# An Ode to General Tso **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 30, 2003, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ode-to-general-tso/172184 "2003-04-30T16:54:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wyld\_Stallyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8dc957/32.png) [@Wyld\_Stallyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wyld_Stallyn)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ode-to-general-tso/172184/1 "2003-04-30T16:54:07Z")
Oh Great One, I know not whether you ever actually existed as a commander of Chinese forces, but oh, how great you must have been. For you have inspired one of the most delicious and delectable delicacies this world has ever witnessed. How I yearn to taste the trademark flavors and embrace the MSG-laced juices that dribble seductively down my chin. How I cringe when I reach the end of the meal, and I have to wait in longing for our next rendez-vous. May you rest in peace, wherever your mortal remains lie, Great One, knowing full well that your legacy has indeed been a glorious one. ---
**Author:** ![hocow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hocow/32/4112_2.png) [@hocow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hocow)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ode-to-general-tso/172184/2 "2003-04-30T17:47:25Z")
_mouth watering_ I absolutely LOVE General Tso’o Chicken. By far my favorite food. Unfortuantely I’m low carbing and can’t have any :(. ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ode-to-general-tso/172184/3 "2003-04-30T17:51:39Z")
My husband had never eaten The General before. I gave him a bite and he said “Mmmm. Is there meat somewhere in that fried candy coating?” ---
**Author:** ![Kilt-wearin\_man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/82dd89/32.png) [@Kilt-wearin\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilt-wearin_man)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ode-to-general-tso/172184/4 "2003-04-30T17:54:42Z")
There was a General Tso, several centuries ago. A great, legendary military commander who somebody decided to honor by naming their delicious chicken dish after. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ode-to-general-tso/172184/5 "2003-04-30T18:00:43Z")
There was once a Goth/Chinese Restaurant that served **“A Genereal Tso Wat”** chicken. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ode-to-general-tso/172184/6 "2003-04-30T18:09:44Z")
[I mean " **General Tso Wat"**.They also served Angst-Fried Rice and Wurld-So-Dum and I remember where I saw it, & here’s the link.](http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=000709) ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ode-to-general-tso/172184/7 "2003-04-30T18:16:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kilt-wearin’ man \* > \*\*There was a General Tso, several centuries ago. A great, legendary military commander who somebody decided to honor by naming their delicious chicken dish after. \*\* I think the best article about the origin of “General Tso’s Chicken” is on this page, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A59302-2002Apr16?language=printer](http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A59302-2002Apr16?language=printer) > [@](#): > > 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. The dish itself, has more modern origins, apparently. From the same page > [@](#): > > 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” ([www.echonyc.com/~erich/tso.htm](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. > > “Around 1974, Hunan and Szechuan food were introduced to the city, and General Tso’s Chicken was an exemplar of the new style. Peng’s, on East 44th Street, was the first restaurant in NYC to serve it, and since the dish (and cuisine) were new, Chef Peng was able to make it a House Specialty, in spite of its commonplace ingredients.” > > My [Michael Browning’s] own research led me to the same city, but a different Manhattan restaurateur, who claims the dish is the brilliant invention of his former partner, a gifted Chinese immigrant chef named T.T. Wang. > > “He went into business with me in 1972,” said Michael Tong, owner of New York’s Shun Lee Palaces, East (155 E. 55th St.) and West (43 W. 65th St.). "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. They all copied from us. ---
**Author:** ![Sengkelat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Sengkelat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sengkelat)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ode-to-general-tso/172184/8 "2003-04-30T21:32:53Z")
Mmmmn, candied meat. (My wife and I have been using that as a term for a particular chinese dish for years now) So, now I’m all tasted up for General Tso’s chicken… AND THERE’S NOT A DECENT CHINESE RESTAURANT ANYWHERE IN THE COUNTRY! AAARGH! Curse island living, and curse you all too. I’ll go eat my mac and cheese and suffer alone. ---
**Author:** ![Cosmopolitan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/94ad74/32.png) [@Cosmopolitan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cosmopolitan)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ode-to-general-tso/172184/9 "2003-04-30T21:37:22Z")
Damn. Now I’m hungry! Curses… _wanders off in search of a take-out menu_ ---
**Author:** ![porcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac91a4/32.png) [@porcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/porcupine)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ode-to-general-tso/172184/10 "2003-04-30T22:16:35Z")
One Chinese restaurant I used to frequent labeled this dish “Generic Chicken” on their buffet spread. It was yummy, though. ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ode-to-general-tso/172184/11 "2003-04-30T22:17:06Z")
MMMMMmmmm Hot & Sour soup and General Tso’s Chicken… Not just for breakfast! I can feel my arteries hardening already! ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-ode-to-general-tso/172184/12 "2003-05-01T01:12:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor \* > \*\*There was once a Goth/Chinese Restaurant that served **“A Genereal Tso Wat”** chicken. 😃 \*\* And I bet they got their recipes from the immortal cookbook: “101 Ways to Wok Your Dog” \:rolleyes: