Cantonese Cuisine · FFET10018
Bianlu, the Guangzhou Winter Hot Pot
The Qingbai Leichao records that Guangzhou restaurants set up the bianlu stove in winter, suited to a small meal, eaten much like the hot pot of the capital.
A woman cuts a roast goose into pieces on a round wooden block beside a small dish of sauce, a clay pot of slow-cooked soup steams nearby, a basket holds ginger, scallion and coriander, and a lake and hills lie beyond.
The regional cooking of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, prized for live, fresh ingredients and light flavours.
The Qingbai Leichao, published in 1916, has an entry on the bianlu which records that Guangzhou restaurants offered it in winter and that it suited a small, informal meal. The entry says it was eaten much like the raw-ingredient hot pot of the capital, with eggs as well as chicken, fish, mutton and pork.