Hot oil-seared biang biang noodles

Weigh the flour, salt and water into a bowl and form a dough with no dry flour left, about five minutes.

Cover with a bowl and rest a full 30 minutes.

Knead three to five minutes to develop the gluten, then rest five more minutes and check for a gluten window; if it breaks before going transparent, rest another five minutes and knead again.

Shape the dough into a rectangle roughly six inches long and 12 inches wide, square up the edges, and cut into six equal pieces about two inches wide, each roughly 100 grams.

Brush the pieces with neutral oil and store overlapping like books in a container; rest at least one hour and up to three days.

Set a pot of water on to boil.

Chop three leaves of Napa cabbage, one green onion, half a stalk of Chinese celery and one Chinese chive, and grate four cloves of garlic.

Measure 45 grams of neutral oil into a bowl and grind the Sichuan peppercorns in a mortar and pestle with the chili powder set aside.

Mix the noodle sauce: soy sauce, black vinegar, oyster sauce, a three gram pinch of salt and freshly grated ginger.

Roll a noodle stack to roughly three inches wide and a little longer, then make an indentation down the centre with a bench scraper or chopstick.

Grab both ends, stretch gently to roughly shoulder width, then bounce the noodle flat against the work surface while pulling until it is roughly four feet long; pick it up by the centre and rip straight down into a ring.

Boil the noodles no more than two minutes, stirring with tongs or chopsticks, until chewy; lift into a large mixing bowl.

Add a big pinch of salt to the water and blanch the Napa cabbage for just a minute.

Assemble over the noodles: the blanched cabbage, a couple of spoonfuls of the noodle sauce, the aromatics, and the spices in a tight pile on top.

Pour the smoking hot oil over the spice pile to bloom the fat-soluble flavour compounds, then mix and serve.