This Mongolian dish, which has long since become part and parcel of Peking food, ranks second in fame only to Peking duck.

Ingredients:

1⁄2 leg of Iamb, ideally, spring lamb, about 2 1⁄2 pounds (1.12 kilograms)
4 ounces (115 grams) cellophane noodles
1 Chinese celery cabbage, about 1 3⁄4 pounds (800 grams), trimmed
8 ounces (225 grams) dried egg or buckwheat noodles
For the dip:
8 tablespoons sesame paste
2 cakes fermented red bean curd or about 4 tablespoons, with 2 tablespoons own juice
6 tablespoons Shaohsing wine or medium-dry sherry
3 tablespoons sugar
8 tablespoons thin soy sauce
3 to 4 tablespoons hot chili oil
3 to 4 tablespoons sesame oil
4 tablespoons fish sauce
4 ounces (115 grams) coriander leaves, chopped into small pieces
10 or 12 large scallions, cut into small rounds

Directions:

Ask the butcher to bone the lamb for you. If possible, freeze for 3 or 4 hours, so that the meat becomes firm and easier to cut into paper-thin slices. Meanwhile, soak the cellophane noodles in plenty of boiling water in a bowl, for a minimum of 20 to 30 minutes, so they expand. Drain. Make 2 or 3 cuts with scissors to shorten them. Transfer to a serving bowl.

Slice the celery cabbage at 1-inch (2.5-centimeter) intervals. Put on a plate. Plunge the noodles into plenty of boiling water, return to a boil, then continue to cook for several minutes, until they are soft yet al dente. Drain and rinse under cold running water. Put on a plate or into a bowl.

Prepare the dip: Put the sesame paste into a fairly large serving bowl and gradually add about 4 ounces (1⁄2 cup) of water to dilute, stirring until smoothly blended. Add 3 or 4 tablespoons of water to the red bean curd and blend to a creamy consistency. Pour into the serving bowl, then add the wine or sherry, sugar, soy sauce, the oils and fish sauce and stir until well mixed.

Take the lamb out of the freezer. Trim excess fat and cut into slices, as paper-thin as you can possibly manage. Ideally, each slice should be about 4 by 1 1⁄2 inches (10 by 3.5 centimeters). Arrange them on several serving plates in single layers but overlapping each other. Refrigerate, covered, until ready to eat.

Put all the ingredients on the dining table. 8 If a traditional fire pot is used, heat the charcoal and put into the chimney in the middle of the pot. Put on the table on top of a thick heatproof mat. An electric pot may be used. In either case, pour boiling water into the heated pot to come about halfway up the sides, and bring back to a boil. The feast is now ready.

To serve, provide each person with a pair of bamboo chopsticks (not plastic or lacquered ones), a small wire strainer made especially for fire-pot feasts (optional), a bowl and a small plate.

To eat, each person spoons some sauce into his bowl and adds some coriander leaves and scallions. Everyone then picks up 1 or 2 slices of lamb at a time, puts them into the strainer (or uses chopsticks) and immerses them in the water in the pot. The meat is removed after a few seconds (or longer if very well-done meat is preferred) and dipped into the sauce before eating.

After about half of the lamb has been consumed and the water in the pot has become a tasty broth, put in some of the cabbage and cellophane noodles for everyone to share. They are dipped into the sauce before eating. Whenever necessary, replenish the water level in the pot.

After about three-quarters of the lamb has been consumed, put in half or all of the remaining noodles. At the end of the feast, the broth in the pot is shared. Each person spoons some into his bowl, mixes it with the remaining sauce and drinks it.

Serves 6 as dinner.