Copper hotpot: Datong’s winter table

Every cold city has a winter dish. Datong’s arrives at the table while still burning
charcoal: a tall copper pot with a chimney in the middle, the rim crowded with raw mutton, prawns,
tofu and vegetables, the whole thing bubbling away for as long as the meal lasts.

Why the pot looks like that

The chimney is the design. Burning charcoal sits in the central tube and radiates heat through a
wide ring of broth, so the pot keeps a rolling simmer without any electric plate. Copper conducts
fast and even — which is why northern Shanxi, with its long tradition of copper work, still swears
by it. In Datong the pots are not souvenirs; they are working equipment.

How the meal works

One large set pot sits in the middle for the whole table. The kitchen arranges it before the
broth goes in: thin-sliced mutton in the centre ring, prawns and meatballs around it, tofu, potato,
glass noodles and napa cabbage packed along the wall where they can stew slowly. You fish out what
you want as it cooks, then reload.

The dipping sauce is sesame paste thinned with hot broth, dressed with chive-flower sauce,
fermented tofu, coriander and garlic. Mutton slices need seconds, not minutes — pull them while the
edges are still curling.

Ordering without a translator

The word you need is tong guo (copper pot). Pointing at the pot on a nearby table works
equally well. Budget roughly ¥60–120 per head for a full spread, more if the mutton keeps
coming — and in a proper Datong winter, it keeps coming.

For the short version, see our copper hotpot guide.