Bang bang chicken is one of those dishes, like piccalilli and bibimbap, whose popularity undoubtedly stems at least in part from its joyful-sounding name – in English, anyway. As the Chinese-American Leung family explain in their blog, The Woks of Life, “Bang, 棒” in Chinese, refers to an instrument used for hitting, beating and/or smashing”, which is the method employed to prepare the chicken, of which more later.
In any case, there’s more to this Sichuan favourite than just a memorable moniker. “Strange flavour” sauce, for a start, which is strange only in the sense of being unaccountably delicious: a punchy combination of hot and numbing Sichuan peppercorns, spicy chillies, tangy vinegar, rich sesame paste, salty soy sauce and just a pinch of sugar, it’s arguably the single greatest thing ever to happen to cold chicken, and that’s including the coronation of 1953. As happy packed up for a picnic as it is as the centrepiece of a banquet, I’d back this as the ultimate chicken salad.
