Traditional Beijing shuan yangrou Photo: CFP

As the merriment of Spring Festival fades into the cool remaining days of winter, keeping one's internal fire going can be an uphill battle.

Some are content to coast out these frigid weeks at home doing as little as possible under the warmth of blankets with seasons' worth of TV shows and delivery menus. But is this how you really want to spend your time?

For those not ready to pass the time holed up away from the world there has to be another option.

Now I'm sure if you consult the tomes of ancient Chinese knowledge, you'll turn up lots of wisdom about how to stay warm in winter.

An easier and less esoteric option is to eat your way to warmth by diving chopsticks first into a hot pot feast.

Spend any amount of time in China and you're pretty much guaranteed to sample hot pot.

Few meals are better made for feasting with friends and family than this. Order up a wide range of meats and veggies, toss them into a bubbling broth and out comes something wondrous.

Do it right with a case of beer and enough ingredients and it can easily melt the hours away and leave you warmer and happier than seemingly possible.

No matter where you try it there are the universal elements of dish, broth, ingredients and dipping sauce. That said, within the hot pot canon there is enough variety between different regional styles to almost make these seem entirely separate dishes. Let's take a look at three types that define the hot pot experience.

Beijing 



Though hot pot might hail from the days of the Khan in Mongolia, it was in Beijing that it truly grew into what we know it as today.

Called shuan yangrou after the swish-swish motion that diners do with their chopsticks to cook the ingredients in a matter of seconds.

The ancient bronze and copper vessels look like something out of a forgotten age.

While many other styles are content to let a hot plate beneath do the work of heating, Beijing stacks glowing embers of charcoal into the chimney that sits in the center of the pot.

Also sauce-wise these joints tend to serve the traditional base of sesame paste. Into this creamy peanut butter-esque concoction diners can customize their dipping sauce with sesame seeds, vinegar, chili oil, green onions or cilantro.

Inside that ancient caldron goes a broth of water, dates, goji berries and ginger among other ingredients.

Since this style comes from the cold and less fertile lands of the North, meat is the focus here. While many of these establishment's menus may list a plethora of options, there is really only one choice to do it as-per-tradition: lamb.

An easy way to judge the authenticity of the spot you're at is to check the meat that comes out. If it's frozen and rolled up in neat little tubes, you're probably getting something prepared in a factory far away.

However if you see rough planks of glistening red lamb on a plate it's most likely shaved by hand at the restaurant from choice cuts of lamb. This is what you want.

Chongqing 



All hot pots deliver the required winter-killing heat in the form of boiling broth in the dish. If you're seeking a spicy type of heat, however, look no further than the Chongqing variety.

Inside these caldrons you'll see a shade of red that immediately speaks to the level of fiery chili that's sure to get your appetite going.

Dating back to this style's beginnings as a worker's dish these pots are traditionally separated into nine zones that allow many hungry diners to feast together.

Also setting this style apart is the use of ingredients on a stick. Wooden skewers make retrieval easier than chasing around a piece of meat with your chopstick as the steam and bubbles tempt you to give up.

What brings the heat in this style is a broth crafted from chili, numbing pepper and beef fat. According to locals, the synthesis of pepper and fat allows you not only to taste the chili burn but also to protect your stomach by lining it with oil.

The dipping sauce of sesame oil and chili continues to build on this theme. Into this crimson broth the ingredients that you want to add for some local flavor are cow stomach and the small river fish that are abundant in a river town like Chongqing.

Guangdong

For a glimpse of this style at its most refined and wild there is no place better to chopstick into than Guangdong.

The geography of the cuisine within the province makes for the deciding factor between whether it's luxury or "out there."

In Guangzhou, and Hong Kong for that matter, the ingredient of choice is certainly seafood.

In this land defined by water you can find nearly any type of sea creature desired. The classic options are shrimp or pieces from a fillet of fish.

To match the delicate flavor of these seafood ingredients are sauces that lack the heat of Chongqing or the sesame overload of the North.

Poured into the sauce cup here are XO Sauce or sha cha. Both are based on dried seafood along with other aromatics. Also you're more likely to see sugar at the condiment bar.

One more about-face that Guangdong's hot pot employs is a regional variety that swaps traditional broth for rice porridge. This base allows diners to spoon up a hearty bowl of porridge infused with the flavors of seafood and vegetables at the end of the meal.

Up the coast in Chaozhou they are playing a different game altogether.

Balls of all sorts are generally what you'll find. These are meatballs and balls of shrimp or fish.

Some combine the two together with balls that have pork on the outside and shrimp on the interior. No matter what type these will have a chewy and bouncy texture.

Beyond the meatball front, Chaozhou is also known to add some of the more wild ingredients. Snake and turtle aren't uncommon.

After you've made your way around a few different styles of hot pot you might come up with your own perfect combo. So next time the craving strikes, break out the hot plate and load up on all the hot pot goodness you seek.