The Magic Chicken, The Magic Dish

How come the BEST SELLER in Chinese restaurants in your country turns out to be a dish that 99% of Chinese people haven’t tried?

To what extent are Chinese people crazy about chicken? Every Chinese cook can apply magic in cooking chicken! Cantonese Steamed Chicken, Chicken Lo Mein, Chicken Wontons, Mango Chicken Stir-Fry, Soy Sauce Chicken… No one can number how many chicken dishes we can find in China… How about naming one or two that you like?

There is one, which is sweet like falling in love with your dream lover, but with a little bit sour flavour like having trouble with your boyfriend. To describe it more specifically, it tastes like, love!

General Tso’s Chicken

This very dish, is hard to be beaten. As one of the most popular Chinese dishes in the United States and many other countries, served in Chinese restaurants from San Francisco to Omaha, Nebraska to London, General Tso’s Chicken is absolutely the ‘dream lover’ in foodies’ heart.

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Its “magic” Hometown

It seems like when you cook General Tso’s Chicken for your foreign friends, he or she will give you googly eyes! Then, my question is, can you guess where is the hometown of this popular and international cuisine?

General Tso’s Chicken

What? You said Hunan? Wow, I have to say you really have some knowledge about Chinese food!

But IT IS NOT! Even many Chinese have never heared about the dish!

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Fuschia Dunlop, a British gourmet and chef, discovered that in Hunan, where people considered as the hometown of General Tso’s Chicken, no one had ever heard of a dish called General Tso's chicken! What is more mysterious is that people from other parts of China, also said they HAVE NOT heard about this cuisine!

Whaaaaat?!

Okay, it’s time to unveil the origin of this dish. General Tso is a real historical figure born in Hunan province. However, according to historical records, General Tso never developed any special interest in fried chicken during his lifetime. The inventor of the Chinese dish, Hunanese chef Peng Changgui, is the father of the dish, General Tso’s Chicken, Ms. Dunlop wrote.

Peng created the dish by himself, but initially, the flavour of the dish was sour over sweet. New York restaurateurs tasted General Tso's chicken and took the dish back to United States from Taipei. After which, the taste of the dish evolved, eventually has developed into a sweeter, gooey flavour which was different from the original, catering to American consumers who preferred sweet over sour than Hunanese.

So, the dish you like the most when you go to Chinese restaurants, DOES NOT have a hometown!

Its “magic” siblingKung Pao Chicken

From the photo, don’t you think it’s similar to our main character today General Tso’s Chicken? That’s why many western foodies cannot tell the difference between the two!

You may think the name of this dish is interesting. Why there is a “Kung Pao”? Well, “Kung Pao” is “Gong Bao” in Chinese which was a title in Qing Dynasty. The man who invented Kung Pao chicken was Ding Baozhen, a governor of Sichuan province who was awarded the title of prince Taibao by the Qing Court after his death. He was honest during his career, but at the same time, he knew a lot about cooking. He was a crazy fan of chicken and peanuts, and he loved spicy food. When he was an official in Shandong province, he once ordered his chef to improve the “Sauce-fried Chicken” in Shandong cuisine into spicy stir-fry flavour. Later, when he came to Sichuan province, he promoted this dish and created a delicious dish of stir-fried chicken, red pepper and peanuts, which is later called Kung Pao Chicken.

Well, you must be hungry now. Open your “Open Rice”, or google map, find the nearest Chinese restaurant and have a try! Don’t forget to tell us which one do you prefer!

See you next time, and today, You Look Yummy!