Called a Mongolian or Chinese Hot Pot, Firepot, Fire Pot, or Chinese Fondue Pot, it is a large communal cooking and serving pot and the forerunner of our modern meat fondue pots. The main ingredient of the modern Mandarin version of Mongolian-style hot pot is prime mutton taken from tiny sheep raised in inner Mongolia. Chefs cut the iced mutton into paper---thin slices and prepare a source containing ingredients like sesame butter, soy sauce, chili oil, chopped chives, glutinous rice wine, shrimp sauce, vinegar and Chinese parsley. The traditional hot-pot meal is not considered complete without bean curd, sesame pancakes and Chinese cabbages.

The best Mandarin hot-pot restaurant in Beijing is Donglaishun, on Wangfujing, the Fifth Avenue in Beijing. The mutton slices here are finer and thinner than anywhere else. The bubbling stock, into which the mutton is dipped, is favored with mushrooms and dried shrimps to create the traditional Mandarin taste.