Sichuan Mala Hot Pot Dipping Sauce (火锅蘸料) — Building the Bowl
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Origin
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Description
The dipping sauce for Sichuan hot pot (huo guo dian liao, 火锅蘸料) is as important as the broth itself — each diner builds their own individual dipping sauce at the beginning of the meal, adjusting the sesame paste, chilli oil, garlic, and aromatic additions to their preference. The function of the dipping sauce is partly to cool the scalding-hot items just removed from the broth, partly to add a contrasting flavour layer to the intense mala broth, and partly to personalise the experience. In Chongqing, the traditional dipping sauce is extremely simple (just sesame oil and garlic); in Sichuan broadly, the sesame paste-based bowl is the standard.
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The Thread
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Flavour Context
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Pillars V — VII
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