Hunan Steamed Fish Head with Chopped Salted Chillies

Lay the Silver carp head skin side up on a board. Scrape the scales and the slippery black membrane with the back of a knife, cut away the gill flaps and any blood clot in the throat, then rinse under cold water until the water runs clear. Pat very dry with kitchen paper, inside and out.

⚠ Tip: Scales and gills are where the muddy river smell hides. A knife-back scrape does this faster than a spoon and leaves the skin intact.

Slice half the Ginger into thin discs and cut the Spring onions into lengths. Scatter them over the platter of a steamer to make a bed — they lift the head off the plate so the flesh cooks through steam rather than boiling in its own juices.

Sprinkle the fish flesh with 1 tsp Salt and 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine. Tear the remaining ginger with your fingers and push it into the open cavity. Leave it for 15 min while the steamer comes to a boil.

Stir the Chopped salted chillies with the Lard, the Sugar and the Ground white pepper in a small bowl. It should taste hot, sharply sour and only faintly sweet; the sugar is there to round the ferment, not to sweeten anything.

⚠ Tip: Use the chilli straight from the jar with its brine. Rinsing it kills the fermented depth that makes this dish what it is.

Set the fish on its bed in the steamer, spoon chilli topping over the flesh and into the cavity in an even layer, then cover. Steam over a rolling boil — 1.5 l Water in a wok with the rack set above it works — until a chopstick slides through the cheek without resistance and the eye turns chalk-white, about 17 min for a head this size.

⚠ Tip: Steam at a hard boil and don't lift the lid. Every time you peek you lose the heat that sets the gelatin around the eye; the cheek should be slippery but never raw at the bone.

Take the platter out and tilt it over the sink to pour off the cloudy juices that have collected under the fish, keeping the head intact. The flesh stays; the muddy water goes.

Mix the Dark soy sauce with the Light soy sauce and sprinkle it over the fish, into the cavity and around the plate. Scatter the Garlic along the top and pack the Spring onions around the rim. Spoon the Chinkiang vinegar over the chilli in three or four streaks.

⚠ Tip: Keep the fish warm while you do this; the oil in the next step needs something hot to land on.

Heat the Neutral oil in a small pan over high heat until it is properly smoking — a wisp rising off the surface, not a shimmer — then pour it straight down the line of garlic and chilli. It should hiss hard and split the aromatics open.

⚠ Tip: This is the one moment smoking oil is right. Let it go pale and it will taste flat; only worry if the scallion blackens instantly, which means pull back.

Tear the Coriander over the top if you like, and carry the whole platter to the table. Eat the cheeks, the collar and the eye first while they're warm — scoop the flesh through the chilli oil, and work the bones with your hands.

⚠ Tip: Serve it with the biggest bowl of plain rice you've got; the juices at the bottom of the plate are the best spoonful.