Hot Rock Dinner

About the Rock

This is a fun interactive dinner, like a fondue, but better.

Set the hot stone on the rack on the table, provide guests with fondue forks and bowls of raw ingredients like steak, shrimp, fish, and vegetables, and let them cook their own dinner! A great way to spend an evening.

You can get these stones, with alcohol burners and stand at http://www.hotstones.com/. I'm not endorsing that site in particular, but they sell the same stone as I have and the price seems right. I don't recall where I got mine. One of these stones holds enough to feed four people in a reasonable amount of time. I have two and use both when feeding six or more.

It is helpful to have fondue plates. We like to make a variety of homemade sauces and try different combinations. Steak with Tarragon Butter, shrimp with mustard sauce, vegetables with aioli, etc..

Getting the Rock Ready

(Adapted shamelessly from the abovementioned site)

• Before using your Hot Stone for the first time, clean with soap and water and dry thoroughly.
• Each time before use, place the Hot Stone in the wire holder and put into a cool oven. Heat to 450° for 20 - 30 minutes.
• Place alcohol burners onto burner stand and fill with 70% isopropyl alcohol (Rubbing Alcohol). If you are having trouble lighting the burners try warming up the bottle of alcohol in warm water to get it above room temperature before filling and lighting burners.
• Light the burners. Adjust the burners by sliding the handle to the right and left until the burners burn without noticeable smoke. Estimated burning time for full burners is 70 minutes. Periodically check adjustment.
• Be sure to use heavy, heat-protective gloves or pads whenever handling the heated Hot Stone. All surfaces of the Hot Stone and wire rack will be extremely hot and may burn anything it comes in contact with. Place the heated Hot Stone and holder on to the burner stand.
• Grease the top (side with groove) of the Hot Stone with a small amount of salad oil or cooking spray.
• If desired, sprinkle a small amount of course salt on the grill before grilling each time.
• After using, allow stone to cool completely (at least 30 minutes) then wash the Hot Stone with soapy warm water using the Hot Stone Cleaning Tool (Not Included), scrub pad or scraping device. (I don't use soap, I treat the stone like cast iron. Hot water and a razor scraper to get the bulk off, then finish with a plastic brush.)
• The appearance of thin cracks in the stone is normal and will not affect the strength or function of the Hot Stone.

What to cook

Best results are with thin (1/4 inch thick) slices of sirloin or tenderloin, and raw shrimp, peeled and deveined. Ahi tuna, salmon, etc, are all fine. White flaky fish may fall apart too easily though. Green onions, bell pepper, and slices of portobello mushroom all work well. Pearl onions are good but tend to roll off the stone a lot!

For obvious cross-contamination reasons, pork and poultry are not really suitable. If you absolutely must have it for some reason, pre-cook those items completely, then just reheat them on the stone.

Scallops work ok, but you may want to cut large sea scallops into smaller pieces. Dry-pack scallops are preferred.