Chaozhou Soy Sauce Braised Hotpot 滷水火鍋

Previously, in a Wandering Eats post, we raved about the famously delicious traditional beef hotpot 牛肉火鍋 we had while in Chaoshan 潮汕.  Omgosh, so good...

More recently, whilst again on a wander, we got to try another type of traditional and unique hotpot from Chaoshan 潮汕 and boy-o-boy is it every so scrummy!  What the heck, so much yumminess, amirite?  This Soy Sauce Braised Hotpot 滷水火鍋, instead of using the typical clear or spicy soup base, uses a soy sauce based braise broth infused with spices like star anise, cinnamon, ginger, chilli peppers and garlic.  This is the same braise that is used for Chinese  method of 'red cooking' or 'hong shao' 红烧!

This Soy Sauce Braised Hotpot is served with many small dishes of fresh raw ingredients that you then cook by immersing in the aromatic braise broth.  The spice infused soy sauce braise infuses the raw ingredients with the braise flavor as it cooks.  We'd never tried hotpot this way and we were delighted with the experience!

Rosemary Focaccia Bread

I like making bread.  No, wait, I love making bread!  It's so meditative- the mixing, kneading, proofing and baking are just soothing to the soul.  And, of course, eating fresh fragrant home baked bread is such a rewarding experience; there's no better bread than fresh from the oven!

I wanted to share my new favorite bread recipe, Big Bubbly Focaccia, from that most fabulous of bread sites, King Arthur Baking.  I initially tried making this focacia because 1) we looove focaccia and 2) it was King Arthur's 2025 Recipe of the Year (which is a total thing!).  After making it the first time I was flabbergasted by the amazing and easy to achieve results.  This focaccia bread is absolutely fabulous- so airy, tall and light with a most tender and flavorful crumb and a wonderfully golden crispy crust.

We are so in love with this Rosemary Focaccia Bread and have been making it over and over ever since!