From the reader mail bag:

I was wondering if you have any experience trying to make a good General Tso's sauce for either chicken or tofu. I have done some searching of my own but feel that the recipes seem a little boring. Granted, it is a very generic (though popular) food item on a Chinese menu, but I was just hoping you might have come across a recipe or tried one yourself which made the food a little more exciting. I tend to prefer the sauce a little less sweet as well, but that's just me. Any feedback, advice, or creative thinking would be appreciated if you have the time.

I don't. Does anyone else? I don't do much Chinese cooking at home.

Posted on December 19, 2006

readers comments:

This is a basic sticky (so is that Szechauan?) chinese stir fry sauce...pretty foolproof: You can adjust this as necessary

Can be doubled or tripled - here's the single recipe

FOR CHICKEN-BASED recipes

* 2t corn starch
* 4T soy sauce
* 2T dry sherry
* Crushed/minced garlic - a few cloves
* Grated ginger - a small pile (or more) (Peel the ginger first)
* 1/2t crushed red pepper - or more - the more the better

FOR BEEF-BASED recipes

Same thing, but substitute water or red wine for sherry and black pepper for crushed red

After you stir fry everything and you have just the cooked meat in the pan (assuming you do everything separately), turn down the heat, stir the sauce, pour it in, wait for it to bubble (it happens quickly) stir and then pour in everything else. Stir some more. Serve! Yum.

...says Emily on 12/19/06 at 3:05 PM

Take a look here: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=92271

...says Alex on 12/19/06 at 3:12 PM

Yes indeed! I blogged about this last year sometime. There's a web page about reverse-engineering General Tso's chicken, and I've got an adapted version that doesn't involve deep frying and has more vegetables. See:

http://somethinktochewon.blogspot.com/2005/10/copying-restaurant-recipes.html

...says Harlan on 12/19/06 at 3:14 PM

Check out cook's illlustrated's Orange Chicken recipe. The sauce for it is quite delicious, and if you leave out the orange zest, it would make a great General Tso's sauce. The OJ is there mostly for acidity, and doesn't impart a heavy orange flavor. I'd also add some dried chili pepper as well to give it a bit of a kick.

...says Mike on 12/19/06 at 4:38 PM

Wow. Thanks for the advice!

...says Colin on 12/19/06 at 6:47 PM

I've got a recipe I use here- scroll down to the bottom of the page for instructions/photo.

...says s'kat on 12/20/06 at 8:19 AM

This is a great resource:

http://www.thefoodmaven.com/diary/archives/00000222.html

...says Judson on 12/21/06 at 11:15 PM

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