General Tso's chicken

The dish was retroactively named after Zuo Zongtang (Tso Tsung-t'ang) (1812–1885), a Qing dynasty statesman and military leader from Hunan Province.{{Cite news | last = Browning | first = Michael | title = Who Was General Tso And Why Are We Eating His Chicken? | newspaper = The Washington Post | date = April 17, 2002 | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A59302-2002Apr16 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080516055715/http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A59302-2002Apr16 | url-status = dead | archive-date = May 16, 2008 | access-date = 2007-02-24 }}{{Cite news | last = Dunlop | first = Fuchsia | author-link = Fuchsia Dunlop | title = Hunan Resources | newspaper = The New York Times Magazine | pages = Section 6, Page 75 | date = February 4, 2007 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/04/magazine/04food.t.html?pagewanted=all | access-date = 2009-01-09 | no-pp = true }} Chef Eileen Yin-Fei Lo speculated that name "Zongtang" was not a reference to Zuo Zongtang, but rather a reference to the homophone zongtang (宗堂), meaning "the hall of the ancestors".{{cite book | last = Lo | first = Eileen Yin-Fei | author-link = Eileen Yin-Fei Lo | others = calligraphy by San Yan Wong | edition = 1st | year = 1999 | title = The Chinese Kitchen | publisher = William Morrow and Company | location = New York | isbn = 0-688-15826-9 | chapter = Transplanting Chinese Foods in the West | page = 416 }} The dish is known by many alternative names, mostly replacing Tso with a different surname.{{notetag|name=Alternative names|Alternative names include: Governor Tso's chicken, General Tao's chicken,{{Cite web|title=Le Grand Poutinefest comes to the West Island May 31 to June 2|date=22 May 2019 |url=https://www.thesuburban.com/life/community/le-grand-poutinefest-comes-to-the-west-island-may-to/article_07d771ad-8a0f-54cd-b058-b3dbb76b49a9.html}}. General Gao's[Gau's] chicken, General Mao's chicken, General Tsao's chicken, General Tong's chicken, General Tang's chicken, General T's Chicken, General Cho's chicken, General Chow's chicken, General Chai's chicken, General Joe's Chicken, T.S.O. Chicken, General Ching's chicken, General Jong's Chicken, General Sauce Chicken, House Chicken, Admiral Tso's chicken or simply General's Chicken.}}

Two Chinese chefs, Peng Chang-kuei and T.T. Wang, each claimed to have invented General Tso's chicken. The two claims may be somewhat reconciled in that the current General Tso's chicken recipe — where the meat is crispy fried — was introduced by Wang under the name "General Ching's chicken", a name which still has trace appearances on menus on the Internet (the identity of its namesake "General Ching" is, however, unclear); whereas the name "General Tso's chicken" can be traced to Peng, who cooked it in a different way.

Peng Chang-kuei, a chef from Hunan who was later based in Chongqing and Taipei, rolled out the new dish circa 1973 when he opened the restaurant "Uncle Peng's Hunan Yuan" on East 44th Street, New York City.[http://salon.com/food/francis_lam/2010/01/05/history_of_general_tsos_chicken "The Curious History of General Tso's Chicken"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100109180322/http://www.salon.com/food/francis_lam/2010/01/05/history_of_general_tsos_chicken |date=2010-01-09 }}, Salon{{sfnb|Dunlop|2006}} Peng claimed his restaurant was the first in New York City to serve Tso's chicken. Since the dish was new, Peng made it the house specialty in spite of the dish's commonplace ingredients. A review of Uncle Peng in 1977 mentioned that their "General Tso's chicken was a stir-fried masterpiece, sizzling hot both in flavor and temperature".{{Cite news | last = Sheraton | first = Mimi | title = A Touch of Hunan, A Taste of Italy | newspaper = The New York Times | pages = New Jersey Weekly section, Page 68 | date = March 18, 1977 | url = http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10816FD385D167493CAA81788D85F438785F9 | access-date = 2007-04-26 | no-pp = true }} When Peng opened a restaurant in Hunan in the 1990s introducing Tso's chicken, the locals found the dish too sweet. His restaurant quickly closed in Hunan.{{page needed|date=February 2022}}

There are two stories purporting to explain how Peng Chang-kuei created the dish when he worked in Taipei before he introduced it to New York. Both stories linked to the fact that Peng was well connected to the senior Kuomintang politicians in Hunan, Chongqing and Taiwan.{{Cite journal|title=彭長貴與彭園湘菜|date=2016|issue=9|volume=29|author=林明德|journal=料理·台灣|publisher=中華飲食文化基金會|url=https://ryoritaiwan.fcdc.org.tw/article.aspx?websn=6&id=2592|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230320122928/https://ryoritaiwan.fcdc.org.tw/article.aspx?websn=6&id=2592|archivedate=2023-03-20}}{{cite news|url=http://mag.udn.com/mag/people/printpage.jsp?f_ART_ID=181212|title=彭園掌門人彭長貴 靈感來了就是菜|author=陳靜宜|work=聯合報|date=2009-03-01|archive-date=2009-03-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090315095700/http://mag.udn.com/mag/people/printpage.jsp?f_ART_ID=181212}} The first story was given by Peng himself in 2008 by Jennifer 8. Lee for the documentary The Search for General Tso (2014).{{cite news|title=老美最熟的老中 左宗棠…雞|date=2008-02-27|last=林少予|work=聯合報|url=https://www.ptt.cc/bbs/MdnCNhistory/M.1204062390.A.9FE.html|access-date=2023-11-09|archive-date=2023-10-23|archive-url=https://archive.today/20231023210833/https://www.ptt.cc/bbs/MdnCNhistory/M.1204062390.A.9FE.html|url-status=bot: unknown}}{{Cite news|title=「尋找左宗棠」李鏡找到彭長貴 解開「左宗雞」身世謎|work=World Journal|location=New York City|date=2019-07-19|url=https://tw.news.yahoo.com/%E5%B0%8B%E6%89%BE%E5%B7%A6%E5%AE%97%E6%A3%A0-%E6%9D%8E%E9%8F%A1%E6%89%BE%E5%88%B0%E5%BD%AD%E9%95%B7%E8%B2%B4-%E8%A7%A3%E9%96%8B-%E5%B7%A6%E5%AE%97%E9%9B%9E-%E8%BA%AB%E4%B8%96%E8%AC%8E-220000100.html}}{{cite news|title=96歲湘菜祖師爺 明再掌廚左宗棠雞|date=2014-05-28|last=姚舜|work=中國時報|url=https://www.chinatimes.com/realtimenews/20140528001849-260405}} In the documentary, Peng recalled in 1952 he was invited by the Republic of China Navy to be in charge of a three-day state banquet during Admiral Arthur W. Radford's visit of Taiwan. Peng claimed Tso's chicken was served on Radford's menu on the third day. According to U.S. diplomatic records, Radford's visit was during June 2–6, 1953.{{cite book|chapter=The Chargé in the Republic of China (Jones) to the Department of State|first=Howard P.|last=Jones|title=Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, China and Japan, Volume XIV, Part 1 [June 18, 1953]|editor-first=David W. |editor-last=Mabon|editor-first2=Harriet D. |editor-last2=Schwar|publisher=United States Government Printing Office|date=1985|page=206|chapter-url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1952-54v14p1/d110}} The second story was proposed by Taiwanese food writer Zhu Zhenfan in 2009, who said Chiang Ching-kuo, the son of President Chiang Kai-shek, paid a late visit to Peng's restaurant when Peng ran out of ingredients. Chiang was served an improvised dish, General Tso's chicken, by Peng.{{cite journal|last=朱振藩|date=May 2009|page=124|title=左宗棠雞人比驕|journal=歷史月刊|url=https://www.books.com.tw/web/sys_serialtext/?item=0010454772&page=3}} Later compiled in {{cite book|last=朱振藩|title=食林外史|publisher=麥田出版|date=December 2009}}

New York's Shun Lee Palaces, located at East (155 E. 55th St.) and West (43 W. 65th St.), also claims 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."

Tso's chicken was spicy rather than sweet and spicy. It was altered to suit the tastes of Americans. The dish drew the attention of many food writers; among them were Fuchsia Dunlop from the United Kingdom and Jennifer 8. Lee from the U.S. The dish was adopted by some Hunan chefs.{{page needed|date=May 2021}} In Taiwan, it is not served sweet; the chicken is cooked with its skin and soy sauce plays a much more prominent role.{{Cite book| last= Lee |first=Jennifer|author-link=Jennifer 8. Lee| year=2008|title=The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food |publisher=Twelve Books|isbn=978-0-446-58007-6}} - [https://archive.org/details/fortunecookiechr00leej Read online], registration required.

File:General Tso's Chicken.JPG

File:General Chow Chicken.JPG

Basic ingredients include:

• Sauce: soy sauce, rice wine, rice-wine vinegar, sugar,{{cite web|title=The Search for General .Tso|url=http://www.thesearchforgeneraltso.com|publisher=Ian Cheney|format=Movie|date=2014}} cornstarch, dried red chili peppers (whole), garlic.
• Batter / breading: egg, cornstarch.
• Dish: broccoli, chicken dark meat (cubed).

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{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{citation|last=Dunlop|first=Fuchsia|author-link=Fuchsia Dunlop|editor=Richard Hosking|title=Authenticity in the Kitchen: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 2005|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HflTVd898PAC&pg=PT171|year=2006|publisher=Oxford Symposium|isbn=978-1-903018-47-7|pages=165–177|chapter=The Strange Tale of General Tso's Chicken}}

• [http://www.grubstreet.com/2015/01/the-enduring-appeal-of-general-tsos-chicken.html 7 Chefs on the Enduring Appeal of General Tso's Chicken], [http://www.grubstreet.com/index.html Grub Street] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924024109/http://www.grubstreet.com/index.html |date=2015-09-24 }} (January 8, 2015).

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