“This mouthwateringly entertaining documentary traces the surprising origins of the iconic Chinese-American dish, from Shanghai to Middle America and beyond.” (from Amazon)
We also watched this recently on Amazon Prime video and really enjoyed it. In fact, we enjoyed it so much that we had to get Chinese takeout (including guess which dish) afterwards. I had never had the General’s chicken since I rarely eat deep-fried foods, but it was fantastic! The documentary also covers a lot about the history of Chinese people in the United States which, for those of us living in the San Francisco Bay Area, is always interesting.
It’s on Netflix as well. I’ll have to give it a look. I’m pleasantly surprised at the number of food documentaries and series on Netflix. Chef’s Table was great, and we watched Spinning Plates last night.
David Chan (Chandavki), if you’re familiar with him, has eaten at 6,000+ Chinese restaurants and is seen in this documentary on PlutoTV.
He posted about it on Instagram because he was in it around 10 years ago but is now able to watch it. Pluto is free.
The documentary traces the history of Chinese food in the US with an emphasis on General Tso’s Chicken, a dish that it says was created here in the US. Interestingly, I checked the online menus of maybe 6 or 8 local Chinese food joints here, and found it on only one of their menus. Such is, I presume, due to the expansion of dozens and dozens of Chinese food places in this area that are increasing less Americanized. Apparently the version most commonly served here is not exactly the same as the version that eventually did find a home in Asia.
Where are you? That so surprised me. I am in NYC and just for comparison I opened grubhub and did a quick search and have hundreds of restaurants showing. I have been to random Chinese restaurants all over New England and I find it everywhere. Most version I have encountered are cloyingly sweet and sticky and not worth the calories. Every now and then there is the exception.
South Orange County, CA. We’re immediately South of Irvine, which has a huge Asian population, so maybe not call that surprising. I’ve been seeing a lot of food board posts where people from the east coast are complaining that they can’t find “any good Chinese food here”. I can only guess that what they’re craving is super-Americanized.
This is an old story by Fuschia Dunlop in the New York Times when it was an interesting newspaper that could have been an inspiration for the documentary. Especially as if I recall correctly she is in it. Her periodic articles in the FT are always interesting too. Recipe included. I may try it.
