Hi Richard,

As Bob and others have already described the Mongolian Hot Pot , I'll
just add my two cents (only US, alas, not even Euro). The Mongolian Hot
Pot was briefly fashionable in the US a couple of decades ago -- when
people learned that it could be the centerpiece, literally, of social
events -- rather like the earlier fondue fad.

Large numbers of inexpensive brass Hot Pots were imported, most --
again like the fondue sets that so many people received as wedding
gifts -- were never used. I occasionally see them in garage sales,
often in their original boxes.

Gary