There is only one piece of news coming out of Taiwan today that’s worth talking about: Chef Peng Chang-kuei, the man behind the legendary Chinese entree General Tso's Chicken, passed away on Wednesday from pneumonia.
He was 98.
Peng, originally from China’s Hunan Province and the founder of restaurant chain Peng’s Garden Hunan Restaurant, apprenticed under celebrated chef Cao Jingchen and enjoyed a career on the mainland as a banquet chef before moving to Taiwan in 1949.
Peng eventually moved to New York in 1973, opening Peng Garden restaurant near the United Nations building. Henry Kissinger, then secretary of state, reportedly raved about Peng’s now legendary General Tso’s chicken. The chef returned to Taiwan in the 1980s.
He first invented General Tso’s chicken — the slightly crispy, sweet and sour chicken chunks that are pervasive in American Chinese restaurants — sometime in the 50s.
“General Tso’s chicken did not preexist in Hunanese cuisine,” he once told NPR. “But originally the flavors of the dish were typically Hunanese — heavy, sour, hot and salty.”
Peng’s death coincidently occurred in the same week as another culinary legend, Michael ‘Jim’ Delligatti, the creator of the iconic Big Mac. He was also 98. Although Peng and Delligatti may have left us, they will live on for the foreseeable future through the dishes they created.
Peng’s funeral will be held on December 15 in Taipei.
[Image via New York Daily News, Taiwan News]
0 User Comments