Was there a "General Tso"? And where did his chicken recipe come from?

Answer 1

General Tso Tsungtang, or as his name is spelled in modern Pinyin, Zuo Zongtang, was born on Nov. 10, 1812, and died on Sept. 5, 1885. He was a frighteningly gifted military leader during the waning of the Qing dynasty, a figure perhaps the Chinese equivalent of the American Civil War commander William Tecumseh Sherman. He served with brilliant distinction during China's greatest civil war, the 14-year-long Taiping Rebellion, which claimed millions of lives.

General Tso's Chicken simply honors a great personality, just as Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, is honored in Beef Wellington; Pavel Stroganoff, a 19th-century Russian diplomat, in Beef Stroganoff; Count Charles de Nesselrode (another 19th-century Russian diplomat) in Nesselrode Pudding,; or Australian opera singer Nellie Melba in the dessert, Peach Melba. Indeed some believe it quite likely that the dish was whipped up for the general after some signal victory, just as Chicken Marengo was whipped up for Napoleon after he defeated the Austrians at Marengo on June 14, 1800.

The details of Tso's life are easy to document. But how the chicken got named for him is another matter. In "Chinese Kitchen" (Morrow, 1999), author Eileen Yin-Fei Lo says that dish is a Hunan classic called "chung ton gai," or "ancestor meeting place chicken."

But to others, General Tso's chicken recipe may be no more ancient than 1972, and may have more in common with Manhattan than with mainland China. On "The Definitive General Tso's Chicken Page"http://www.echonyc.com/~erich/tso.htm
New Yorker Eric Hochman theorizes "It was invented in the mid-1970s, in NYC, by one Chef Peng.
http://www.chinesefooddiy.com/general_tso.htm

Answer 2

He was a real Chinese general. His real name was Tso Tsung-t'ang and he lived in the early to late 1800's.

As far as I can tell, there's no clear origin of General Tso's chicken, beyond paying homage to a ruthless military legend.

Answer 3

What I heard form a Chinese chef was that each chef has their own "signature" dish. General Tso was a chef, but prior to that was in the army. So he made his own signature dish and named it after himself.

I LOL b/c the original dish probably looks NOTHING like what we get here in the USA!

Answer 4

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Answer 5

No General Tso fow yew! Actually, here is a link so you can learn about him;

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A59302-2002Apr16

Answer 6

yes their was he lived in china around 12BC and the recipe was actually his mothers. He also fought in an epic battle with col. bourbon which was later nicknamed the battle of the chinese chickens.

Answer 7

Yes, and his chicken recipe came from China.
Take one cat, or snake, or lizard (they all taste like chicken) ....