General Tso's chicken

Infobox Prepared Food
name = General Tso's Chicken


caption = General Tso's chicken
alternate_name = See Below
country = Multiple claims
region =
creator = Multiple claims
course = Main
served = Hot
main_ingredient = Chicken
Ginger
Garlic
Soy Sauce
Rice Vinegar
Shaoxing Wine or Sherry
Sugar
Sesame Oil
Scallions
Hot Chili Peppers
variations =
calories =
other =

General Tso's chicken is a sweet and spicy deep-fried chicken dish that is popularly served in American and Canadian Chinese restaurants where it is considered Hunan cuisine. The origins of the dish are unclear. The dish was previously largely unknown in China and other lands home to the Chinese diaspora.Citation | last = Dunlop | first = Fuchsia | title = Hunan Resources | newspaper = The New York Times Magazine | pages = Section 6, Page 75 | year = 2007 | date = February 4, 2007 | url = http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/04/magazine/04food.t.html?ex=1328245200&en=166828055e4a18df&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss | access-date = 2008-08-05 ] Thus, General Tso's Chicken is most likely an American invention in the history of American-Chinese food.

The association with General Tso, or Zuo Zongtang, a Qing dynasty general and statesman, is unclear. One theory is that the dish was a classic specialty from Hunan province, invented by General Tso's wife and served for him and his officers, although this theory is generally considered to be apocryphal.cite web | last = Lukacs | first = Paul | title = Wine With. . . Chinese Take-Out (General Tso's Chicken) | publisher = Wine Review Online | date = March 6, 2007 | url=http://www.winereviewonline.com/wine_with_chinese_take_out.cfm#start | accessdate = 2008-08-05 ] Hunan cuisine 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. The dish was first mentioned in "The New York Times" in 1977. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?frow=0&n=10&srcht=s&daterange=period&query=%22General+Tso%27s%22&srchst=p&submit.x=0&submit.y=0&submit=sub&hdlquery=&bylquery=&mon1=09&day1=18&year1=1851&mon2=12&day2=31&year2=1980 "New York Times" archive search for "General Tso's" ] ]

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.Citation | last = Browning | first = Michael | title = Who Was General Tso And Why Are We Eating His Chicken? | newspaper = The Washington Post | year = 2002 | date = April 17, 2002 | url = http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A59302-2002Apr16 | access-date = 2007-02-24 Text available at [http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14884 WiredNewYork.com] ] 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.

There are several stories concerning the origin of the dish. In her book "The Chinese Kitchen", Eileen Yin-Fei Lo states 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" (zh-cp|c=宗堂|p=zōngtáng). [cite book | last = Lo | first = Eileen Yin-Fei | authorlink = Eileen Yin-Fei Lo | others = calligraphy by San Yan Wong | edition = 1st Edition | year = 1999 | title = The Chinese Kitchen | publisher = William Morrow and Company | location = New York, New York | isbn = 0-688-15826-9 | pages = 416 | chapter = Transplanting Chinese Foods in the West ] Consistent with this interpretation, the dish name is sometimes (but considerably less commonly) found in Chinese as "Zuo ancestral hall chicken" (zh-tsp|t=左宗堂雞|s=左宗堂鸡|p=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 the Taiwanese/Chinese word-of-mouth stories, the chicken was invented by General Zuo's wife, made for him after a victorious battle. He liked it so much that upon following victorious battles, he would have it made for all of his commanding officers as reward. It is however possible that this story was invented by the former family chef of the prominent Republican-era politician Tan Yankai, who simply put General Zuo's name on it to honor him, and to associate the dish with the famous man.

According to several sources, the recipe was invented by Taiwan-based, Hunan cuisine chef Peng Chang-kuei (zh-cp|c=彭長貴|p=Péng Chánggùi), who had been an apprentice of Cao Jingchen's, a famous early 20th century Chinese chef. Peng was the Nationalist government banquets' chef and fled with Chiang Kai-shek's forces to Taiwan during the Chinese civil war. There, he continued his career as official chef until 1973, when he moved to New York to open a restaurant. It is there that Peng 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." 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. Ironically, when Peng 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.

Pronunciation

Zuo Zongtang's surname in Mandarin as "zuǒ" (pronounced|tsuɔ˨˩˦ -- see Chinese romanization). In English the spelling "Tso" might be approximated as IPAEng|ˈsoʊ "so".

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 made it the house specialty in spite of the dish's commonplace ingredients. 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”. [Citation | 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 | year = 1977 | date = March 18, 1977 | url = http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10816FD385D167493CAA81788D85F438785F9 | accessdate = 2007-04-26 ]

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."

Chef Ho Shi Wang of Old Sky Restaurant of Toronto claims that his restaurant was the first to offer the delicacy in Canada, and in the Canada Star article "Tso Good To Be True" he is credited as developing a unique blend of Hunan and Cantonese delicacy that is popular with the nearby University of Toronto students, staff and professors.Fact|date=April 2008

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. [ [http://www.echonyc.com/~jkarpf/home/tso.html "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.] Many restaurants, especially in areas with many vegetarians, also serve General Tso's Tofu or General Tso's Soy Protein. [ [http://gotham2go.com/index.php/26/1/302 Buddha House menu] at Gotham Menus. Retrieved 5 August 2008.] Other variants substitute shrimp, beef, or even pork for the chicken. [ [http://www.look4menu.com/NewHavenCounty/Meriden/Jade_Garden/house_special.htm Jade Garden Chinese Restaurant menu] at Look4Menu.com Connecticut restaurant guide. Retrieved 5 August 2008.] [ [http://ohio.cafecourier.com/menu_show.asp?ID=29 General Tso's Chinese Restaurant menu] at CafeCourier.com restaurant delivery. Retrieved 5 August 2008.]

Regional differences

The dish is predominantly referred to as Generals Chicken in most Philadelphia area Chinese Restaurants. In parts of Canada, this dish is known as General "Tao's", and less commonly, General "George's" chicken. In other regions and restaurants, it is also known or mispronounced as General "Tsao's", General "Zhou's", "General Tao", General "Mac's", General "Gao's", General "Gau's", "Chou's", General "Tzo's", General "To's", General "So's", General "Joe's", Jordan Chicken, and General "Toso's". It is also known as General "Chow's" and General "Tso's" prominently in the New Jersey area and simply "General Chicken" in parts of Northern California. In some states, including Illinois, the dish is called "Governor's Chicken". 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. 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." [ [http://www.peiwei.com/pdfs/menus/newmenua.pdf Pei Wei Asian Diner menu.] Retrieved 5 August 2008.]

Outside North America, one notable restaurant which serves General Tso's Chicken is that of Peng Chang-kuei, who is credited by some sources as the inventor of the dish (see above "Name"), in Taiwan. 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.Cite book| last= Lee |first=Jennifer|authorlink=Jennifer 8. Lee| year=2008|title=The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food|publisher=Twelve Books|location= |isbn=0-446-58007-4]

See also

*Sesame chicken
*Orange chicken
*Crispy fried chicken
*Chicken Tikka Masala, another syncretic dish seen as symbolizing its particular cuisine.

References

External links

* [http://www.echonyc.com/~erich/tso.htm The Definitive General Tso's Chicken Page]
* [http://www.io.com/~sjohn/food3.htm Recipe for General Tso's chicken]
*“ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A59302-2002Apr16 Who Was General Tso And Why Are We Eating His Chicken?] ” Article from "The Washington Post"
* [http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/general_tsos_chicken/ Exploration of term]
*“ [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/04/magazine/04food.t.html?ex=1328245200&en=166828055e4a18df&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss Hunan Resources] ” Article from "The New York Times Magazine" about the origin and propagation of the dish