酱，以及林肯郡香肠里的特殊香料。

Killingtime
Offal is popular all over the far east. Not so muchJapan. The Thais love deep fried pig intestine, and many noodle shops serveoffal in delicious stock on rice. I grew to like it, but it's not for everyone.Particularly westerners.

动物内脏在远东地区很受欢迎，当然不包括日本。泰国人喜欢油炸猪肠，很多面条店里都卖米饭米饭上面放着一堆的动物内脏。我慢慢地喜欢上了这种食物，但是不是所有人都喜欢，特别是西方人。

Michael Cawood
That dish looks mainly liquid, how on earth do you eatthat with chopsticks? I would have thought a spoon would be far better. Give meLancashire Hotpot any day.

火锅里面好像都是汤呀，这怎么用筷子吃的？我觉得用勺子更方便吧。改天去兰开夏郡吃火锅。

JT49UK
You don't. The liquid is just used to cook whatever foodyou put in it - meat, especially strips of lamb, vegetables, tofu. It usuallytakes seconds - a little longer for strips of meat. Then you lift it out withthe chpsticks. Tofu, though absorbs the liquid so you need to let it cool for aminute or so or you end up burning your mouth. It's delicious, but a totallydifferent experience to Lancashire hotpot.

不用。火锅里面的汤是用来煮食物的——肉，特别是羊肉片、蔬菜和豆腐。煮一会就行了，肉要煮的时间稍微久点。然后用筷子捞出来。豆腐里面都是汤汁，最好放几分钟，等凉了再吃，不然就容易烫着嘴。重庆火锅确实很好吃，和兰开夏郡的火锅完全不同。

Kathryn Platzer
You said you chose a hotpot and you described theeffects of hot pot (on other people), but you omitted to say whether you ateit, enjoyed it, had the runs next day etc etc. Slickly written but impersonal.

作者点了火锅，以别人的口吻描述了吃火锅的感觉，但是文章里没有交代到底吃了没有，好吃不好吃，以及吃完后第二天什么感觉等。写的不错，可惜没有个人体验。

JT49UK
I don't know about the author, but whenever I had hotpotin China (it's not confined to Chongqing) I loved it. There are restaurantswhere you can have an individual hotpot in a small pot instead of communalones. I can't say I ever experienced any adverse effects the following day.

我不知道作者，但是我在中国吃过火锅（不一定是重庆火锅），我很喜欢。有的店里可以点一个小锅，这个小锅是个人使用的，不是公共的。吃完火锅，我没有什么不好的感觉。

deepblueocean
I'm planning a Chongqing trip. What about other Szechuandishes? I'm not fond of soups/hot pots.
Readers?

我正打算去重庆旅行呢。还有其他的川菜推荐吗？我不喜欢汤、火锅之类的。
你们呢？

tufsoft
Eat Chonqing hotpot in Beijing, you can get a pot with adivider one side spicy one side mild so it suits everyone.

我在北京吃过重庆火锅，你可以选鸳鸯锅，一边是辣的，一边是清汤的。