General Tso's chicken
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 General Tso's chicken |
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| Origin | |
|---|---|
| Alternate name(s) | See below |
| Place of origin | Multiple claims |
| Creator(s) | Multiple claims |
| Dish details | |
| Course served | Main |
| Serving temperature | Hot |
| Main ingredient(s) | Chicken Ginger Garlic Soy sauce Rice vinegar Shaoxing wine or Sherry Sugar Sesame oil Scallions Hot chili peppers Batter |
| General Tso's chicken | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 左宗棠雞 | ||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 左宗棠鸡 | ||||||||||||
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| alternative Chinese name | |||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 左公雞 | ||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 左公鸡 | ||||||||||||
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General Tso's chicken (sometimes General Tao's chicken or General Tsao's chicken) is a sweet-and-spicy, deep-fried chicken dish that is popularly served in American and Canadian Chinese restaurants. The origins of the dish are unclear. The dish was previously largely unknown in China and other lands home to the Chinese diaspora.[1] Thus, General Tso's chicken is most likely an American invention in the history of American Chinese cuisine.
The association is unclear with General Tso, or Zuo Zongtang, a Qing dynasty general and statesman. The dish is atypical of Hunanese cuisine, which is traditionally very spicy and rarely sweet. Instead, the dish is believed to have been introduced to New York City in the early 1970s as an example of Hunan- and Szechuan-style cooking.[1][2] The dish was first mentioned in The New York Times in 1977.[3]
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[edit] Name and origins
It is unclear how the dish came to bear the name of Zuo Zongtang (左宗棠, 1812–1885), a Qing Dynasty general from Hunan. Zuo himself is unlikely ever to have tasted the dish.[2] The dish is not found in Changsha, the capital of Hunan. Nor is it found in Xiangyin, the home of General Tso. Moreover, descendants of General Tso still living in Xiangyin, when interviewed, say that they have never heard of such a dish.[4]
There are several stories concerning the origin of the dish. Eileen Yin-Fei Lo states in her book The Chinese Kitchen that the dish originates from a simple Hunan chicken dish, and that the reference to "Zongtang" in "Zuo Zongtang chicken" was not a reference to Zuo Zongtang's given name, but rather a reference to the homonym "zongtang", meaning "ancestral meeting hall" (Chinese: 宗堂; pinyin: zōngtáng). [5] Consistent with this interpretation, the dish name is sometimes (but considerably less commonly) found in Chinese as "Zuo ancestral hall chicken" (simplified Chinese: 左宗堂鸡; traditional Chinese: 左宗堂雞; pinyin: Zuǒ Zōngtáng jī). (Chung tong gai is a transliteration of “ancestral meeting hall chicken” from Cantonese; Zuǒ Zōngtáng jī is the standard name of General Tso's chicken as transliterated from Mandarin.)
According to several sources[who?], the recipe was invented by Taiwan-based, Hunan cuisine chef Peng Chang-kuei[citation needed] (A.K.A Peng Jia) (Chinese: 彭長貴; pinyin: Péng Chánggùi), who had been an apprentice of Cao Jingchen's, a famous early 20th century Chinese chef.[citation needed] Peng was the Nationalist government banquets' chef and fled with Chiang Kai-shek's forces to Taiwan during the Chinese civil war.[citation needed] There, he continued his career as official chef until 1973, when he moved to New York to open a restaurant.[citation needed] That was where Peng Jia started inventing new dishes and modifying traditional ones; one new dish, General Tso's chicken, was originally prepared without sugar, and subsequently altered to suit the tastes of "non-Hunanese people."[citation needed] The popularity of the dish has now led to it being "adopted" by local Hunanese chefs and food writers, perhaps as an acknowledgment of the dish's unique status, upon which the international reputation of Hunanese cuisine was largely based.[1][4] Ironically, when Peng Jia opened a restaurant in Hunan in the 1990s introducing General Tso's chicken, the restaurant closed without success because the locals found the dish too sweet.[4]
[edit] Controversy over origins
Peng's Restaurant on East 44th Street in New York City claims that it was the first restaurant in the city to serve General Tso's chicken. Since the dish (and cuisine) was new, Chef Peng Jia made it the house specialty in spite of the dish's commonplace ingredients.[1] A review of Peng’s in 1977 mentions that their “General Tso's chicken was a stir-fried masterpiece, sizzling hot both in flavor and temperature”.[6]
New York's Shun Lee Palaces, East (155 E. 55th St.) and West (43 W. 65th St.) also says that it was the first restaurant to serve General Tso's chicken and that it was invented by a Chinese immigrant chef named T. T. Wang in 1972. Michael Tong, owner of New York's Shun Lee Palaces, says, "We opened the first Hunanese restaurant in the whole country, and the four dishes we offered you will see on the menu of practically every Hunanese restaurant in America today. They all copied from us."[2]
[edit] Recipes
General Tso's chicken commonly consists of dark-meat pieces of chicken that are battered, deep-fried and seasoned with ginger, garlic, soy sauce, rice vinegar, Shaoxing wine or sherry, sugar, sesame oil, scallions, and hot chili peppers, and often served with steamed broccoli.
Though relatively inexpensive to produce, General Tso’s chicken is often listed as a “chef’s specialty” at Chinese restaurants in North America, commanding a higher price than other items.[7] Many restaurants, especially in areas with many vegetarians, also serve General Tso's tofu or General Tso's veg (soy protein).[8] Other variants substitute shrimp, beef, or even pork for the chicken.[9][10]
[edit] Regional differences
The name the dish goes by varies by region. At the United States Naval Academy, the dish is served in the main mess hall, King Hall, as “Admiral Tso’s Chicken,” reflecting a nautical theme.[4] The Pei Wei chain of Chinese restaurants has a “Pei Wei Spicy” preparation (which can be served with chicken or other types of meat and vegetables). The menu says “our version of General Chu” in parentheses. It is made with “chile vinegar sauce, scallion, garlic, snap peas, carrot.”[11]
Outside North America, one notable restaurant which serves General Tso’s chicken is that of Peng Chang-kuei, who is credited by some sources[which?] as the inventor of the dish (see above name), in Taiwan.[citation needed] Differences between this “original” dish and that commonly encountered in North America are that it is not sweet and sour in flavor, the chicken is cooked with its skin, and soy sauce plays a much more prominent role.[4]
[edit] General Tso’s chicken in popular culture
Weeds (TV series) - season 2 episode 4 - Andy asks what Doug would wish for if there were a genie in the hookah. Doug spins a yarn about an unbelievable General Tso's chicken at a hardcore Chinese restaurant he went to once in San Francisco.
[edit] See also
- Sesame chicken
- Orange chicken
- Crispy fried chicken
- Chicken Tikka Masala, another syncretic dish seen as symbolizing its particular cuisine.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Dunlop, Fuchsia (February 4, 2007), "Hunan Resources", The New York Times Magazine: Section 6, Page 75, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/04/magazine/04food.t.html?pagewanted=all, retrieved 2009-01-09
- ^ a b c Browning, Michael (April 17, 2002), "Who Was General Tso And Why Are We Eating His Chicken?", The Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A59302-2002Apr16, retrieved 2007-02-24 Text available at WiredNewYork.com
- ^ New York Times archive search for "General Tso's"
- ^ a b c d e Lee, Jennifer (2008). The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food. Twelve Books. ISBN 0-446-58007-4.
- ^ Lo, Eileen Yin-Fei (1999). "Transplanting Chinese Foods in the West". The Chinese Kitchen. calligraphy by San Yan Wong (1st ed.). New York, New York: William Morrow and Company. p. 416. ISBN 0-688-15826-9.
- ^ Sheraton, Mimi (March 18, 1977), "A Touch of Hunan, A Taste of Italy", The New York Times: New Jersey Weekly section, Page 68, http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10816FD385D167493CAA81788D85F438785F9, retrieved 2007-04-26
- ^ "General Tso's Chicken: A Comparative Study of Prices in Park Slope, Brooklyn at Josh Karpf personal website. Also published in Time Out New York. Retrieved 5 August 2008.
- ^ Buddha House menu at Gotham Menus. Retrieved 5 August 2008.
- ^ Jade Garden Chinese Restaurant menu at Look4Menu.com Connecticut restaurant guide. Retrieved 5 August 2008.
- ^ General Tso's Chinese Restaurant menu at CafeCourier.com restaurant delivery. Retrieved 5 August 2008.
- ^ Pei Wei Asian Diner menu. Retrieved 5 August 2008.
[edit] External links
- The Definitive General Tso's Chicken Page
- Recipe for General Tso's chicken
- “Who Was General Tso And Why Are We Eating His Chicken?” Article from The Washington Post
- Exploration of term
- “Hunan Resources” Article from The New York Times Magazine about the origin and propagation of the dish
- General Tso's Chicken Salad A healthier alternative to the traditional dish.
