Peng Chang-kuei


Peng Chang-kuei was a Taiwanese chef who is generally credited with being the creator of General Tso's chicken, a popular Chinese dish in Western countries.

Early life

Peng was born on September 26, 1919, in Changsha, Hunan Province in the Republic of China. Cooking for the Nationalist government and serving as the personal chef to Chiang Kai-shek, Peng moved to Chongqing during the Second Sino-Japanese War and then fled to Taiwan in 1949.

Culinary career

During the First Taiwan Strait Crisis when United States Navy admiral Arthur W. Radford was in Taiwan, Peng prepared a state banquet where he served a new Hunanese dish of chicken and chilies, naming it for General Zuo Zongtang. Peng served General Tso's chicken in his restaurants in Taipei, and when the first Hunanese restaurants opened in New York City in 1972, including Uncle Tai’s Hunan Yuan and Shun Lee Palace, they began serving a version of General Tso's chicken, adapted for American tastes.
Peng himself emigrated to New York City in 1973, opening his own restaurant, Uncle Peng’s Hunan Yuan, located near the United Nations. Henry Kissinger became a regular customer, and after gaining popularity the restaurant was renamed Peng's. A 1977 review of Peng's in The New York Times reported that the "General Tso's thicken was a stir‐fried masterpiece, sizzling hot both in flavor and temperature."
Peng returned to Taiwan in the 1980s to open a chain of Peng Yuan restaurants, later opening a branch in his hometown of Changsha.

Personal

Peng was married three times and had seven children, six of whom survive, along with numerous grandchildren. On November 30, 2016, Peng died from pneumonia in Taipei, Taiwan when he was 97 years old.