Who Is It? - General Tso of “General Tso’s Chicken”
October 13th, 2008 by timbotron
(chicken image by Rick from Holyoke, Wikimedia Commons)
Every time I order Chinese Food, the question arises:
“Who the hell is General Tso of General Tso’s Chicken?”
For those of you inexperienced in the ways of General Tso’s Chicken - it is a deep fried chicken dish, usually spicy with a sweet sauce, and a near universal of American Chinese Food restaurants.
General Tso is actually General Zuǒ Zōngtáng - a military general of Qing Dynasty China and a native of Hunan Province. In 1860, Zuǒ served as a military leader during the Taiping Rebellion and is accredited for driving the Taiping rebels from Hunan and Guangxi Provinces.
According to Wikipedia, General Tso’s Chicken does not exist in General Zuǒ’s hometown of Xiangyin, nor in the Hunan province capitol of Changsha. Also, descendants of Zuǒ still living in Xiangyin report that they have never heard of this dish.
This dish first appeared in the American Chinese restaurant pantheon sometime in the 1970’s and may be a creation of American restaurants.
October 14th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
awww…my favorite chinese restaurant dish! but i still can’t figure out what is that meat they use?!
uh…don’t think its chicken…
October 15th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
Goddamn, I need a bowl of that, stat. Too bad it sucks in Tallinn.