General Tso’s chicken, crisp chunks of deep fried chicken breast dunked in hot and sour sauce is a delicious American Chinese dish.
General and his chicken
Governor Tso's chicken, General Tao’s chicken, General Mao's chicken, General Tsao's chicken, General Tong's, Tang's, Cho's and Chai's chicken; General Joe's, Ching's, Jong's chicken – these are all variants of names for the dish of deep fried chicken in hot and sweet sauce. It has as many various names as many recipes for it, most far too complicated.
Legendary general Zuo Zongtang would probably be amazed that a chicken dish has been named in his honour. He was a 19th century warrior, so probably was not so fussed about what he ate. Nor would he be familiar with this particular tomatoey, sweet and hot chicken dish as it is yet another western impostor.
Immigrant song
Chicken balti, deep pan pizza, chicken parmigiana, hamburgers, chilli con carne, fortune cookies and chop suey are all counterfeits invented in Britain or America, pretending to be authentic ethnic dishes. They may well have been designed and cooked by ethnically correct immigrants but they still are what I call immigrant songs.
Many scorn them, but I don’t think those dishes are so wrong.
Say, if I’d lived a hundred years earlier and came to the UK with my mind set on opening a Polish takeaway (I think there is no such thing anywhere around, possibly the better for it), I probably wouldn’t start off with duck blood soup or jellied pig’s head.
Instead, I’d try to entice the British customers gently, non-controversially, with pierogis and bigos, cooking to please the local palates and from available produce.
Many ways to general’s chicken
As many names, as many recipe variants for the good general’s chicken abound. The crudest version I’ve seen involves dunking fried chicken in ketchup. The more sophisticated ones involve marinating the chicken, frying it and cooking the sauce separately.
Mine is a two-stage recipe: coat and fry the chicken, then toss it with the sauce. And making the sauce is easier than buying it bottled.
I’ve been inspired mostly by NY Times Cooking’s Fuchsia Dunlop’s recipe but have trawled through many different ones. You can use chicken thighs or chicken breast fillet, depending on your preference.
How to cook the chicken?
Somewhat counterintuitively to Western cookery concepts, crispy fried chicken pieces do not stay crisp but are dunked in sauce.
On the other hand it is the approach familiar to our meatball making: fry the pieces of meat to quickly cook and seal the moisture, then drown them in the fragrant sauce to infuse with flavour and to dress pasta, or rice as in the case of the General’s dish.
Chicken sliced into small chunks or large dice is first marinated in soy sauce and egg yolk. There is a controversy whether to use egg yolk or egg white to help crust the chicken: I’ve tried both and can vouch for egg yolk.
Thus coated, the chicken is briskly deep fried until crisp and golden, then drained on paper towels while we empty and wipe the wok. It is a bit of a chore but shallow frying won’t cut the mustard here: chicken might not cook through. If you strain the oil into a sturdy container, it can be happily re-used.
How to make the sauce?
The sauce for General Tso’s chicken is delicious, albeit westernised by the use of tomato paste. The paste is stirred together with the classic combination of soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, rice vinegar and some chicken stock or simply water.
The third element of the dish apart from (already cooked) chicken and (now mixed) sauce are the aromatics: snipped whole dried chillies, with or without the seeds depending on your resilience to heat, finely chopped ginger and finely chopped garlic.
Once the wok is re-heated post-chicken, the aromatics can be briefly cooked in a little fresh oil – watch out for the fumes!
Then the sauce should be poured in and almost immediately you can return the chicken pieces into the wok, to toss and coat in the sauce over medium heat. Adjust the thickness of the sauce by adding a spoonful of cornflour slurry, or splashing more stock or water in.
And that’s the dish ready to serve over plain rice, with a drizzle of sesame oil and a scattering of chopped spring onions.
More Chinese chicken recipes
Bang bang chicken made the authentic way is poached, shredded chicken served with crunchy vegetables and a mind-blowing peanut butter sauce.
Chicken yu xiang, chicken breast pieces cooked in Sichuan ‘fragrant fish’ sauce which has seafood only in the name. With addition of dried cranberries for sweetness and almonds for crunch.
Kung pao, or gong bao chicken is a chicken and peanuts stir fry with thick and spicy sauce. Authentic taste of a good kung pao chicken takeaway made at home, with the spiciness from chilies and Sichuan peppercorns.
More recipes for stir fries
Chinese five spice duck breast with perfectly rendered fat seared in a pan, atop aubergines and mushrooms stir fried with oyster sauce, is the kind of brilliant recipe that is quick and easy but very impressive.
Beef and asparagus stir fry with beef so tender you won’t believe it’s a cheaper cut. There’s a secret to a successful beef stir fry and you’d never guess what it is.
Stir fried ginger vegetables: a mixed vegetable stir-fry with ginger and sesame. This healthy Chinese vegetable stir fry is a side dish or a vegetarian main when served over rice or noodles.