The Taiwanese chef who created General Tso's chicken, the sweet and savory Chinese take-out favorite, died Wednesday at age 98.
Peng Chang-kuei died in Taipei, Taiwan, more than 60 years after he created the world famous dish, the New York Times reported. British food expert Fuchsia Dunlop called it "the most famous Hunanese dish in the world," the Times reported.
Legend says Chang-kuei invented General Tso's chicken in the 1950s while serving a group of U.S. military members. He named it after a 19th Century Chinese military leader, the Chicago Tribune reported.
However, it didn't become popular until then-President Richard Nixon made his famous visit to China in 1972, the Tribune reported. It soon became a favorite of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who often visited Chang-kuei's New York City restaurant.
"General Tso's Chicken is so famous because of Henry Kissinger," Chang-kuei's son Chuck Peng told the Tribune, "because he was among the first to eat it, and he liked it, so others followed."
Over the coming decades, several chefs would adapt the dish to American tastes, giving us the saucy treasure we savor today.
"General Tso's Chicken is so famous because of Henry Kissinger," Chang-kuei's son Chuck Peng told the Tribune, "because he was among the first to eat it, and he liked it, so others followed."
"My father thought other people's cooking was no good," Peng told the Tribune. "The way he cooked was different, it was much better."