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February 6, 2007

General Tso: 'You were a bloodthirsty foe, but your chicken is delectable!'

generaltsoschicken020607.jpgThe New York Times Magazine has an interesting story about General Tso's Chicken, probably the most famous "Hunanese" dish that most people from Hunan Province (or anywhere else in Mainland China, for that matter) have never heard of:

General Tso’s chicken is named for Tso Tsung-t’ang (now usually transliterated as Zuo Zongtang), a formidable 19th-century general who is said to have enjoyed eating it. The Hunanese have a strong military tradition, and Tso is one of their best-known historical figures. But although many Chinese dishes are named after famous personages, there is no record of any dish named after Tso.

The real roots of the recipe lie in the chaotic aftermath of the Chinese civil war, when the leadership of the defeated Nationalist Party fled to the island of Taiwan. They took with them many talented people, including a number of notable chefs, and foremost among them was Peng Chang-kuei. Born in 1919 into a poverty-stricken household in the Hunanese capital, Changsha, Peng was the apprentice to Cao Jingchen, one of the most outstanding cooks of his generation. By the end of World War II, Peng was in charge of Nationalist government banquets, and when the party met its humiliating defeat at the hands of Mao Zedong’s Communists in 1949, he fled with them to Taiwan. There, he continued to cater for official functions, inventing many new dishes.

When I met Peng Chang-kuei, a tall, dignified man in his 80s, during a visit to Taipei in 2004, he could no longer remember exactly when he first cooked General Tso’s chicken, although he says it was sometime in the 1950s. “Originally the flavors of the dish were typically Hunanese — heavy, sour, hot and salty,” he said.

The story also includes a recipe. Wikipedia atrributes these Chinese names to the dish: 左公雞, Zuǒ Gōng Jī; or 左宗棠雞, Zuǒ Zōng Táng Jī.

We think we remember seeing General Tso's Chicken on the menu at Di Shui Dong not too long ago. Any other Shanghai sightings to report?

Image by Lall.

Thanks for the tip, Mr. Tai!


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Comments (7)

thanks a bunch, Dan. I recently traveled with my Chinese colleagues to China. And of course, they wouldn't stop complaining about the food (I find the Chinese people are very intolerant of non-Chinese things when travelling).

So I took them to a shitty Chinese buffet run by a Hong Kong family. They loved it, but mocked the 'General Tso's' dish as a name made up by foreigners. I can't wait to send this to them.

 

Another place in Shanghai that probably has General Tso's Chicken is the "Chinese" place affiliated with the "BBQ" place Yeeha. They advertise having "American Chinese Food."

 

Washtington Post had the same report 4 years ago.Who Was General Tso And Why Are We Eating His Chicken?

 
 

American Chinese food is just candied, deep-fried meat. It is disgusting, but delicious.

 

I do think General Tso is Col. Sander's superior.

 

Well the General is a General, while the Colonel is but that, which would technically make the General his superior. But the Colonel is much, much richer, so who cares?

 
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