The pairing of ingredients for a marinated hot pot base is not difficult.
Sichuan-style hot pot uses beef fat to enhance the fragrance of the base, but marinated hot pot is different, it uses lard.
The aroma of lard is unparalleled by other animal fats, it can even work wonders in cooking.
A plain and ordinary bowl of clear soup noodles becomes wonderfully fragrant with just a small piece of lard added.
A simple stir-fried vegetable dish becomes unique with a little lard in the pan.
Therefore, when Chen Mo adds lard to the black pot, simply adding chopped scallions, ginger, and garlic fills the parking lot with a rich aroma.
Moreover, adding red shallots thoroughly stirs the fragrance of lard before adding star anise, cinnamon, bay leaves, tsaoko, Sichuan pepper, dried chili, and fennel seed.
These are basically essential seasonings for making marinated flavors, sometimes modified based on different marinated ingredients, but generally, they're quite similar.
