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Chef Peng Chang-Kuei

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Don Tiny

Post subject: Chef Peng Chang-Kuei

Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2016 9:32 am

Joined: Thu May 28, 2009 11:10 am
Posts: 42094
Location: Rock Ridge (splendid!)
pizza_Place: Charlie Fox's / Paisano's

(not to be confused with 'Chen Ming Wang' ...)

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/eats/general-tso-chicken-creator-chef-peng-chang-kuei-dead-article-1.2896471

Inventor of General Tso’s Chicken, Chef Peng Chang-Kuei, is dead at 98
♫<La Marseillaise>♫

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.

Peng moved to New York in 1973 and opened his own restaurant, Peng Garden, on E. 44th St. near the United Nations — where then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger raved about the General Tso’s chicken, which Peng once admitted in an interview he had reformulated to be sweeter in deference to the American palate.

The entree’s place is secure on takeout menus across America, whether listed as General Tso, Cho or Tsao. But the dish remains controversial. Michael Tong — owner of Shun Lee Palace, also a Manhattan restaurant — claims he, not Peng, brought the dish to America after visiting Peng’s restaurant in Taipei. The debate rages.

Peng moved back to Taiwan in the 1980s. His funeral will be on Dec. 15 in Taipei.

News of Peng’s death came just after the same-day demise of Michael "Jim" Delligatti, the creator of the Big Mac, another titanic American culinary icon. He was 98.

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
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Panther pislA

Post subject: Re: Chef Peng Chang-Kuei

Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2016 8:20 pm

Joined: Fri Apr 14, 2006 5:43 pm
Posts: 2220
pizza_Place: ....

One of my favorite dishes as a college kid.

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FavreFan wrote:

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Peoria Matt

Post subject: Re: Chef Peng Chang-Kuei

Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2016 9:15 pm

Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2005 4:54 am
Posts: 22704
pizza_Place: A few...

Don Tiny wrote:

That is CFMB worthy, right there.

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Chus

Post subject: Re: Chef Peng Chang-Kuei

Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2016 9:37 pm

Joined: Fri Mar 31, 2006 3:29 pm
Posts: 34795
pizza_Place: Al's Pizza

Panther pislA wrote:

One of my favorite dishes as a college kid.

My go-to Chinese order in my early twenties.

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

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FavreFan

Post subject: Re: Chef Peng Chang-Kuei

Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2016 9:44 pm

Joined: Fri Jun 29, 2007 11:17 am
Posts: 72380
Location: Palatine
pizza_Place: Lou Malnatis

I was a bit confused by this at first but it makes sense. Peng Chang-Kuei's Chicken doesn't really roll of the tongue as easily.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
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Chef Peng Chang-Kuei

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