I join chef peng in his broccoli subtraction.
I don’t think it was because he disliked brocolli (I have no idea how he feels about it). It think that he disliked the fact that people were calling it General Tso’s Chicken when, at least in his mind, it’s actually something different.
Regarding the common dislike of brocolli, I think that may stem from the fact that it’s so often overcooked, making it mushy and bitter. The fast food Chinese places are especially guilty of this. Their brocolli is often a boiled limp soggy mess when it should be lightly steamed and crunchy.
I have never in my life heard of General Tso’s chicken including broccoli. What evil mutant apostacy is this?
That some Chinese joints offer broccoli as a side vegetable with any/all main courses is immaterial. That doesn’t make it part of the main course.
It’s not served as a side dish. It’s part of the main dish. Nice sit down restaurants usually serve the chicken on a bed of broccoli that was cooked separately. The fast food places usually just have a few limp pieces mixed in.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen it served without broccoli. It may vary by location (I’m near Philly), or it may just be the restaurants I’ve been to.
The movie seemed to think that broccoli is a very common addition, and they went all over the country.
Limp broccoli I could stand. It’s the nearly raw stuff that I abhor. But neither belongs in the dish, but there it is, every time.
Hmm. Google images shows some with broccoli. My horizons expand yet again. Thank you. 
This pic is pretty much the only way I’ve seen it served in the Midwest: a pile of battered fried chicken pieces with pepper pods and a smidgen of green onions on or alongside white rice.
I often thought that General Tso ought to fight it out with General Gau for the chicken; or at least the naming rights.
I heard of it as “General Gau’s Chicken” years before I ever heard of General Tso. And I’ve wondered for a long time who these military men were.
First Colonel Sanders now “General Tso”.
In my experience in the Detroit area, General Txsaeo’s chicken always comes with broccoli, and no other vegetables. I assumed it was the standard recipe developed by whichever immigrant thought of it first.
One of the places here serves it with water chestnuts and pepper pods but no broccoli. I don’t know how the other serves it as they don’t have it on the buffet, they have Sesame Chicken instead.
The first time I had General Tso’s chicken, I ate one of them, thinking it was a burnt string bean. I drank my entire glass of ice water practically in a single gulp. Then I drank the water of everyone else at the table. The waiter refilled all the glasses, and I emptied them all again.
I never liked spicy food before that, but since then, I can’t get enough of it. I think I was immunized. And yes, now I know that drinking water isn’t a good way to quench a hot pepper.
No no, you’re confusing this with the Japanese dish of Chicken Teriyaki, named after one of the few surviving kamikaze pilots from WW2.
As the documentary shows, it annoys many Chinese from the city the general was born that he is remembered more for a dish he did not create than his warfare skills.
A cartoon referencing that:
It’s ironic that I see this page because I just had Gen. Tso’s Chicken for lunch today!
FTR, it did have broccoli in it.