General Tso's chicken is a sugary-spicy dish that is staggeringly popular in today's American Chinese restaurants. It commonly consists of dark-meat tidbits of chicken, deep-fried then seasoned with ginger, garlic, sesame oil, scallions, and hot chilli peppers, and often served with steamed broccoli. Though relatively inexpensive to produce, General Tso's Chicken is listed as a "Chef's Specialty" at most Chinese restaurants in North America, commanding a higher price than other items.

It is unclear how the dish came to bear the name of the 19th-century Chinese war hero General Zuo Zongtang. Zuo himself is unlikely ever to have tasted the dish. Also, there are contradictory accounts as to the origin of the dish. The author of the book Chinese Kitchen, Eileen Yin-Fei Lo, states that the dish has Hunan origins. Other sources credit the origin of the dish to the New York City Chinatown in the 1970s.

For unclear reasons, the dish is typically called "General Gau's Chicken" in the Boston, Massachusetts area. In parts of Canada, this dish is known as "General Tao's Chicken." In other regions and restaurants, it is also known as "General Zhou's Chicken" or "General Chou's Chicken."

External link

• http://www.echonyc.com/~erich/tso.htm
• http://www.io.com/~sjohn/food3.htm