Chinese · Sichuan · appetizer

Bang Bang Chicken (Bang Bang Ji)

Bang Bang Chicken (Bang Bang Ji) reads salinity 5.0, umami 4.9 and sweetness 4.3 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Chinese · Sichuan appetizer, about 1 hr 20 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

The measured notes (of 18)

Salinity 5.0 · Umami 4.9 · Sweetness 4.3 · Nutty 3.6 · Heat 3.6 · Richness 3.5 · Allium 3.4 · Funk & Ferment 3.0 · Warm Spice 2.5 · Herbaceous 2.2 · Sourness 1.7 · Earthy 1.2 · Citrus 1.1 · Floral 0.9 · Bitterness 0.7

What's in it (14)

Time & effort: about 1 hr 20 min (50 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 118.1 kcal, 5.4 g protein, 8.4 g fat, 6.5 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (6 steps)

  1. Put the chicken legs in a pan with the ginger, halved spring onions and Shaoxing wine. Cover with cold water by 3 cm, bring barely to the boil, then drop to the faintest tremble and poach 20 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the chicken in the broth 20 minutes more so it finishes cooking without seizing.
  2. Lift the chicken into iced water for 5 minutes to set the skin, then drain and chill. Reserve and strain the broth.
  3. Pull the meat from the bone and tear it along the grain into strips the width of a pencil. Tearing, not slicing, is the point: the ragged surfaces hold the dressing. The name comes from the older practice of beating the cooked bird with a stick to loosen its fibres.
  4. Salt the cucumber batons and leave 10 minutes, then pour off the water they give up and lay them on a serving plate.
  5. Whisk the loosened sesame paste with the soy sauce, sugar, vinegar and ground roasted Sichuan pepper until smooth, then stir the chilli oil in last so the red oil marbles through rather than emulsifying away.
  6. Pile the chicken on the cucumber, spoon the dressing over, scatter with sesame seeds and sliced spring onion, and toss at the table. Serve at room temperature, before anything hot arrives.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.