The curious history of General Tso’s chicken

[yuiyoshida]

Here’s the first thing you should know: The general had nothing to do with his chicken. You can banish any stories of him stir-frying over the flames of the cities he burned, or heartbreaking tales of a last supper, prepared with blind courage, under attack from overwhelming hordes. Unlike the amoeba-like mythologies that follow so many traditional dishes, the story of General Tso’s chicken is compellingly simple. One man, Peng Chang-kuei — very old but still alive — invented it.

But what’s “it”? Because while chef Peng is universally credited with inventing a dish called General Tso’s chicken, he probably wouldn’t recognize the crisp, sweet, red nuggets you get with pork fried rice for $4.95 with a choice of soda or soup. All that happened under his nose. It all got away from him.

Chef Peng’s story starts in China, in his home province of Hunan, where he trained under a chef who worked in the home of a governmental official. In the way of really old-school governments, this official was a grand gourmet who spent much of his time collecting the finest culinary talent in the country under his roof, charging them with creating an innovative Hunan court cuisine. Their work borrowed from the haute cuisine of other Chinese regions and married them to the spicy, tart, salty flavors of the more peasant-oriented food of Hunan. Chef Peng inherited these dishes and skills, rising to prominence cooking banquets for Nationalist government bigwigs. When Mao took over in 1949, Peng, along with an entire generation of classically trained chefs, fled with their bosses to Taiwan, afraid for their lives and the ability to practice what would soon be called their reactionary cooking.

For decades, then, Taiwan was the repository for all of China’s classic regional cuisines, and there chef Peng opened a thriving restaurant, serving the Hunan court cuisine for the first time to the public. Incredibly skill- and labor-intensive, it featured dishes like chicken with bean sprouts, only the chefs meticulously removed the heads and tails from the sprouts and shredded the chicken to their exact size and shape, so that the finished dish looks, simply, like a platter of white threads. In the “Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook,” Fuchsia Dunlop recounts chef Peng saying that at some point in the 1950s, he created a dish, imbued it with the flavors most typical of Hunan, and named it in honor of General Tso, the second-most-famous military man from his home region. (Mao Zedong is the first, but it’s hard to blame Peng for not getting over that whole forced-into-exile thing.)

http://www.salon.com/2010/01/06/history_of_general_tsos_chicken/

[annabanana]

1. Interesting stuff!

Thanks for the link!

[yuiyoshida]

2. Video added

Guess what I am eating right now? Yum!

[annabanana]

7. Yum indeed!

That looks like even all-thumbs Annie could do it!

[yuiyoshida]

8. Yes, indeed.

[freshwest]

9. Love it! Fast and simple, I had no idea it'd be so easy. Enjoy!

[elleng]

3. Going to see the movie on my birthday,

AFTER indulging in some!

http://www.theavalon.org/films/search-general-tso/

[yuiyoshida]

5. I would like to see this film

Is playing on Youtube right now for six dollars. I will wait till I can afford it. oh and happy Birthday!

[elleng]

6. Thanks!

Will happily spend a few more bucks, at movie house in my old neighborhood.

[Luminous Animal]

4. Cool!

[Warpy]

10. The first time I had it was about 40 years ago in a decent restaurant

that had a list of Hunan and Szechuan dishes on the bottom of the menu. Their version of General Tso's chicken was less bready, far less sweet, and far hotter than the stuff that's now stolen the name.

It didn't take long after Nixon's trip to China for the decent restaurant chefs here to expand the menu to include something besides cooked celery and bean sprouts with mystery meat. It took even less time for me to start duplicating the stuff at home.

Somehow, I think the repression of "bourgeois" cuisine and chefs in Hunan wouldn't have lasted long, given Mao's famous quip about how if you didn't like hot peppers, you couldn't possibly be a revolutionary. Chef Peng would have been quietly hired as a personal chef.

[yuiyoshida]

11. Is having some right this minute...

Its more spicy than sweet, and its so good... I skipped putting rice with it, but tonight, I will add rice to my second order. Yeah, the stuff is so good I bought a second one!! Love the batter around the chicken and the sauce is to die for..

Love Chinese cooking!

[cwydro]

12. Thanks for this!

I wish I could have it without the broccoli when I order it.

[yuiyoshida]

13. Have you ever asked them to hold the broccoli?

I love broccoli.. and its healthy too!

[cwydro]

14. I guess I could.

I love broccoli, but for some reason it always seems overcooked when I get it with General Tso chicken.