The Nuts in Kung Pao Chicken: Peanuts or Cashews?
Yesterday, our new nut columnist Lee Zalben wrote about Kung Pao chicken, exploring the use of nuts in this and so many other Chinese dishes. He casually mentioned the peanuts in his Kung Pao dish, which set off a mini debate. What about cashews? Or are peanuts more common? We tweeted and Facebooked the question, and the consensus seems to be with peanuts.
- "traditionally, only peanuts are used" (@kattebelletje)
- "Peanuts or no nuts. Never cashews." (@GarySoup)
- "peanuts for sure, says the girl who grew up in a Chinese restaurant" (@aliciac)
Chinese cuisine mystery-solver Jenny 8. Lee directed us to this New York Times piece by Howard W. French from 2005. Apparently in south-central China, the ancestral home of the dish—where it actually goes by gong bao chicken—there are no nuts added at all. "Unlike Sichuan or American versions, the dish was indeed peanut-free," notes French. But the assumption here is that peanuts would be added. Clearly cashews sneak into plenty of versions—the fancier ones as some would argue.
"We have always used cashews in my family when we could afford them. Cashews are the fancier peanut," notes our Facebook friend Jessica. Do you have a preference? Or believe one is better?
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10 Comments:
I have had water chest nuts in a few places in socal. A new one for me.
Tony jaguar at 8:44PM on 10/15/09
We have always preferred cashews. However, cashews seem to provoke a rather fragrant result in our younger son, (he proudly recalls the cashew roadtrip from hell, he owns it, we try to forget it) so it's peanuts now for us.
dhorst at 9:20PM on 10/15/09
Yeah i've only ever seen peanuts. I don't think i'd mind cashews though. I would probably just be a little confused
rumanddiet at 11:02PM on 10/15/09
I've pretty much kept to the peanut camp primarily due to the cost differential; preferring to stick with the "peasant factor" in any cuisine. I must admit that I'd relish trying the cashew version if you were buying... ;~D
Always looking for the path of a peacemaker, can't we just throw a fistful of both into wok the next time we cook? We've all probably strayed from the "purist" version of this dish long ago anyway...
On second thought, not a good idea. It would just bring up another rant of mine; living with a "cherry picker" who always picks out the choicest morsels from a medley-type dish. I hate that..! (Let's save that for another post)
czken at 4:28AM on 10/16/09
To me, kung pao and cashew chicken are two entirely different dishes. Cashew chicken (in my experience) is chopped dark meat chicken, cashews, bell pepper, and that "brown sauce."
meleyna at 9:51AM on 10/16/09
1) America is, as they say, the Land of the Free, so I suppose Serious Eats readers and tweeters and Facebookers have the right to dream up just about any combination of ingredients they can think of and call it gongbao jiding. But that doesn't ground their little thought experiment in earthly reality. In other words, the opinions of sundry New Yorkers, Nebraskans, or Alaskans on the subject--particularly those who've never been to China-- don't add up to a hill of peanuts, chicken morsels, and dried peppers. To begin with, their notions of Chinese food have very often been shaped by restaurants that make numerous concessions to non-Chinese tastes.
2) Guiyang may claim paternity when it comes to gongbao jiding, but I think you'll find that nearly everyone from anywhere else in the Chinese world associates the dish with Sichuan province.
3) There's something about the look of a pair of chopsticks jutting out of a bowl of food, as in the photo above, that is simply irresistible to Western illustrators and photographers; you run across it all over the place. For the record, though, in Chinese culture that image is considered inauspicious (for reasons I'll spare you right now), and a pair of chopsticks sticking out of a bowl of food like that is a definite no-no at the table.
Barry Foy at 10:05AM on 10/16/09
A quick run-through of my many, many Chinese restaurant menus shows both Kung Pao and Cashew Chicken offered at each, and at each restaurant, the two are very distinct dishes...
BobbieAnne at 11:10AM on 10/16/09
@Barry Foy: really interesting observations.
Its so true though: western society cannot resist a spicy (yet pretty simple) flavourful dish served with two sticks. Perhaps it could also be the "unknown" aspect that intrigues us :)
hungrychristel at 11:27AM on 10/16/09
@Barry Foy I laughed when I read your third point because it's so true. Growing up my mom would always scold me when I stick my chopsticks on the bowl of rice. Honestly tho, I normally doesn't notice those type of things when I'm looking at food photographs.
mochateri at 1:29PM on 10/16/09
Definitely peanuts - cashews are used in cashew chicken! :)
Chew on That at 5:29PM on 10/16/09