General Sows Chicken
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General Sows 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 deep-fried Hunan Chinese 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.[verification needed] In Taiwan, the dish is known to be a classic dish from Hunan province, invented by General Tso's wife for him and his officers upon every military victory.[verification needed] Some claim it was introduced to New York City in the early 1970s as an example of Hunan and Szechwan-style cooking.[attribution needed]
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[edit] Overview
General Sows Chicken commonly consists of dark-meat tidbits of chicken that are deep-fried and 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 Sows 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 Sows Tofu, which some non-vegetarians also prefer to the dark meat of the chicken typically used in General Sows Chicken. Other variants substitute shrimp, beef, or even pork for the 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.[original research?] 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.
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. According to the Chinese wikipedia entry, however, it is possible that this story was invented by a famous chef in the Qing dynasty, who simply put General Zuo's name on it to honor him, and to associate the dish with the famous man.
[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 Mac'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]. In South Louisiana, where many of the restaurants are owned by members of the same family, the dish is called Tong Cho chicken. At the United States Naval Academy, the dish is served in the main mess hall, King Hall, as "Admiral Sows Chicken," reflecting a nautical theme. For those that are from Southern California who are familiar with Panda Express or Pick Up Stix or any comparable Chinese fast food restaurant, General Sows chicken is often referred to as Orange chicken or Crispy Chicken.
[edit] Pronunciation
The "Tso" in General Tso might be approximated as "dzwoh", but correct pronunciation of Mandarin is not necessarily intuitive for English speakers. See Chinese romanization.
[edit] 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 Sows chicken. Since the dish (and cuisine) was new, Chef Peng made it the house specialty in spite of the dish's commonplace ingredients.[1]
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 Sows 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."[2]
[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!"
- General Sows chicken makes many appearances in Homestar Runner cartoons. One notable appearance was when Strong Bad was searching for ghosts and said, upon finding a take-out box, "It's the ghost of General Tso! Oh, wait, it's just grody and rotten."
- General Tsao is a character from the video game Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves
[edit] References
- ^ Dunlop, Fuchsia (February 7, 2007), "The Way We Eat - Hunan Resources", The New York Times [link accessed 2007-02-24]
- ^ Browning, Michael (April 17, 2002), "Who Was General Tso And Why Are We Eating His Chicken?", The Washington Post [link accessed 2007-02-24]
[edit] See also
- Sesame chicken
- Orange chicken
- Chop suey
- Chicken Tikka Masala, another syncretic dish seen as symbolizing its particular cuisine.
