General Tso Never Ate ‘His’ Chicken and 4 Other Fun Facts About This Popular Dish

General Tso’s Chicken, a mainstay of Chinese restaurants in the United States, is a popular takeout dish.

It usually consists of fried pieces of chicken mixed with a sauce that is both sweet and spicy.

But where does it come from? Is it eaten in China? Who was “General Tso,” if he existed, and did he eat “his” own meal?

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Fox News Digital sat down with two chefs to answer five key culinary questions about their favorite dish.

1. It is not a traditional dish in China

“Very few people in China have heard of General Tso’s chicken, and even fewer have tried it,” Bill Leung, a chef, food blogger and cookbook author, said on his blog, “The Woks of Life.”

Instead, General Tso’s chicken might be more aptly described as an “Americanized version of Chinese cuisine,” wrote Leung, who grew up in upstate New York, where he worked in his family’s Chinese restaurant.

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

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

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

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

It was born in China’s Hunan province and General Tso’s Chicken was influenced by Hunan cuisine, Chou said.

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

“Peng Chang-kuei used his knowledge of Huna cuisine to develop this new dish to be served at the Nationalist Party’s government banquets in Taiwan,” she said.

3. It continued to evolve over time

The original version of the dish, Chou said, is “very different from the version we know today.”

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In the first version of General Tso’s Chicken, it was not fried.

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

General Tso’s Chicken has its roots in the cuisine of China’s southern Hunan province. (Google Maps)

4. He made his way to the Big Apple in 1973

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

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

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In 1977, The New York Times called General Tso’s Chicken “a sautéed masterpiece, searing in both flavor and temperature.”

General Tao’s chicken is now fried. The fried chicken pieces are mixed with a sweet but spicy sauce. (iStock)

Other Chinese restaurants have taken advantage of the popularity of General Tso’s chicken and started serving their own versions, Chou noted.

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Chefs in the United States have begun adapting General Tso’s chicken to appeal to American tastes and “to have a crispier exterior and a sweeter sauce,” she said.

“Our restaurant version…has a more intensely flavored and tangy sauce with big chunks of crispy, juicy chicken and lots of fresh, crunchy broccoli.”

The recipe on The Woks of Life website more closely reflects the first American iteration of General Tso’s chicken, Leung said.

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“Our restaurant version, as my father cooked it when he was a professional chef in New York, has a more intensely flavored and tangy sauce with big chunks of crispy, juicy chicken and lots of fresh, crunchy broccoli,” Leung wrote, “as opposed to the typically monotonous, sweet, neon orange fried flour pieces that many takeout restaurants produce.”

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“Frying is the best solution,” he said.

5. There was a real General Tso, but he didn’t 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), a real general from Hunan province in China,” she said.

The real General Tso, pictured left, was Tso Tsung-t’ang, who died long before his namesake chicken, pictured right, was invented. (Getty Images; iStock)

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

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