Bang Bang Chicken

Bang Bang Chicken comes from the hills of Yingjing county in Ya'an, western Sichuan; the Zhou family's recipe there is recorded as founded in the late Qing and is now a provincial intangible-heritage craft, with the dish reckoned at over two centuries old. The name is literal: one cook held a heavy cleaver against the cooked bird while a second tapped the back of the blade with a wooden mallet (棒棒), driving it cleanly through the meat and bone so every slice came out paper-thin and even. The mallet also helps loosen the cooked flesh into fine threads.

The threads come cold and finely shredded, slick rather than dry. Sesame and chili-oil hit first, broad and nutty, then a thread of soy-savory sweetness, and finally the slow tingling lift of ground Sichuan peppercorn at the back of the tongue. The chicken stays moist and tender, never stringy.

Tenderness comes from gentle poaching: the whole bird or leg goes into water with ginger and scallion, simmers only briefly, then steeps off the heat as the water cools, so the proteins set without seizing and the meat holds its juices. A cold-water plunge afterward tightens the skin. The cooked flesh is then shredded along the grain into fine, even fibers—traditionally by tapping a wooden mallet against the cleaver's spine. The dressing is an emulsion: sesame paste loosened with a little stock or oil suspends the chili oil, soy, sugar and ground Sichuan peppercorn into a smooth coating that clings to every thread.