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PREPARE AHEAD:
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1. Place the pork, beef, calf's liver or chicken livers and sale or pike in your freezer for about 30 minutes, or only long enough to firm the meat for easier slicing.
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2. Then, with a cleaver or sharp knife, cut the pork, beef, liver and fish horizontally into the thinnest possible slices. To make fairly uniform pieces that will be easy to handle with chopsticks, cut the slices into strips 3 inches long and 1 inch wide.
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3. Bone, skin and slice the chicken breast in the following fashion: Lay the whole chicken breast on its side on a chopping board. Holding the breast firmly in place, cut it lengthwise along the curved breastbone with a cleaver or sharp knife.
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4. Carefully cut away all the meat from one side of the breastbone. Then grasp the meat in one hand and pull it off the bones and away from the skin-using the cleaver to free the meat if necessary.
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5. Turn the breast over and repeat on the other side. Remove each tube shaped fillet from the boned breast meat, and pull out and discard the ten. don in each fillet.
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6. Freeze the chicken for 30 minutes to firm it. Then lay the breast meat and fillets flat, and cut them horizontally into paper-thin slices. Then cut the slices crosswise into pieces 3 inches wide and 1 inch long.
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7. In a large, flat pan or dish, cover the cellophane noodles with 2 cups of warm water and soak them for 30 minutes. Then drain the noodles and cut them into 6-inch lengths.
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8. Shell the shrimp. With a small, sharp knife, make a shallow incision down their backs and lift out the black or white intestinal vein with the point of the knife. Slice the shrimp in half, lengthwise.
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9. With a cleaver or sharp knife, cut away any wilted leaves from the cabbage and separate it into stalks. Wash the stalks under cold water and cut each stalk into 1-by-3-inch pieces.
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10. Blanch the cabbage by dropping the pieces into a pot of boiling water. Immediately turn off the heat. Let the cabbage pieces rest in the water for 3 minutes, then drain and pat them dry.
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11. Trim the spinach leaves of their stalks and wash the leaves thoroughly.
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12. Arrange each kind of meat, fish or seafood, and the noodles and vegetables in overlapping layers oh plates or in separate roes on 2 large platters.
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13. Mix the soy sauce, sesame-seed oil and wine in small bowl, and stir in the eggs. Mix thoroughly, then ladle a tablespoon of the sauce into 6 individual soup bowls, and pour the rest into a serving bowl.
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14. Have the above ingredients and the chicken stock within easy reach.
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TO COOK:
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1. If you have a fire pot, preheat the broiler to its highest point. Arrange 20 charcoal briquettes side by side in a baking pan lined with heavy aluminum foil and place it under the broiler.
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2. Heat for 10 to 15 minutes until a white ash forms on the briquettes. With tongs, transfer the briquettes to the funnel of the fire pot. Lay an asbestos mat in the center of the dining table and carefully set the fire pot on it.
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3. If you do not have a fire pot, substitute an electric casserole set at 300°. In a 3- to 4-quart saucepan, bring the chicken stock to a bubbling boil, then pour it into the firepot (or electric casserole).
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4. Keep the stock simmering throughout the meal. Arrange the plates or platters of uncooked food around the fire pot and give each guest a bowl of sauce. Place the extra sauce in its bowl on the table.
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5. Traditionally, each guest picks up a piece of food from the platters with chopsticks and transfers it to a wire strainer to cook in the simmering stock. When cooked to taste, it is plucked out of the strainer with chopsticks, dipped into sauce and eaten.
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6. The strainer may be eliminated and the food held in the stock with chopsticks. Or long-handled forks with heatproof handles may be used-fondue forks if available.
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7. When all the meat, fish and seafood have been consumed, a little of the stock (now a rich, highly flavored broth) is ladled into each guest's bowl and drunk as a soup.
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8. The noodles and vegetables are then dropped into the stock remaining in the fire pot, cooked for a minute or so, and ladled with the broth into the bowls to be eaten as a last course.
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