Who the Hell Was General Tso and Why Do Honor Him With Chicken?

General Tso's Chicken has been on my mind a lot lately...mainly because I have had a taste for it.  Then on one of my many sleepless, insomnia ridden nights, I laid there thinking: "Who the hell was General Tso? Is he a real person? Why did they name chicken after him?"  I decided to research General Tso and I thought I would share my findings with you, my lovely readers.

Now for you that either live under a rock, in a cave, or have never had Americanized Chinese food my be wonder what is this chicken I speak of.  Here is my description of General Tso's chicken...It is this crispy fried type chunks of chicken in this kick ass sauce that is sweet, but don't let that fool you.  That stuff will come back and slap you in your face with the spice.  All and all it is freaking delicious.  The stuff has slapped me in the face a few times...I think of the great pepper incident of 2003...The office where I was working at the time, we had ordered Chinese.  I got my beloved General Tso chicken...I took a delicious bite and one of the sneaky little peppers was hidden on the bottom of the bite...in other words, I thought I was going to die, but I digress. For those of you who want a real background on it, this is what I found:

General Tso's chicken (sometimes Governor Tso's chicken, General Tao's chicken, General Tsao's chicken) is a sweet and spicy, deep-fried chicken dish that is popularly served in North American Chinese restaurants. The dish was unknown in China and other lands home to the Chinese diaspora before it was introduced by chefs returning from the United States. The dish is named after General Tso Tsung-tang, or Zuo Zongtang, a Qing dynasty general and statesman, although this connection is tenuous. He is said to have enjoyed it, and perhaps helped create a dish, but there are no recorded recipes. The real roots of the dish lie in the post 1949 exodus of chefs to the United States. The dish is reported to have been introduced to New York City in the early 1970s as an example of Hunan cooking, though it is not typical of Hunanese cuisine, which is traditionally very spicy and rarely sweet. The dish was first mentioned in The New York Times in 1977.

Ok so we know what the chicken is...now what made Tso so great?   I had to find out!

Zuo Zongtang  (November 10, 1812 - September 5, 1885), spelled Tso Tsung-t'ang in Wade-Giles and known simply as General Tso in the West, was a Chinese statesman and military leader in the late Qing Dynasty.

He was born in Wenjialong, north of Changsha in Hunan province. He served in China's northwestern regions, quelling the Dungan revolt and various other disturbances. He served with distinction during the Qing Empire's civil war against the Taiping Rebellion, in which it is estimated 20 million people died.

So he lived over a 100 years ago...he must be pretty bad ass to have food named after him.  I mean have you ever heard of the General Washington dog or the Lincoln burger? I haven't and if you had? Send me an email!

Zuo's career got an inauspicious start when, as a young man, he failed the official court exams seven times.  He decided to abandon his plans to become a civil servant and returned to his home by the Xiang River in Hunan to farm silkworms, read, and drink tea. It was during this period that he first directed his attention to the study of Western sciences and political economy.

Drink tea? Seriously?

When the Taiping Rebellion broke out in 1850, Zuo, then 38 years old, was hired as an advisor to Zeng Guofan, the governor of Hunan. In 1856, he was formally offered a position in the provincial government of Hunan. In 1860, Zuo was given command of a force of 5,000 volunteers, the Xiang Army (later known as "Chu Army"), and by September of that year, he drove the Taiping rebels out of Hunan and Guangxi provinces, into coastal Zhejiang. Zuo captured the city of Shaoxing and, from there, pushed south into Fujian and Guangdong provinces, where the revolt had first begun. In 1863, Zuo was appointed Governor of Zhejiang and an Undersecretary of War.

OK so he was pretty badass...I'd like to buy the guy a beer and chat with him.

Zuo Zongtang was admired by many generals who came after him. The Muslim General Bai Chongxi wanted to reconquer Xinjiang for the Kuomintang central government, in Zuo Zongtang's style, and expelled Russian influence from the area. Zuo Zongtang was also referred to by Muslim General Ma Zhongying (a descendant of a Salar noble) as one of his models, as Ma led the KMT 36th Division (National Revolutionary Army) to reconquer Xinjiang for the Kuomintang from the pro-Soviet governor Jin Shuren during the Kumul Rebellion.

So all these people admired him...I kind of got the Ooo's and Ahh's about him myself.  I also learned he was real nice at throwing spears and was pretty decent at making dumplings.

I think it is time for some lunch now...Chicken anyone?