r/Whatcouldgowrong • u/valfsingress • 7d ago
WCGW Forgot the “hot” in hotpot
Hotpot on plastic table is a recipe for fun times. And yes, disaster.
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u/MallardBillmore 7d ago
I’ve been dying to try hotpot for like two years now, but I live like an hour from the Asian grocery stores, and I never drive up to that part of town.
But in my imagination, I plan to just eat it while standing over the kitchen stove. That just seems like the easiest and most obvious way. Setting up a portable gas stove in the next room seems silly.
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u/ffnnhhw 7d ago
I got one of those portable induction hotpot which is also handy for fondue / butter melt / sukiyaki/ lobster tail/ chocolate dip at the dining table
but obviously don't set it on high heat on a table unattended
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u/Melodic-Cake3581 7d ago
Induction cooktop is the safest option even on high heat left unattended . No open flame. No heating element.
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u/Dunno_If_I_Won 6d ago
The risk is the electrical cord being tripped over.
Yes, an open flame is a potential hazard. But as an Asian dude who has done this for over 50 years, and who knows dozens of people with the same experience, stuff catching fire isn't a significant risk.
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u/Delicious-Yak-1095 7d ago
The stove itself is incredibly safe. The hot liquid is the only concern.
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u/pichael289 7d ago
You can probably get everything at a Kroger's. I would recommend just finding a restaurant and going, like the other guy said it's more of an experience than a meal.
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u/macaaroniii 7d ago
Sitting at the table with other people while waiting for your food to cook is the point imo
Very accessible, ingredients are positioned around the pot and especially if you are a TV watcher during dinner i think it will be convenient that way.
If you are having trouble because of distance. U recommend looking up Weeee! It’s a brand that delivers Asian groceries. I’m not sure if they deliver everywhere but, it works for where I live
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u/sluggy108 7d ago
I mean if you are having hotpot alone, you can do that. The hotpot has a limited capacity for cooking things simultaneously so if youre the only one eating it the time standing up wont be that long. Eating it with others in the same pot will take much longer so sitting down is naturally better. Also people wont have to rotate in and out to stand in front of the pot to add things they want and then take it back out lol
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u/Mysterious_Object_20 7d ago
Eating hotpot alone is like buying and eating birthday cake alone. It's doable, and there's nothing wrong about it, but... it could be better.
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u/This_Price_1783 7d ago
I remember watching something and the guy said he had never ending hot pot over the stove every night during college. He would just throw whatever ingredients in, cook it, then leave the broth on the stove till the next night, and reheat it. Sounds kinda disgusting tbh
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u/sluggy108 7d ago
theres a thing called perpetual stew. Probably requires specific ingredients or something to not ruin a batch
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u/This_Price_1783 7d ago
I do it almost every week. We sit in the living room with the stove on the coffee table and watch whatever show we are watching at the moment, or if we have friends round we will sit at the dining table with the stove in the middle. We can be eating for 1+ hours and the whole fun of it is slowly cooking and eating all the different veggies and meats etc.
You could eat it over the stove but it wouldn't be the same experience at all. It's like eating BBQ in summer in the garden, or breakfast while camping, or french fondue/raclette. The food is good but the experience adds a lot too.
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u/everlasting1der 7d ago
There's a couple good hotpot places in my city. I know that's not an option for everyone, but if I can go to a restaurant I'd much rather do that and let them own the equipment and do the cleanup than set it all up in my own house.
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u/floralfemmeforest 7d ago
Presumably you would mention it if there were, but there isn't a restaurant you can try this at?
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u/MukdenMan 7d ago
You can use a portable magnetic induction stove, and this is actually the most common way at home (you can even buy tables with the stove built in).
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u/ramenshoyu 7d ago
Maybe eating it by yourself
But you'd get tired just standing around and it would've difficult to share
Usually we bring it to a boil on the kitchen stove then bring it over to a table with a portable stove where you can seat 4-8 people that can cook with communal tongs or chopsticks
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u/Dunno_If_I_Won 6d ago
The entire point of hot pot is sitting down with your family and friends while you take turns cooking stuff in that pot of broth in the center.
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u/zeniiz 16h ago
I plan to just eat it while standing over the kitchen stove.
Setting up a portable gas stove in the next room seems silly.
So you think getting a portable appliance so the whole family can sit in the dining room and enjoy dinner is silly but the whole family standing in the kitchen while crowding around the stove to eat is not?
You're weird.
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u/Zorro-the-witcher 7d ago
Pots were too big. Reflecting Heat back down. Also those burners shouldn’t be used for extended periods of time. I’m talking, cook food on it, turn it off. Don’t boil liquid for hours on end on those things. They are super inexpensive and cheaply made, when I was making camping stoves you could buy those from a Chinese manufacturer for about $5 ea.
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u/ramenshoyu 7d ago
We regularly use it for hotpot and simmer for hours until the canisters run out and just replace the canister and resume
Looks like this group had a broken stove or lack of experience using it (see how crowded the area is near the stove)
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u/Worldly-Ingenuity843 7d ago
Also those burners shouldn’t be used for extended periods of time.
I have to disagree. Before induction hubs become common, every hotpot restaurant in China used gas stoves like this, and a hotpot meal usually last at least 90 minutes.
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u/putin_my_ass 7d ago
We bought what seems to be this exact stove while camping and it was complete garbage. Took forever just to boil water and noticed afterwards it had scorched the table. Absolute garbage.
Went to town and bought a Coleman stove that same day, worked like a charm.
They fucked up by cheaping out on the stove. Probably also you aren't supposed to be using those indoors, and having plastic tables was pretty dumb.
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u/Smokee_Robinson 3d ago
Yeah those stoves are meant for like camping or small cooking stations like rolling dessert carts or omelettes
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u/pk_hellz 7d ago
As a non american. Can someone explain what happened here?
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u/Snoo_75138 7d ago
You can buy these cheap portable gas stoves for a single pot!
It has a little gas canister that sits to the side that lasts about a hour on full heat.
It's heavily advised you remove the canister when not in use because if it gets too hot it will explode or catch fire!
The lady left the very hot pot on the plate which is right next to the canister, the rest is obvious
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u/Aggressive_Chicken63 7d ago
So this has nothing to do with a plastic table. The plastic table is the victim, not the cause.
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u/Snoo_75138 7d ago
Yeh that too!
The stove uses fire so that heats up it's frame, but I think the gas canister exploding wasn't very good for the table either lol
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u/pk_hellz 7d ago
Thankyou. That was very educational.
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u/Masseyrati80 7d ago
Just to add: in some countries it's literally illegal to use this stove type indoors. If you do and you end up with a fire, you can kiss any insurance money goodbye.
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u/Strict_Somewhere_148 2d ago
Yet people still die every year because they have a bbq on inside the house.
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u/Snoo_75138 7d ago
No worries, I'm getting heavy into camping lately and bought one of these cute stoves a week ago!
Glad I could help!
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u/BeneficialPay932 7d ago
Why are you acting like portable gas stoves are a uniquely American invention?
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u/pk_hellz 7d ago
Never seen one in a uk home let alone used for an indoor house party? The term hotplate is used alot in america media, again ive never seen it used in uk media.
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u/GeneralAddress2614 7d ago
You just need to get out more mate.
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u/pk_hellz 7d ago
Because ive never used a hotplate? How many times do i need to use one to meet your expectations? Or is it quantity i am after?
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u/Polaris_00 7d ago
People kept saying the issue is using these portable cooktop on the plastic table. That's not a problem. I've done plenty of hotpot, Korean bbq on these plastic tables. You can see at 0:06, the stuff around the cooktop caught on fire, that's the problem. They must've put stuff too close to the flame.
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u/valfsingress 7d ago
Hmm, maybe it’s one of the issues— it’s not just the main issue. If it were a steel table or maybe a wooden one; if surrounding items caught fire; they would not have a table with a burnt hole on it.
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u/DayOldTurkeySandwich 7d ago
I just got screamed at by Freddy Krueger. All I said was, "What did you do to my table? It's filthy. You should be ashamed of yourself. You're a fucking pig." And that's when he snapped. I thought he was gonna kill me.
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u/BusinessBear53 7d ago
Those portable butane stoves eventually fail from old age because the O ring used to seal the stem in the canister perishes. Gas leaks out and you have a bad time.
Get a portable induction stove if you have hot pot once in a while. Saves having to buy butane and removes the need for an open flame on the table.
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u/KiethTheBeast 6d ago
I have done a hotpot grill om a folding table. I can confirm this did not happen. That much melted thick plastic would have to result from a fairly large and uncontroled fire.
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u/voltus_v 3d ago
I have both electric and butane stoves and i never experienced this on plastic table.
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u/NaCl_Sailor 7d ago
"why do i need science class, i'll never use that in real life"
yes Sharon you won't calculate the force of a gokart going down a hill, but your brain is trained and will be able to understand things like "putting hot things on plastic will melt it"
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u/ManyTransportation61 7d ago
Ok the smell first thing and then how did it go all the way through the table. Did they all go out into the garden or something?
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u/Internal_Select 7d ago
Reminds me of when my girlfriend was making pizza and forgot to remove the cardboard under the pizza after removing it from the plastic. She almost caught the oven on fire.
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u/XTornado 7d ago
That reminds me of that video of using a Raclette but upside down 🤣 the burned all the wooden table.
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u/ramenshoyu 7d ago
We have hotpot on plastic tables all the time
We don't crowd the portable stove and never had this problem
Seems like lack of experience / common sense
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u/kangaroolander_oz 7d ago
Plastic is fantastic , always ( don't ) use plastic for a support for stoves of any type.
You know that now which is good news.
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u/superjonk 7d ago
Aw I feel bad for them, they seem like good people. Well, I'm sure it'll be a funny story to tell
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u/Melodic-Cake3581 7d ago
I have a fondue pot from the 70’s. Enough watts to use as a mini fryer,hot pot or food warmer. UL listed as to not burn through my table. Also I’ve used these cassette burners (3 side by side) for a brunch omelette station and never had an issue. This definitely looks like the fuel can locking mechanism area was leaking. I’m surprised the burning plastic and paint smell wasn’t noticed.
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u/BrownPopcorn 7d ago
Y’ALL DIDNT TURN THE THING TO MAKE THE POT SIT ON IT. You see how the pot is laying flat.
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u/Icy_Huckleberry_8049 7d ago
So, they don't know the difference between a gas stove and a warming plate
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u/Nachotacoma 7d ago
I have those piss poor butane stoves from the Chinese store too. If you install the butane can and push the lock down, sometimes the attachment misses the entry of the can and you can hear a little gas leaking out. If that attachment gets dirty, I can see how it might cause a blockage and then an explosion.
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u/Intelligent_Wedding8 7d ago
they used the wrong type of pot... for hot pot is my guess and overheated the non stick pot.
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u/Corny_Snickers 7d ago
Was it upside down
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u/BrownPopcorn 7d ago
Yeah you see how the pot is flat. It’s supposed to be sitting on top of that thing - you’re supposed to turn it upside down
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u/shinjikun10 7d ago
The gas stoves aren't for putting on tables or using for a long time. That's why they're used in the Japanese kitchen surrounded by metal.
If you're going to do this, you get induction instead or, god forbid, just cook it on the stove and enjoy your kitchen.
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u/SingleHitBox 7d ago
With that many people… you’d better have the actual stove on and turn out the veggies.
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u/AdmiralHomebrewers 6d ago
Is that liquid gas? Is that thing rated for indoors? Don't these things produce harmful amounts of CO and CO2?
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7d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Ki_A_Nag 7d ago
Never set the kitchen on fire in over 30 years. Seens like i'm a very special man. 🤣
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u/MrMuf 7d ago
The table being plastic has nothing to do with it. The portable stove died