> Has anyone here tried using an electric wok in place of a hot pot for
> Steamboat? I saw it recently on a tv show and was intrigued.

I've not tried using a elect. wok as we've always used a gas ring attached
to a tank of butane gas & the steamboat is placed over that, just like in
restaurants or street side stalls all over SE Asia. I believe the heat from
the gas ring is faster at boiling the soup stock & allows better control
when simmering after it has reached boiling point. That's when all the
goodies are added & the soup stock takes on an added richness in flavour. I
guess if you're using an elect. wok or hot pot, you'll have to check these
things out.

> I have put a hot pot on my Xmas list but have stayed that temporarily
while
> I consider this as an alternative.

I did consider buying an elect. steamboat a while back but wasn't sure so
i'm still stuck on the gas. Or an even better alternative, (for a laugh or
if you want to make a show of it) is to do it the old way, over a charcoal
brazier just like in the 60's/70's.

> While we're at it, are there any favourite steamboat dipping sauces out
> there in the group. ?

We normally have light soya sauce & sliced fresh chillies, pickled green
chillies in vinegar or sometimes Chinese vinegar if eating it with certain
seafoods. Soup stock wise, we normally have the regular soup stock which is
a meat based stock & sometimes a Thai TomYam style spicy soup. You can also
try for a 'herbal' meat soup stock (Bak Kut Teh) seeing that you're posting
from a .au address so you might be familiar with this kind of 'soup' as
quite a few Malaysians & Singaporeans live there. How is Perth these days?
must be enjoying a nice summer, i assume it is Perth in WA that you're
posting from.

DC.