Dong'an ziji

As tradition built it

Serves 4. 20 minutes.

Ingredients

• 1 young hen, around 750g, jointed
• 1 tbsp chicken fat (rendered), or vegetable oil
• 1 tsp Sichuan pepper, toasted and ground
• 20 g ginger, sliced
• 3 dried chillies
• 1 fresh bird's-eye chilli, chopped
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 300 ml Dong'an-style rice vinegar (or a good light rice vinegar)
• 200 ml chicken stock
• to taste salt
• 1 tsp sesame oil, to finish

Method

1. Poach the chicken pieces in simmering stock for about 6 minutes, until roughly 70% cooked through, then remove and cool slightly.
2. Heat the chicken fat in a wok, add the ground Sichuan pepper and ginger, fry briefly for aroma.
3. Add the chicken pieces and stir-fry hot and fast for 2 to 3 minutes.
4. Add the dried and fresh chilli, chilli powder, salt, then the vinegar and stock.
5. Cook a further 3 minutes at a hard boil, reducing until nearly dry, so the sauce clings rather than pools, then finish with the sesame oil.

What a modern chef changes

The chicken and the sourness, decoupled and then reunited.

Rung 5

Method

1. Sous vide the chicken pieces at 65°C for 90 minutes, for genuinely even, tender flesh the traditional part-boil cannot guarantee, then pat dry.
2. Sear the cooked chicken hard in the chicken fat first, building colour before any liquid goes in, since it no longer needs to cook through, only to take on char and aroma.
3. Build and reduce the vinegar sauce entirely separately, then toss the already-cooked, already-seared chicken through it only in the final 60 seconds, so the glaze coats without ever overcooking the meat underneath it.