Best Hot Pot in Hong Kong: Big JJ Seafood Hotpot Review

are from neutered oxin neutered oxin tends to produce a little bit less testosterone which means a more even marbling of the fat throughout the cow actually Chef is doing kind of an interesting technique here he's butterflying each slice of beef to make it slightly larger the first cut doesn't go all the way through the second cut does take it all the way through to create slices that are double in size easier for Chopsticks to grasp as it goes into side of the hot broth one of the core components of Hot Pot are the balls the beef balls the fish balls

and in this case Chef is making a fish and lamb ball the combination of the fish and lamb make for a pretty Umami pretty Savory delicious ball the idea for this ball is texture so for that texture you want the beatball to be bouny and that boun comes from developing the mein and when he's slapping it together he's extending those protein strands which will trap air within the ball making it nice and bouncy and light once Chef has achieved the texture that he's looking for he's just going to let it chill let rest and serve it to the customers whenever

it's been ordered by the way hot is a social activity you don't come to this place alone you don't really do hot alone especially not at Big JJ the key is that you're gathering around the table you're drinking a bunch you're eating a bunch you're sharing you're cooking for each other that's what the spirit of hot pot is let's just put some things down before our friends arrive first is the poron soup that we saw earlier yellow beef cerated um let's just try the hanger tender the fish and lamb that we saw earlier okay so here's the soup take a look celery

clams pork knuckle and pork bow what makes CL hotot distinguished is the clarity and the delicacy of that broth here the flavor of the broth is worth drinking alone so the first step is to actually taste some of that broth I hate using non-chinese references to explain food but the closest reference for a white soup that most people know is tonu the thing about tonu is the key is emulsification and emulsification is when things like fat and water don't mix together when they are mixed together you get a milky white broth like so which is to say that the

fattiness of the oils leaking from Fork the clam so on and so forth get mixed in Thoroughly homogenized with the liquid itself once most of this bone has been removed there's some of this Mar here that you can definitely eat I'm going to save it for all of our friends that are joining us before that happens I think it's probably important for us to make this seasoning yeah sesame oil Sasa sauce chili oil fried garlic black vinegar cooked garlic puree scallions red chilies cilantro and soy sauce thing with soy sauce is that a lot of people assume that the

word sauce means that this is ready to go out of the bottle but Soy Sauce as it's done properly requires a little bit of seasoning a little bit of balance now here is the basis for everybody who doesn't know how to put together their own condiments and their sauce in Cantonese hot poot I believe that the base of that flavor should be two things Sasha and soy sauce I'm sure that people are going to tell me that I'm wrong but those are the first two things that I add first is this SAA Sacha is actually a cooked condiment made of dried F shrimp oil

aromatics that sort of thing popularized mostly in Taiwan but it's part of like so that goes on the bottom I'm putting about a putting about a tablespoon and then soy sauce these two for me are the bases sesame bases sesame oil little bit chili oil fried garlic a little bit of that cooked garlic C scallion chili scallion chili cilantro a little bit of broth just to bring the flavors together and get the party started mix it all mix it all up service has beg which means that we need to eat because they're going to kick us out at 8:00 so friends stupid to

eat hot pot alone I said it's a social activity so we're g to eat rare okay oh B this is the this is the local beef this is the Glo they call it C this is like the global beef this is the stuff that has to be sourced from outside first usually is the beef because that's the main character that's the main thing we're here to eat and then after that you would go through your Seafoods maybe your chickens your lambs and the vegetables often times at the end the reason is because this broth is going to get more and more more flavorful as it gets more and more

flavorful that's when the vegetables come in to soak up all that extra protein that you donated to the Bro there are a couple of things that need a little bit more time to cook such as this chicken we're going to throw that in early so that it can cook while the rest of the things while we work through the rest of the be yeah second last thing you these are the three balls they come in a size like this that doesn't mean that you have to cook the whole thing at once they'll give you a spoon you just want to poring them out into the size that you want to

be honest with you the first time I came here came with a bunch of chefs and they were just making fun of my stupid canals cook it until it floats and then let it sit for a little bit when you mix that meat a lot the myosin is released which means that it's going to be tender if you cook it for a little bit longer all these balls especially this it's pretty hard to overcook so you have a little bit of a window when you're having hot it's rude not to feed your friends it's a social activity so make sure that everybody is as well fed and as well drank

everybody's drinking and eating the same as you thank you so we're standing outside of Big JJ my meal is done but the party is still going on this is seriously one of my favorite restaurants in Hong Kong because the beef is so good it's special it's a local breed they're getting slaughtered every day and is served so fresh the second reason is the broth is good the technique is good the cooking is there and as they were setting it all up B letting that soup simmer it was a calm before the storm but now is the storm the vibe is still going it's a very

special restaurant it's made by Hong Kong people for Hong Kong people and I really think this is what we need more of in my favorite place in the world H there's more for eat on to the next