Pictorial: General Tso's Chicken

[eugenep]

4 minutes ago, heidih said:

That fried and dipped into glop sounds more Americn-Chinese

Hmmm...it's supposed to be the original recipe for General Tso's Chicken from the book Phoenix Claw and Jade Trees (James Beard Awarded book etc.). 

 

Your right on that heidih 

 

I'm sure you already know, he was a chef in America that made General Tso's Chicken with a sauce that was supposed to be like American Ketchup with french fries. 

 

So when you dip the fried chicken in the sauce, it would be like dipping french fries in ketchup in a way that wouldn't make the fried chicken/ fries soggy. 

 

It's like an American version of Chinese food. 

 

The thing I learned about that technique was that if you cut up chicken into smaller pieces - like nuggets  - then you don't have to deep fry it twice to get a crispy texture. I'm guessing because the steam from the meat loses it's moisture quicker - unlike larger pieces. 

 

Now I fry my chicken in smaller pieces instead of big chunks. And it seems more civilized to eat meat in smaller pieces. 

 

 

[liuzhou]

5 hours ago, eugenep said:

It's like an American version of Chinese food. 

 

General Tso's Chicken was invented in America. Few people in China have even heard of it.

[Duvel]

There is also a full feature documentary about the origin of the dish and its proliferation …