Cookaholics Bulletin Board

I got a stainless steel hot pot on sale somewhere a few years ago, and only just got to try it out. I'm not sure why, but it had a very hard time actually staying hot. I brought the broth to a boil before we started adding stuff to it, but it didn't get hot enough to properly wilt spinach! Shrimps were taking several minutes to cook properly. The carrots stayed crunchy, and so did the zucchini. It was tasty, but really should have been hotter.
I was using a small can of gel fuel,(the only one that fit) and the chimney was drawing well. Is there a hotter fuel I could use? There does not seem to be a place to put, say, charcoal briquettes.

What do you mean, exactly, but "hot pot"?

If it is the chinese style hotpot (wok shaped, usually divided down them middle or so), i'd think it is much too large (and with much too much heat loss) for a gel thingie. I'd normally use a portable butane burner. This is also what i've seen used at parties. For the style with a ceramic/stonewear (dunno which it is) pot, which I do every couple of weeks, i also use a butane burner. I associate this with Japanese hot pot, but all the ones at the store are chinese, so I am pretty sure it is a variant of chinese hot pot; the Japanese might actually use some kind of very thin cast iron; that is what i've been served in authentic japanese restaurants, anyway (catering to Japanese clients). That one seems to be smaller diameter, but still a lot of fluid. When i've done a broth fondue kind of thing, using the much smaller european style pot, i've gotten away with the gel burner. Which reminds me, I need to do that again!

I don't know how to show just an image, so here is a link to something very like what I have.
clickety

Becky,

I haven't found that the solid fuel ones do much more than keep something hot which was already cooked. If you go to a restaurant, you'll notice they have butane or propane.