Hot pepper soup

Put a kilo of beef bone, 500 grams beef shin and four litres of water in a pot, bring to a boil, drop to a simmer and skim thoroughly.

Add an inch of smashed ginger, one star anise and a quarter teaspoon each Sichuan peppercorn and fennel seed, cover and simmer over a low flame five to six hours.

At 90 minutes the beef shin should be tender to a chopstick; slice off any remaining cartilage, return it to the pot and let the shin cool, keeping the soup going.

Slice about 40 grams of the cooled shin for the soup and freeze the rest.

After six hours, ladle out one litre of stock for today's portion and save the rest.

Pound half a tablespoon of whole white peppercorns into a powder.

For thirteen spice, grind 5 g Sichuan peppercorns, 5 g fennel seed, four star anise, 2 g cinnamon, 1 g clove, 1 g Cao Guo, 1 g sand ginger, 1 g dried galangal, 2 g Chinese angelica, 5 g dried ginger, 1 g nutmeg and three long peppers.

Strain the ground spice, blitz the coarser bits again, strain again and discard the remaining solids.

Combine 100 grams AP flour, half a teaspoon salt and 75 grams water, cover and let sit 20 minutes.

Stretch and fold the dough under itself into a ball; fold three times in total with a 20 minute rest in between each, then rest a final 20 minutes.

Wash the dough in one cup of water with the same folding motion for three to four minutes until the dough is soft and the water milky; strain, reserve the water and return any caught gluten.

Repeat with a second cup of water for a minute or two, reserve that water, then a third cup for another minute, which does not need reserving.

Move the seitan into a bowl of fresh water, stretch it and let it soak until needed.

Soak 8 g dried peanuts, 8 g dried daylily, 8 g woodear and 8 g glass noodles as directed, and 2 g kelp for at least half an hour; chop the daylily into one inch pieces, slice the woodear into strips, slice the kelp into half centimeter strips and chop the noodles into inch and a half sections.

Bring the litre of stock to a boil in a pot, add the soaked peanuts, swap to medium and cover for five minutes.

Add the sliced beef and everything else, cover and simmer another three minutes or so.

Stretch the seitan and tear little pieces into the soup with a snapping motion; boil about a minute until they float.

Season with half a teaspoon thirteen spice, half a teaspoon Sichuan peppercorn powder, half a tablespoon salt, one teaspoon chicken bouillon powder, a quarter teaspoon MSG, a teaspoon of soy sauce and a generous two teaspoons of white peppercorn powder.

Over a low flame, drizzle in the reserved starch water bit by bit, checking the consistency - about a cup was used - until it is about as thick as hot and sour soup.

Finish with a teaspoon of dark Chinese vinegar and half a teaspoon of toasted sesame oil and take off the heat; top each bowl with cilantro and serve with yotiao.