General Tso never ate 'his' own chicken, plus 4 other fun facts about the Chinese American classic

A mainstay of Chinese restaurants across the United States, General Tso's chicken is a popular takeout dish.

It typically consists of fried pieces of chicken that are tossed in a sauce that is both sweet and spicy. 

But where did it come from? Is it eaten in China? Just who was "General Tso," if he even existed — and did he eat "his" own meal? 

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Fox News Digital spoke to two chefs to help answer five key culinary questions about the favorite meal. 

1. It is not a traditional dish in China

"Very few people in China have even heard of General Tso's chicken, let alone tried it," Bill Leung, a cook, food blogger and cookbook author, said on his blog, "The Woks of Life."

General Tso's chicken is not a traditional Chinese food, but it is popular in the United States and has been for decades.  (iStock)

Instead, General Tso's chicken could be more fairly described as an "Americanized version of Chinese food," wrote Leung, who grew up in upstate New York, where he worked at his family's Chinese restaurant. 

2. It was invented in Taiwan and influenced by Hunanese cuisine

The man credited with inventing the dish was named Peng Chang-kuei, said chef and registered dietitian Cindy Chou to Fox News Digital via email.

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Chou, who lives in California and is Taiwanese American, said Chang-kuei invented General Tso's chicken in Taiwan in 1952. 

Chang-kuei fled mainland China for Taiwan in 1949, the Associated Press said. 

He was born in the Chinese province of Hunan, and General Tso's chicken was influenced by Hunanese cuisine, Chou said. 

General Tso's chicken was invented by Peng Chang-kuei in Taiwan. (iStock)

"Peng Chang-kuei used his knowledge of Hunanese cuisine to develop this new dish to serve at government banquets for the Nationalist Party in Taiwan," she said. 

3. It continued to evolve over time

The original version of the dish, Chou said, is "very different than the version we know today."

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In the first iteration of General Tso's chicken, it was not fried.

Instead, it had the flavor profile of a more typical Hunanese chicken dish, said the AP. 

General Tso's chicken has its roots in the cuisine of the Chinese province of Hunan, located in southern China. (Google Maps)

4. It made its way to the Big Apple in 1973

Chang-kuei moved to the U.S. and opened a restaurant in New York City in 1973, bringing his signature dish with him, the AP reported. 

The restaurant was located near the United Nations, so it attracted a fairly high-profile clientele, including then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the AP said.

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In 1977, The New York Times called General Tso's chicken a "stir-fried masterpiece, sizzling hot in both flavor and temperature." 

General Tso's chicken is now a deep-fried affair. The fried chicken pieces are tossed in a sweet but spicy sauce.  (iStock)

Other Chinese restaurants jumped on the popularity of General Tso's chicken and began serving their own versions, Chou noted. 

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Chefs in the United States began adapting General Tso's chicken to satisfy American tastes and "to have a crispier exterior and sweeter sauce," she said. 

"Our restaurant version … has a more intensely flavored, tangy sauce with large chunks of crisp, juicy chicken, and lots of fresh crunchy broccoli."

The recipe on The Woks of Life website is more reflective of the first American iteration of General Tso's chicken, Leung said. 

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"Our restaurant version — the way my father cooked it in his days as a professional chef in New York — has a more intensely flavored, tangy sauce with large chunks of crisp, juicy chicken, and lots of fresh crunchy broccoli," wrote Leung, "as opposed to the usually one-note, sugary sweet neon orange hunks of fried flour that many takeout joints churn out." 

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"Deep frying is the way to go," he said. 

5. There was a real General Tso, but he did not eat ‘his’ own chicken

General Tso was indeed a real person, Chou said. 

"The dish is named after the historical figure Tso Tsung-t'ang (or Zuo Zongtang), an actual general from the Hunan province in China," she said. 

The real General Tso, shown at left, was Tso Tsung-t'ang, who died long before his namesake chicken, shown on the right, was invented. (Getty Images; iStock)

But the real General Tso died in 1885 at age 72, according to Encyclopedia Britannica.

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Chang-kuei died in 2016 at age 98, the Associated Press said — meaning General Tso died decades before Chang-kuei was even born.