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1
Place the sliced liver in a bowl, cover with cold milk, and leave to soak for 30 minutes. Drain, rinse briefly under cold running water, and pat thoroughly dry with kitchen paper. The slices should show no residual blood and smell clean.
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2
Combine the egg white, cornstarch, soy sauce, and five-spice in a bowl. Add the dried liver slices and turn to coat evenly. Set aside to rest for 10 minutes. The marinade should cling as a thin, opaque film to each slice.
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3
Prepare the ginger julienne and spring onion batons and keep them at the wok side. The ginger must be fine enough — no thicker than a matchstick — to cook through completely in the time the liver takes.
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4
This is where the dish lives or dies. Set the wok over the highest available heat and leave it until it begins to smoke. Add the oil; when the first wisps of smoke rise from the oil's surface, add the liver slices in a single layer. Do not stir for 20 seconds, then toss and stir continuously. Add the ginger and spring onion. The entire cooking time from the moment the liver enters the wok must not exceed 60–90 seconds. Pull the wok from the heat the instant every slice has changed from deep red to an even, pale brown with no raw-pink centre visible — residual heat will carry the cooking through.
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5
Splash the finishing soy sauce around the edge of the wok, toss once off the heat, and transfer immediately to a warm plate. Each slice should be silky and yielding under light pressure, not firm or springy. Serve at once.