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Who was General Tso, and why are we eating his chicken?


Kent Wang

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i was curious about this matter and found a concise, informative article by The Washington Post.

Quote
Not one in 10,000 knows who General Tso (most commonly pronounced "sow") was, nor what terrible times he lived through, nor the dark massacres that distinguished his baleful, belligerent career. Setting their chopsticks aside, patting their stomachs, the satisfied diners spare scarcely a thought for General Tso, except to imagine that he must have been a great connoisseur of hot stir-fried chicken.
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Excerpt from the article:

This might conceivably explain why General Tso's Chicken is very much an overseas Chinese dish, filtering the hot, peppery taste of Hunan cuisine, through the sweetening process of Cantonese cooking.

*cough* *cough*. Cantonese cooking does not sweeten food. American (or perhaps Canadian too) Cantonese cooking sweeten the food to suit local tastes.

"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."

"First, Lake Tung Ting shrimp."

"Second, crispy sea bass."

"Third, orange crispy beef."

"Fourth, General Tso's chicken"

Lovely! All breaded and deep-fried, immersed with sweetened-hot sauces.

W.K. Leung ("Ah Leung") aka "hzrt8w"
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  • 2 weeks later...
Has anyone notice that the sauce used in General Tso, Sesame and Orange chickens taste pretty much the same with the exception of sesame or orange.

I thought it was just me and my inferior taste buds.

Perhaps it's just the way my favorite chinese restaurant makes it, but I've always thought the sauce for General Tso's Chicken had a definite "kick" to it. It's spicy and not at all comparable to the mild sauces in Sesame and Orange Chicken.

 

“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

– From Fox TV’s “Family Guy”

 

Tim Oliver

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Has anyone notice that the sauce used in General Tso, Sesame and Orange chickens taste pretty much the same with the exception of sesame or orange.

I thought it was just me and my inferior taste buds.

Perhaps it's just the way my favorite chinese restaurant makes it, but I've always thought the sauce for General Tso's Chicken had a definite "kick" to it. It's spicy and not at all comparable to the mild sauces in Sesame and Orange Chicken.

Orange flavor chicken is supposed to have plenty of dried hot red peppers in it, I think. Not so?

Michael aka "Pan"

 

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Has anyone notice that the sauce used in General Tso, Sesame and Orange chickens taste pretty much the same with the exception of sesame or orange.

I thought it was just me and my inferior taste buds.

Perhaps it's just the way my favorite chinese restaurant makes it, but I've always thought the sauce for General Tso's Chicken had a definite "kick" to it. It's spicy and not at all comparable to the mild sauces in Sesame and Orange Chicken.

Orange flavor chicken is supposed to have plenty of dried hot red peppers in it, I think. Not so?

My version of orange and sesame chicken both had kick. We didn't have General Tso's, but I equate Kung Po chicken with the General except with "colour" (bell peppers, etc). The flavourings and base for the sauces were different, but they all had chili peppers.

Dejah

www.hillmanweb.com

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Orange flavor chicken is supposed to have plenty of dried hot red peppers in it, I think. Not so?

Not at the chinese restaurants I've been in. I can't vouch for how authnetic these restaurants are but Orange Chicken has always been a "safe" mild entrée along the lines of the ubiquitous Sweet & Sour dishes.

 

“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

– From Fox TV’s “Family Guy”

 

Tim Oliver

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My version of orange and sesame chicken both had kick. We didn't have General Tso's, but I equate Kung Po chicken with the General except with "colour" (bell peppers, etc). The flavourings and base for the sauces were different, but they all had chili peppers.

Which one has the bell peppers? The Kung Po or General Tso's?

Michael aka "Pan"

 

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Has anyone notice that the sauce used in General Tso, Sesame and Orange chickens taste pretty much the same with the exception of sesame or orange.

I thought it was just me and my inferior taste buds.

Perhaps it's just the way my favorite chinese restaurant makes it, but I've always thought the sauce for General Tso's Chicken had a definite "kick" to it. It's spicy and not at all comparable to the mild sauces in Sesame and Orange Chicken.

Orange flavor chicken is supposed to have plenty of dried hot red peppers in it, I think. Not so?

My version of orange and sesame chicken both had kick. We didn't have General Tso's, but I equate Kung Po chicken with the General except with "colour" (bell peppers, etc). The flavourings and base for the sauces were different, but they all had chili peppers.

Kung Po is generally has no orange flavor, is less sweet and, of course, has peanuts.

Pan: I have had Kung Po with bell peppers but despise it. Reminds me of PF Chang's.

I'm on the pavement

Thinking about the government.

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Has anyone notice that the sauce used in General Tso, Sesame and Orange chickens taste pretty much the same with the exception of sesame or orange.

I thought it was just me and my inferior taste buds.

Perhaps it's just the way my favorite chinese restaurant makes it, but I've always thought the sauce for General Tso's Chicken had a definite "kick" to it. It's spicy and not at all comparable to the mild sauces in Sesame and Orange Chicken.

Orange flavor chicken is supposed to have plenty of dried hot red peppers in it, I think. Not so?

My version of orange and sesame chicken both had kick. We didn't have General Tso's, but I equate Kung Po chicken with the General except with "colour" (bell peppers, etc). The flavourings and base for the sauces were different, but they all had chili peppers.

Kung Po is generally has no orange flavor, is less sweet and, of course, has peanuts.

Pan: I have had Kung Po with bell peppers but despise it. Reminds me of PF Chang's.

In a Chinese restaurant or no-so Chinese restaurant, the "Kung Pao" sauce is the mother of all brown sauces. It's used as a base to churn out different types of sauce. "Garlic", "Kung Pao", "General Tso", "Orange", "Sesame", Egg Foo Young & other "brown" sauces.

Leave the gun, take the canoli

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In a Chinese restaurant or no-so Chinese restaurant, the "Kung Pao" sauce is the mother of all brown sauces.  It's used as a base to churn out different types of sauce.  "Garlic", "Kung Pao", "General Tso", "Orange", "Sesame", Egg Foo Young & other "brown" sauces.

Is "Kung Pao" the name of a sauce? I think it's the name of a style.

W.K. Leung ("Ah Leung") aka "hzrt8w"
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In a Chinese restaurant or no-so Chinese restaurant, the "Kung Pao" sauce is the mother of all brown sauces.  It's used as a base to churn out different types of sauce.  "Garlic", "Kung Pao", "General Tso", "Orange", "Sesame", Egg Foo Young & other "brown" sauces.

Is "Kung Pao" the name of a sauce? I think it's the name of a style.

Among the Americanized Chinese restaurants, "Kung Pao" sauce is general term for brown sauce.

Leave the gun, take the canoli

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In a Chinese restaurant or no-so Chinese restaurant, the "Kung Pao" sauce is the mother of all brown sauces.  It's used as a base to churn out different types of sauce.  "Garlic", "Kung Pao", "General Tso", "Orange", "Sesame", Egg Foo Young & other "brown" sauces.

Is "Kung Pao" the name of a sauce? I think it's the name of a style.

Among the Americanized Chinese restaurants, "Kung Pao" sauce is general term for brown sauce.

Really? Maybe only in America, but definitely not at Soo's, my restaurant of the past.

Our Kung Pao sauce is made with chicken stock and toban jang. This dish, Pan, has the green peppers in it. I know you don't like the peppers, but at one time, green peppers were not common fare for prairie towns. It seemed exotic to them, and it was colourful. It is considered by some that baby corn and waterchestnuts were a no no for kung po, but aren't waterchestnuts an Asian ingredient? I, perhaps in my ignorance, also thought baby corn was Asian fare. :unsure: Anyway, at one time, our customers thought this dish was "exotic"... :biggrin:

The base for our sesame chicken sauce was simple: vinegar, sugar, 5-spice powder, crushed chili peppers, and lots of sesame oil. The chicken pieces were mixed with an egg, seasonings, and a mix of flour and cornstarch, then rolled in cracker meal. These were deep fried, then tossed quickly into thickened sauce, finishing with lots of sesame seeds on top.

The orange beef/chicken used the same base as above except for the sesame oil. In its place, we added orange extract, rehydrated chun pei (dried orange peel) for the flavour.

Brown sauce has been mentioned several times in this thread and others. To me, brown sauce is gravy for egg foo young. This is nothing like the sauces we used for kung pao or sesame/orange chicken. The gravy is using oil from the deepfryers to make a roux, then adding chicken stock. To me, that's brown sauce.

Dejah

www.hillmanweb.com

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