hot pot

IPA/hˈɒt pˈɒt/
IPA/hˈɑːt pˈɑːt/

hot pot — noun

1. a traditional northern English dish made by layering meat and vegetables in a co

1.nounB2
Definition

a traditional northern English dish made by layering meat and vegetables in a covered pot and baking them slowly until everything is tender

Example

Hannah made a hot pot with lamb, potatoes, and onions for her family's Sunday dinner.

typical ingredients: lamb, potatoes, onions

Tunde followed his grandmother's recipe for hot pot, layering the meat and vegetables carefully.

Common collocations
  • Lancashire hot pot
  • make a hot pot
  • cook a hot pot
  • hot pot recipe
  • traditional hot pot
Synonyms
  • casserole

    a broader term; any oven-baked dish in a covered pot, whereas hot pot follows a specific layered formula of meat and vegetables

  • stew

    cooked on the stovetop rather than baked, and usually has more liquid than a hot pot

Grammar Patterns

hot pot as a countable dish

Usage Note

Often called 'Lancashire hot pot' to distinguish it from the Asian tabletop cooking method. The dish is baked in the oven, not simmered at the table.

Common Mistakes

I ordered a hot pot with thin slices of beef and tofu at the British pub.
I ordered a Lancashire hot pot at the British pub.
In a British food context, hot pot is a baked stew of meat and vegetables, not a tabletop meal where you cook raw ingredients.

2. a meal in which people sitting around a table cook raw ingredients — such as thi

2.nounB1
Definition

a meal in which people sitting around a table cook raw ingredients — such as thin slices of meat, seafood, vegetables, and noodles — in a single pot of simmering broth placed at the center of the table

Example

Eve ordered a spicy hot pot and invited her friends to share the bubbling broth.

communal dining: diners share the same broth

Saira orders hot pot with a mild broth because she cannot eat spicy food.

Common collocations
  • hot pot restaurant
  • hot pot broth
  • hot pot ingredients
  • eat hot pot
  • hot pot burner
  • spicy hot pot
  • mild hot pot
  • hot pot dipping sauce
Synonyms
  • firepot

    a less common term for the same tabletop cooking method, used especially in historical or specialised writing

  • steamboat

    used in Southeast Asia (particularly Singapore and Malaysia) for a similar tabletop broth-cooking meal

Grammar Patterns

hot pot as a countable meal or device

Usage Note

Can refer to both the cooking equipment (a pot heated on a portable burner) and the meal itself. Diners typically cook their own ingredients at the table, making it a social dining experience.

Common Mistakes

The hot pot needs to bake in the oven for two hours.
The hot pot needs to simmer on the burner so the broth develops flavor.
Chinese hot pot is cooked at the table on a burner, not baked in the oven.

Etymology

First known use

1842

1842, in the meaning defined at sense 1