Inventor of General Tso’s Chicken, Chef Peng Chang-Kuei, is dead at 98
Quote:
The dish is spicy and sweet. The news is sour.
Chef Peng Chang-kuei, who created the legendary Chinese entree General Tso's Chicken, died this week from pneumonia.
He was 98.
Peng spent most of his life in the kitchen, first as a banquet chef for the Nationalists before they were ousted by Mao’s Communists in 1949.
Peng fled the revolution and ended up in Taiwan, where he continued as a top government cook. His date with destiny came in 1952 when he was assigned to prepare a meal for visiting U.S. Admiral Arthur W. Radford, who had been a guest of Peng on prior visits.
The master chef wanted to create an entirely new item for the dignitary and the resulting battered chicken in a spicy sweet sauce was dubbed “General Tso’s Chicken” in honor of the legendary Qing Dynasty military and political leader Zuo Zongtang, who died in glory in 1885.
Rest in Peace
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