General Tso's chicken
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General Tso's chicken (左公雞, Hanyu Pinyin Zuǒ gōng jī; or 左宗棠雞, Zuǒ Zōng Táng jī in Mandarin Chinese) is a sweet and spicy dish that is popularly served in American and Canadian Chinese restaurants. The dish is unknown in China and other lands home to the Chinese diaspora. It was introduced to New York City around 1974 as an example of Hunan and Szechuan-style cooking.
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[edit] Overview
General Tso's Chicken commonly consists of dark-meat tidbits of chicken, that are deep-fried then seasoned with ginger, garlic, sesame oil, scallions, and hot chili peppers, and often served with steamed broccoli. Tomato ketchup is sometimes included as part of the recipe. 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. Often, more gourmet Chinese restaurants will either not make this dish at all, or will make it with white meat rather than dark meat because white meat is considered better in gourmet American cooking, whereas dark meat is considered better in Asian cooking. Many restaurants, especially in areas with many vegetarians, also serve General Tso's Tofu, which many non-vegetarians also prefer to the dark meat of the chicken typically used in General Tso's Chicken. Other variants substitute shrimp instead of chicken.
[edit] Name
It is unclear how the dish came to bear the name of Zuo Zongtang (左宗棠, 1812-1885), a Qing dynasty general. Zuo himself is unlikely ever to have tasted the dish. Also, there are contradictory accounts as to the origin of the dish. The author of the book Chinese Kitchen (Morrow, 1999), Eileen Yin-Fei Lo, states that the dish has Hunan origins (this speculation may have been because of the prevalence of hot and spicy flavors in Hunan cuisine). Lo states that the dish is a Hunan classic, zongtang ji (宗堂雞), or "ancestral hall chicken." Other sources credit the origin of the dish to New York City's Chinatown in the 1970s.
[edit] Regional differences
The dish is typically called General Gau's chicken in the Boston, Massachusetts area. 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 Gao's, General Chou's, General Tzo's, General To's, General So's, General Joe's, and General Toso's. It is also known as General Chow's prominently in the New Jersey area and simply General Chicken in parts of Northern California. In at least one restaurant in Illinois the dish is simply called Governor's Chicken[citation needed]. 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.
[edit] Pronunciation
The "Tso" in General Tso might be approximated as "zwoh", but correct pronunciation of Mandarin is not necessarily intuitive for English speakers. See Chinese romanization.
[edit] Controversy over origins
Peng's Restaurant (East 44th Street) claims that it was the first restaurant in New York 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.
New York's Shun Lee Palaces, 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."
[edit] Cultural references
- In a Season 13 episode of The Simpsons, Montgomery Burns proclaims, "Ah, General Gao, you were a bloodthirsty foe, but your chicken is delectable!"
[edit] See also
- Chop suey
- Chicken Tikka Masala (Another syncretic dish seen as symbolizing its particular cuisine)
