There are plenty of different ingredients you can put in your bowl to personalize your creation: Soy sauce, sesame oil or paste, chili, garlic, coriander, vinegar and Chinese barbecue sauce (see inset, above) are some choices.

NPR: Friends, Family and a Feast: A Hot Pot How-To

The combination forms a sauce-like paste with a more integrated aroma and flavor.

NPR: Indian Food: Eating in Technicolor

The onions are used in a recipe for roasted sweet summer corn, whose master stroke is a sauce made from butter and white miso paste.

WSJ: The Momofuku Cookbook by David Chang

Add the chili bean paste, the spices, the potatoes, the soy sauce and the beer, cover the pot and let it boil.

WSJ: Danny Bowien's Henan Chicken Stew | Slow Food Fast

Lee Kum Sheung of Guangdong Province launched his business in 1888 selling only two products: the mysterious, dark sauce made from oyster juice and a shrimp paste.

FORBES: Hong Kong's Lee Kum Kee: Supplying the Sauce Worldwide

That evening , the Lindens, their two sons and I feasted on a local version of the classic hong shao yu (red-cooked fish), fried until golden then braised in a soy-based sauce with fragrant seasonings like star anise, cinnamon and chili paste.

WSJ: Cormorant Fishing in Yunnan Province, China