quote:

Originally posted by nshumway:

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
Yeah, the black vinegar- I've never heard of it before. I see it's available on Amazon. It's probably available locally to me. I want to avoid substitutions if possible. Balsamic just sounds wrong for this dish.

I made a batch with balsamic instead of black vinegar and it was excellent. Going to find the right vinegar and try again- Thanks Para for posting this. Great recipe.

We had been buying this at Amazon, but it is not available. I found Soeos Chinkiang Vinegar, Chinese Black Vinegar, Zhenjiang Vinegar where we had bought it originally. If you buy two it's the same shipping cost and it's roughly 1/2 off the second, so I went ahead and ordered two of them. I think it's worth it just to be sure I can make this dish in the near future.

I keep all my good recipes in a binder that I call my "Book of 10's" so I'll always have a hard copy.
I went through the video and wrote down everything for the General Tso's chicken and decided to post it just in case someone wants a written copy.

General Tso’s Chicken

1-2 lbs. boneless chicken thighs with skin on. Cut into preferred size chunks.

Marinate
1 ½ tsp salt
¾ tsp black pepper
2 tsp soy sauce
1 egg yolk

Flour mixture
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/3 cup all-purpose flour

Sauce (Enough for 1 lb. chicken)

4 ½ Tbs sugar
½ tsp cornstarch
2 ½ Tbs Black vinegar
1Tbs + ½ tsp soy sauce
3 ½ Tbs water

Grated garlic and ginger to taste
Dried Hot chilies (8-10 with at least half of them cut in half)
Sesame seeds (optional)

Place chicken in marinate and let stand for 15 minutes.

Coat chicken pieces with flour/cornstarch mixture, remove excess and set aside.

Heat oil to 360 degrees. Place chicken in oil, one piece at a time, and cook for 1-2 minutes. Turn and cook for another 4-5 minutes. Remove from oil and drain. Let chicken rest for 15 minutes. Clean oil and increase temp. to 370. Fry chicken again for another 1-2 minutes until crispy, remove and drain.

In a wok starting with low heat, saute garlic, ginger and peppers until peppers start smelling smoky and are slightly charred. Add sauce and cook over medium heat until it reaches a thin syrupy stage. Add chicken and toss to coat. Remove from wok and serve. Sprinkle with sesame seeds if desired.

Note:
If preparing 2 lbs. of chicken but only serving one, the remainder can be frozen after the first frying.
If serving all 2 lbs., the recipe for the sauce needs to be doubled.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
Yeah, the black vinegar- I've never heard of it before. I see it's available on Amazon. It's probably available locally to me. I want to avoid substitutions if possible. Balsamic just sounds wrong for this dish.

I bet you can find it at Super H Mart on Pleasant Hill or Lawrenceville / Suwanee.

At SHOT this year I had the best General TSO's Chicken in the world.

There is a Michelin Star, Chinese restaurant in the Wynn, called Wing Lei. If you find yourself in Vegas, check it out.

https://www.wynnlasvegas.com/d...fine-dining/wing-lei

My gauge for General TSO's is the balance. It must be equally sweet and spicy. I have only encountered 2 Chinese restaurants that made it so.

Does this recipe meet that standard?