Sichuan Rabbit (Hua Jiao Tu / 花椒兔)

Joint the rabbit into small pieces — no large sections, so that every surface can drink in the dressing or braising sauce rather than leaving the centre bland. Work methodically through the saddle, legs, and shoulders, aiming for pieces no larger than a small chicken wing joint.

Bring the water to the boil with the ginger, spring onions, and Shaoxing wine, then lower the rabbit pieces in and maintain a steady simmer — a rolling boil will toughen the flesh before it is cooked through. Blanch until all pink has gone to the bone and the surface of the thickest joint is fully set when probed; the blanch also draws off the grey fat that would otherwise dull and cloud a cold sesame dressing.

Lift the rabbit from the water and cool completely at room temperature before refrigerating until cold throughout, so the flesh firms to the point where the sesame dressing will cling to each piece rather than sliding off warm, slack surfaces. The rabbit must feel cold and resilient to the touch before you proceed; test the thickest joint at the bone.

This is where the dish lives or dies: combine the chilli oil, soy sauce, sesame paste or sesame oil, and ground roasted Sichuan pepper, then dress the cold rabbit pieces thoroughly, turning each one so that the mala flavour reaches every surface and not merely the top. Taste — the dressing must strike at once as numbing, hot, savoury, and faintly sweet from the rabbit itself; adjust with more chilli oil or ground Sichuan pepper until the balance holds.

For the braised variation, follow the hongshao technique: fry the blanched pieces with the doubanjiang and dried chillies, stirring until the oil turns brick-red and deeply fragrant, so that the paste loses its raw edge and its colour bleeds fully into the fat before any liquid is added. Unlike hongshao pork, which can take long, slow heat, rabbit dries out rapidly — pull it from the heat the moment the flesh yields to light finger pressure and will not recover if left a moment longer.