Entries tagged with 'Kung Pao chicken'
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The Nuts in Kung Pao Chicken: Peanuts or Cashews?

[Flickr: Spy On Pea] 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...

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10 Comments | Posted by Erin Zimmer, October 15, 2009 at 7:30 PM
Tagged: Asian, cashews, Chinese, Kung Pao chicken, nuts, peanuts

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. [Flickr: Lewi Hirvela] 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...

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23 Comments | Posted by Lee Zalben, October 14, 2009 at 3:45 PM
Tagged: Chinese, General Tso's chicken, Kung Pao chicken, nuts, peanuts, That's Nuts

Chicago: Classin' Up Kung Pao

If I had a slice of bacon for every cute cheffy deconstruction of a classic dish that had gone wrong, I’d be bigger than Niman Ranch. Even if the deconstruction goes right, the gourmet-ing up of mac and cheese or PBJ has been done so much that it’s getting boring. Still, one chef whose deconstructions I never get sick of is Graham Elliot Bowles of Graham Elliot. The cool thing about Bowles is he knows when to deconstruct and when to just leave classics alone. If he wants to use Pop Rocks, he doesn’t have some kitchen intern researching how to re-create Pop Rocks for a week, he just goes to the corner store and buys them. Sometimes you just...

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1 Comment | Posted by Michael Nagrant, June 4, 2009 at 11:15 AM
Tagged: Chicago, chicken, Flavor Guides, Graham Elliot, Graham Elliot Bowles, Illinois, Kung Pao chicken