Mala Xiang Guo with Octopus, Shiitake and Greens

Octopus first gets tough as the muscle proteins contract. It gets soft again only after the collagen turns to gelatin in a long, slow cook. The jar has done that slow cook. More heat now only pushes water out and makes the muscle firm again. A dry surface and a short sear give browning on the outside and keep the inside soft. Water on the surface holds it at 100 °C, so it steams and does not brown.

Octopus skin and connective tissue hold a lot of collagen. When the octopus cooked in the jar, the collagen became gelatin. It went into the packing liquid and set when it cooled. The lemon taste is citric acid and wine vinegar from the packing liquid. Gelatin melts at about body temperature, so it is liquid at once in the hot pan. As the water boils off, the gelatin becomes a sticky film. The film holds the chilli oil on the vegetables, so the oil does not collect in the pan. The jelly also carries salt, so taste before you add more.

Guanylate (5'-GMP) gives dried shiitake most of its savoury taste. The mushroom's own enzymes make it from RNA. A cold soak, then heat in the pan, lets this happen before other enzymes break the guanylate down. Guanylate with glutamate tastes much more savoury than either one alone. The glutamate here comes from the MSG in Lao Gan Ma. This gives depth without more salt.

Chillies and oil heat together. The oil takes up capsaicin and the chilli flavour before the chilli sugars burn. Chillies put into smoking oil get bitter, black skins in seconds. Burgundy is the target colour: the roasted taste is there and nothing is burnt.

Sanshools cause the tingle and numbness of Sichuan pepper. Heat breaks them down. The whole peppercorns fried in the oil give aroma. The ground pepper at the end gives the tingle.