That's Nuts: Is Kung Pao Chicken Authentic?
Note: Lee Zalben, a.k.a. "the Peanut Butter Guy" is the creator of the Peanut Butter & Co., a New York sandwich shop with a national line of nut butters. Every week he'll chime in with some nuttiness. This week, he questions the authenticity of Kung Pao chicken.
They call me "The Peanut Butter Guy." Everyone just assumes I know everything there is to know about peanuts and peanut butter, even the most esoteric and tangential of facts.
I was out with some friends the other night at a popular Chinese restaurant in Manhattan. Of course I ordered the Kung Pao chicken. In part, because wherever I go, everyone always expects me to order the dish on the menu with peanuts in it, and in part because I really like Kung Pao chicken. (Peanuts are a great partner for chili peppers.)
One of my friends immediately started quizzing me, and a debate ensued over the authenticity of Kung Pao chicken as a traditional Chinese dish. Someone swore that General Tso's chicken was a completely made-up American creation, asserting that Kung Pao chicken was too. At the time, I wasn't sure if Kung Pao chicken was "real" or not, but I found myself defending it. Peanuts are widely grown in China and used in Chinese cuisine quite a bit—it made sense.
The next day I consulted some cookbooks and other trusted sources. While the version of Kung Pao chicken that we eat in the U.S. is much different from the original, I'm happy to report that Kung Pao Chicken, is an actual Szechuan dish, named after a real person (a governor of China's Szechuan province).
Even better, it is traditionally prepared with peanuts (someone at the dinner table thought peanuts might have been an American influence). The big difference is that in the U.S., Szechuan peppercorns, an important component of the original, are usually left out, mostly because until recently, they were banned in the country for agricultural reasons.
All of this got me thinking more about peanuts in Chinese cuisine. In addition to the Kung Pao, I've had some delicious shrimp and peanut dumplings, as well as some tasty cookies (made with whole peanuts) baked as part of a Chinese New Year feast.
But I think my favorite use of peanuts in Chinese cooking is probably one of the simplest—as a garnish for congee, the simple rice porridge often eaten for breakfast and usually flavored with some shrimp, shredded chicken, or pork, and some raw minced vegetables. The peanuts add an incredible crunch and nuttiness to the whole thing.
So, eaters, what's your favorite use of nuts in Chinese cuisine?
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
23 Comments:
peanuts are not uncommon in chinese cuisine! fried red peanuts are a common cold appetizer in taiwan and china. last spring, had a variation of that dish at a restaurant in qingdao that was deep fried peanuts in a honey-vinegar sauce - totally addictive. on the cantonese front, there's a very common cantonese sweet that is crushed peanuts and sugar inside glutinous rice dough, and a dim sum dumpling called "fan gwo" that is a steamed dumpling with a diced turnip and peanut filling.
halvsie at 4:30PM on 10/14/09
Check out Jennifer 8. Lee's book "The Fortune Cookie Chronicles"-- she traces the history of General Tso's Chicken, and with it the history of Chinese food in North America. (And yes, peanuts made their way to China in the 1600s!)
therealpotato at 4:46PM on 10/14/09
It doesn't make the dish any less "real," but both the peanuts and the chili peppers are, of course, American influences.
alexlv at 4:53PM on 10/14/09
I also love peanuts in a Chinese application!
I like a kung-pao as much as most I think but
(Ive mentioned probably many times) My favourite local Chinese Rest. (Northern Cuisine) "Spicy Noodle House" and they make the most deadly spicy peanut noodle soup! [item #1 of course]
-- you can order the basic version; or they have one with a fried porkchop on the side.
Its the perfect soup and I crave it at least weekly. It also includes something small and diced that seems like a pickle of some kind (?)
Either way: I cannot live without it!
hungrychristel at 4:55PM on 10/14/09
Every Kung Pao Chicken I've had has cashews, not peanuts. Now I'm really confused!
jujyfruit at 4:56PM on 10/14/09
Have no idea how authentically Chinese it is, but I love to make noodles (usually linguine) with a Peanut butter-sesame oil sauce, usually with julienned cucumber, snow peas, and scallions.
lemonfair at 5:00PM on 10/14/09
I'm with @lemonfair -- I can never turn down a good bowl of peanut noodles.
I also like to stir fry red pepper, shredded cabbage, snow peas and peanuts and throw over brown rice.
They may not be the most authentic dishes, but the salty peanuts are a great compliment to spicy sauces and add a nice crunch if (when) I accidentally let the vegetables get a little overdone!
ec_washington at 5:04PM on 10/14/09
"Authentic" is a pernicious foodie conceit.
GrantK at 5:07PM on 10/14/09
Fuchsia Dunlop's book Land Of Plenty about Sichuan cuisine discusses peanuts in connection with many dishes and has a Kung Pao recipe.
According to Wikipedia, "as of 2006 China was the world's largest peanut producer."
Not directly relevant, but I was introduced to boiled peanuts when I moved to the (US) South some years ago. I've had peanuts boiled with just salt in the traditional manner as well as innovations such as "Cajun spices." This led me to a recent experiment in which I boiled a batch in a Sichuan-ish mixture of crushed chilis and Sichuan peppercorns--the "ma la" or hot-and-numbing combination. I would not be surprised if I was simply re-inventing something that is well known in Sichuan.
Lorenzo at 5:09PM on 10/14/09
I have had Gong Bao Ji Dan (Kung Pao) many more times in Beijing where it is a staple in neighborhood joints, than I have in the US (I love General Tso's for what it is). It is most definitely authentic.
Also they do the cold peanut appetizer on the mainland too, a game I played with my friends while waiting for the food to arrive to to see how many of the soggy little bastards we could pick up with our chop sticks at once (my record was 5).
Bobbydigital at 5:14PM on 10/14/09
Agreed with BD. Kung Pao chicken in China is definitely where it's at. Although a lot of the components are similar, it tastes quite different in China. I lived in Shanghai for a while and the Kung Pao chicken from neighborhood restaurants were the best. I felt silly telling people that Kung Pao chicken was my favorite Chinese dish in China, but it really is different enough that I didn't feel uncultured in saying so.
alphazack at 5:28PM on 10/14/09
I am in the middle of a conversation with a co-worker who is from Manila right now about this actually.
I was telling him I had Kung Pao chicken this morning, he said he had it a few days ago.
I asked him if his had peanuts he said no, it came with Cashews.
But on further exploration he explained to me that it DOES infact come with both peanuts and cashews, he just asks for them to be left out as a personal preference.
I also had "beijing beef" with my meal which seems a bit more questionable as far as authenticity goes. Great article! Thanks!
AyeEat at 5:50PM on 10/14/09
Lorenzo:There's an asian grocery store in Minneapolis that occasionally sells 5-spice boiled peanuts, so you may be right.
As far as authenticity/ influence goes, these concepts are only truly meaningful if one operates on the assumption that cultures and populations are isolated and develop totally independently of one another, and nothing in human history indicates that this assumption is correct. Not to mention that any student of social sciences is familiar with the proposition that the very act of observation impacts that which is being observed, so the notion of authenticity is disrupted as soon as one begins to assess it.
That said, I was really pleased to find that a number of Hmong farmers in Minnesota grow peanuts! So there's another peanut-using cuisine to add to the list...
thatgrrl at 6:53PM on 10/14/09
Gongbao jiding (not "jidan") is totally authentic, but what's shown in that photo ain't it. What are those green bits supposed to be? Cucumber? Zucchini? Based on my experience in China and Taiwan, they don't belong. Also, there seems to be more peanuts than chicken, and even the most devoted peanut partisan shouldn't get away with that. As for cashews, not a chance.
As stated, Jennifer 8 Lee's book clarifies the record re: Gen'l Tso's, but gongbao jiding, as far as I know, is quite a different story.
Barry Foy at 7:39PM on 10/14/09
If you don't have time to read Jennifer Lee's book, I highly recommend this TED talk:
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/jennifer_8_lee_looks_for_general_tso.html
It's one of my favorites: funny, informative, surprising... and you'll learn things about General Tso's, fortune cookie's, and other popular dishes that are pretty awesome :P
VSoch at 8:06PM on 10/14/09
There's a couple of Szechwan places around here that do a dynamite version of Kung Pao Chicken, more chilies, more flavor.
chanterelle at 8:47PM on 10/14/09
@Lorenzo: in Hawai'i, peanuts are boiled with star anise, too. Very tasty.
TikiPundit at 8:51PM on 10/14/09
I was always under the impression that Kung Pao chicken was authentic, mostly because I had a friend in college who studied abroad for a year in China and came back saying he'd had it there (but taught us all the "correct" pronunciation for it gong bao ji ding. Although I do enjoy the Americanized version in restaurants, I've always made it at home more in the style of Fuchsia Dunlop's version - cause that's how Mom taught me!
Amandarama at 7:55AM on 10/15/09
I was in China this past summer and had "Szechuan Chicken" at the restaurant Made in China In Beijing. This is basically KungPo Chicken (gongbao jiding), but they added Macadamia nuts. It was INCREDIBLE! It was also one of the only restaurants that we went back to just for this dish. I highly recommend Made In China to anyone travelling to Beijing.
nelkins at 9:12AM on 10/15/09
I, too, have eaten Gog Bao Ji Ding in Beijing many times, and it's very similar to our Kung Pao Chicken. Except there it costs about fifty cents. And, as Barry Foy said, there seems to be an overabundance of peanuts and a relative dearth of chicken in the dish pictured. However, Barry, I've had it with cucumbers on numerous occasions. They work surprisingly well. I can't remember if it always had cucumbers (left Beijing >2 years ago) but it was often at least.
cupcakelust at 9:57PM on 10/17/09
Legend goes it was invented by this guy, and named after his title.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ding_Baozhen
The picture is authentic - and very close to the original Sichuan version in fact. There are many regional varieties, but the main ingredients: chicken, peeled peanuts (the one with cashew nuts is actually a different dish), cucumber, spring onion and spices are all present here in this photo.
Chilli is the primary taste factor that makes most of the difference.
mdwbh at 4:57PM on 10/18/09
My favorite is definitely cold szechuan style noodles with a peanut/tahini/chili sauce (Bittman's recipe is my basic starting point). A relatively simple dish with a lot of elan and layers.
And, btw, I thought peanuts were of African origin, and I thank you for a new piece of knowledge today!
Dharmapupil at 1:32AM on 10/20/09
Authenticity bores me. I enjoy things that taste good and use their ingredients properly.
UnasBravas at 7:29AM on 10/21/09