Hot Hot Hotpot

A boiling hot red chili spicy soup on one side and white rich vegetable soup on the other side of the pot is ready for people to put raw slices of beef, Chinese cabbage, and shrimp. Hotpot is a popular Chinese way of cooking. Yunchen Liu took a slice of tofu out from the hotpot, and dipped it into a sauce of sesame oil with minced garlic, and vinegar. 

“I really enjoy spicy foods and spending time with my friends,” Yunchen Liu, University of Kansas Junior said.

Issue

There are four Chinese restaurants serving hotpot in Lawrence: Panda & Plum Garden, Hibachi Grill SupremeBuffet, King Buffet and 8 Flavors. All of the restaurants are currently using butane gas stoves to cook the hotpot.

“I seldom adjust the stove because I am afraid of anything on fire, even a lighter or a match,” Lin said. “Personally I still think we need to be careful with the stove when we are eating hotpot.”

Safety Rule

According to Fire Safety Plan for Restaurant Facilities some of the unsafe cooking practices include: deep fat frying with out proper training, unattended stoves and loosely hanging sleeves. Hibachi grills in Japanese or buffet restaurants and grills at Korean restaurants practice safe cooking skills. Those supplies are removable, because they all attach to the table or floor. Also, people have been trained to use those cooking devices.

“Every server and host has been trained by our head chef in utilizing the stove,” Jing Guo, the server of the 8 Flavors said. “It is easy to operate and we guarantee the safety of it.

The restaurant regulations main target when developing regulations meets most western style restaurants.  There is no clear or detail rule about using gas stove in restaurants for the fact that this is not a common practice among restaurants in Kansas. According to the Kansas Department of Health & Environment it is OK to use those gas burners in the inside of the building, but it did not state which type of burner was allowed or whether it needs to be in the kitchen or not.  

Restaurants' Response

David Ren the owner of Chinese restaurant 8 Flavors thinks that the uses of gas stoves are very safe for people.  He also says that Chinese people use this kind of stove in restaurants and in homes all the time in China.

“All the stoves are assembled and manufactured in the U.S.A, so it must be safe,” Ren said. “Government would stop the factory from producing any of those stoves if it were unsafe for people to use."

Jing Guo thinks there is nothing to worry about, because the restaurants have done a great job on the fire safety. She also mentions that they have a smoke detector in the restaurant.     

“I trust every staff member at 8 Flavors, and our boss is very strict and selective in choosing servers and hostess.” Guo said. “Our tools and stoves are well-tested.”

The Chinese restaurant Panda&Plum Garden uses electric burners to cook hotpot. Raymond Peng the manger of the restaurant says they use electric burners to save some gas.

“We have both the gas and electric stoves in our restaurant,” Peng said. “Most of time we use electric for our customers.

David Ren thinks the gas stove is better to use in their restaurant for many reasons. He doesn’t want the fire be too small and those electrics burners will required long wires.  

“The electric burner is too complicated to use because the wire would be everywhere,” Ren said. “Sometimes those electric burners are not powerful enough to cook the food to its optimal level.”

Student's reaction  

Yunchen Liu points out that Chef Paul, who makes omelets on campus uses the same stove that is used for hotpot. He cooks the omelet in the morning at Marvin, Strong Hall and Anschutz weekly.

“I do not think that people think that it is dangerous at all.” Liu said.

Raymond Peng says the safety of the stove is not his top concern. There are other things that he could worry about when it comes to people eating hotpot in their restaurant. 

“I am more worried about people not cooking their food thoroughly in the pot,” Peng said. “And then come back and complain that our restaurant’s food made them ill.”

David Ren has developed a way to solve the problems of uncooked food for customers, or those ingredients that would easily go bad and cause people to become ill. 

“I have been studying and researching the foods for two months before I started the hotpot system,” Ren said. “I have come up with an idea to solve the problem of people not cooking the food thoroughly but this is my secret."

Jing Guo loves to eat hotpot, and thinks that eating hotpot is similar to American style BBQ in the fact that people enjoy eating good food with friends and family.

“It seems like a group activity where I can meet many friends at once for dinner.”

Click Here

To see the diagram of hotpot stove.

Reported by Hao Hsuan Niu in Lawrence Kansas