What is a string? What's the difference between hot pot and string?

Chuanchuanxiang, the full name of Chuanchuanxiang, first appeared in Sichuan in the mid-1980s. It is a kind of food deeply loved by people in Sichuan and Chongqing. Often open in streets, food markets and other places, with strong grassroots style. So what is the string dish? What's the difference between it and hot pot? Let the hot pot culture introduce you.

String, as the name implies, is that the boss uses bamboo sticks to arrange all kinds of vegetarian dishes and meat dishes and put them on display shelves or display cabinets for customers to choose. After the customer chooses, the boss cooks separately in the pot, and the customer adds various seasonings and soup to taste. This shows that it is like another form of hot pot, so it is often called "small hot pot".

The string is divided into cold pot string and hot pot string. Because the hot pot is cooked, it tastes spicy and delicious, so it is named "Mala Tang". The original string, the bottom of the pot and the dishes were very simple, but now they are almost all-inclusive. Different people make different strings, so there are many kinds of strings in Sichuan with different flavors.

What's the difference between hot pot and string?

According to the taste of the bottom of the pot, hot pot can be divided into red pot, white pot and Yuanyang pot (both red and white pots), while according to the oil used, the most common ones are roughly divided into clear oil hot pot and butter hot pot.

Butter chafing dish has a mellow bottom, a thick taste and a unique fragrance. Clear oil hot pot refers to rapeseed oil hot pot (Sichuanese like to call rapeseed oil "clear oil" or "raw clear oil"). The bottom of rapeseed fried pot generally looks bright in oil color and refreshing in taste, and is not as mellow as butter hot pot.

There are many kinds of ingredients in hot pot, such as beef tripe, duck intestines, goose intestines, lunch meat, yellow throat, beef, fat beef, meatballs, piranha and other vegetarian dishes, as well as lotus roots, potatoes, Flammulina velutipes and so on. The dipping material of hot pot is generally oil dish, and the most common one is sesame oil dish, which is filled with garlic paste. Generally, black lobster sauce, oyster sauce, coriander and chopped green onion can be added.

From the way of eating, hot pot is generally boiled and rinsed. Take it out of the pan, put it in your own oil pan, and then put it in your mouth to chew. Eating duck intestines and goose intestines has the so-called "seven ups and eight downs", that is, the goose intestines/duck intestines are scalded in a pot for one second, then lifted and scalded eight times repeatedly, and the taste is the best.

The bottom of the string pot is generally the bottom of boiling red oil pot, similar to hot pot, but slightly lighter than hot pot. But there are also special cold pot skewers and handle skewers in the streets and alleys. When it comes to skewers, it should be said that hot pot, maocai, skewers and mala Tang are very similar, but duck intestines and goose intestines are rarely seen in skewers, and beef, chicken gizzards and duck gizzards are common.

In terms of dipping, most of the strings are broken peanuts, and it is not uncommon for dried vegetables to be accompanied by a small amount of Chili noodles and sesame oil and garlic. But there will be more dried vegetables than hot pot. As far as eating is concerned, it is usually worn with bamboo sticks and scalded in a pot in front of a desk. When eating, hold the bamboo stick directly in your hand and dip it in a dry dish or an oil dish to eat string by string.