When Potluck Meets Hot Pot
Natasha Pickowicz and Sue Chan provided the broth, and guests brought the fixings to celebrate Lunar New Year and the publication of her most recent cookbook. On a Saturday evening in late January, as New Yorkers braced for a snowstorm set to hit the city overnight, a lively group moved about a steam-filled loft in Lower Manhattan.
As 41-year-old chef and cookbook author Natasha Pickowicz cut the produce into bite-sized pieces, herbs, leafy greens, and other vegetables added color to the kitchen counters. Sue Chan, 42, co-host and founder of the event production company Care of Chan, was busy introducing herself to guests, distributing drinks, and greeting them. Gabriel Cohen, 39, a co-founder of the design studio and shop Fredericks & Mae, and his partner, Todd Heim, 37, an artist and the semi-retired local drag queen known as Steak Diane, lived in the apartment in an 1880s red brick building that was once one of Manhattan’s tallest buildings.
They had given it to their friends for a party that was partly an early Lunar New Year celebration because Pickowicz and Chan were both raised in China and have always celebrated the holiday. But the event was also a book party, as Pickowicz’s second cookbook, “Everyone Hot Pot,” would be released in just a few days. Hot pot, or huogo (a Mandarin word that translates to “fire pot”), refers to a dish prepared via a vat of boiling broth, into which diners submerge raw ingredients — a practice thought to date back to China’s Shang and Zhou dynasties.
The author, who used to work as a pastry chef, was drawn to it because of the group aspect. Pickowicz and Chan collaborated on a community bake sale last fall for Chan’s Project Gather initiative, a series of open-to-the-public food-based events designed to combat the loneliness epidemic. The collaborative format of the sale got Chan thinking about potlucks, which, she says, are “one of the most accessible ways to host people.” Therefore, when Chan suggested hosting a hot pot potluck, which may be the ultimate communal meal, it came as no surprise to Pickowicz. As a result, steam rose from five stainless steel vessels positioned along the dining table, where everyone gathered after cocktails.
The guests included: Daphne Seybold, 43, co-founder and C.E.O. of Sky High Farm Goods, a clothing brand associated with the nonprofit Sky High Farm in the Hudson Valley; artist couple David Brandon Geeting, 36, and Lina Sun Park, 36; actress and comedian Julia Shiplett, 38; Christina Teng Topsoe, 44, co-owner of the Brooklyn restaurants the Four Horsemen and I Cavallini; keyboardist Nancy Whang, 49; interdisciplinary
The table: Lunar New Year’s color is red, which is associated with happiness and prosperity. With a hand-sewn linen tablecloth that was half red and half pink, Heim and Cohen, who set the table, paid tribute to that. He’d also made the linen napkins, which Cohen folded into a shucked corn cob-like shape — a fold found in Chinese restaurants and a nod to Heim’s Iowa roots.
Fredericks & Mae had a variety of items, including matching carafes, colored glassware with twisted rims, and plastic serving boards with confetti-like surfaces. Ceramic holders resembling cats and bok choy held chopsticks, and red envelopes known as hongbao served as place cards. Scratch-off lottery tickets were placed inside in place of the typical gift of money, which is given to invoke prosperity.
The food: First, everyone put the aromatics, hot sauce, sesame oil, and various toppings that were on a kitchen cart into their bowls. A toasted cumin and white sesame sauce made with fermented tofu, according to Pickowicz’s mother’s recipe, was also available. Those who wanted something spicier tried the habanero chili jam or the green shito sauce Brenya-Mensa brought along. Over at the table, the hot pots were dual-chambered: One side held a vermilion-colored beef bone broth spiced with Sichuan chili peppers and peppercorns, and the other a broth made from chicken feet and seasoned with Chinese five-spice powder, soy sauce and green onion.
Beside them were the fixings: thin rolls of beef slices, glass and ramen noodles and various contributions from the invitees. Whang brought Korean rice cake medallions, Topsoe brought dried tofu skin and Seybold brought Taiwanese spinach as well as enoki, beech and shiitake mushrooms.
A platter of carved Asian pear, dragon fruit, crunchy Korean grapes, star fruit, and winter melon served as dessert, as well as another serving of Honeycrisp apples bearing the Chinese lucky star. Pickowicz had also assembled what’s known as a Tray of Togetherness, which usually has six or eight compartments (both are considered lucky numbers). This one had hawthorn-flavored candies, Japanese white peach gummies, Chinese egg roll cookies, dried green mango, mulberry, and persimmons, chocolate wrapped in gold foil, and fresh tangerines.
The drinks: Baijiu, a Chinese spirit made from fermented grains, was served throughout the meal for toasts, or ganbei — the literal translation of which is “dry cup,” since the idea is that afterward, participants show their empty glasses to prove their participation. For spritzes, Pickowicz also mixed the liquor with a simple syrup made from hawthorn berries. Alternately, guests could select from seltzer, Tsingtao, a light Chinese lager, Champagne, or other sparkling wines. The idea was that the bubbles would cleanse the palate between bites of spicy broth.
The music: Pickowicz curated the evening’s playlist, tapping into the 1980s and ’90s trend of “Cantonese and Mandarin pop stars covering Western songs,” she says. The result was a compilation of feel-good covers — the Cranberries’ “Dreams” as performed by Faye Wong, Deanie Ip’s rendition of “September” by Earth, Wind & Fire — paired with originals such as “Lovefool” by the Cardigans and “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears.
The conversation: The guests enjoyed comparing Chinese zodiac signs and the lottery tickets, of which Cohen was the night’s sole winner with $40. Due to the belief that one’s zodiac year can actually bring misfortune, Shi, whose birth sign is the fire horse this year, stated that she planned to be more cautious. Naturally, the hot pots also sparked conversation, as diners recounted the cracking of a quail egg or worked together to free unruly noodles from the broth.
Pickowicz gives you an entertaining tip if you want to host your own hot pot party: alternate old and new friends, hot pot experts, and novices, in the seating arrangement. This aligns with the section “The Lucky 8 Hot Pot Personalities” from her new cookbook. She sees the Director taking charge, the Mother taking care of others, the Partner keeping the mood upbeat, the Newbie experiencing hot pot’s beauty for the first time, and so on.
Pickowicz and Chan are naturally Directors, but this dinner’s style allowed them to take a little break from those responsibilities. Pickowicz states, “It was liberating to let go of some of that control.” “And it made it feel more true to the spirit of a potluck, where we all get to write the story of the meal together.”
