The History of Kung Pao Chicken
It is
originally from Sichuan province, where Chinese cooks often scatter into the
dish, tons of peppercorns, very aromatic berries from the prickly ash tree. Kung
Pao chicken has changed a lot when it entered into west countries. Well it
actually doesn’t have any unique flavor. It’s not sweet, bitter, sour or hot.
But if you by chance put one into your mouth, you are immediately aware of its
power. It’s like a bomb exploding in your mouth. So with the peppercorns and
red chili peppers, Kung Pao Chicken becomes very spicy- not very friendly to
the taste buds that aren’t familiar with this kind of kick.
People
might relate the Kung Pao dish’s spicy kick with its similarity in name to Kung
Fu, but obviously there is no relationship. There is, however, a story behind
the name. Most names of Chinese foods have many special stories.
Late nineteenth century, the
governor of Sichuan province, Ding Baozhen, had very bad teeth. He could barely
eat any meat because it was too tough and chewy. One day he went out in a
humble dress to observe the everyday lives of his subjects. For lunch, he went
into a very tiny modest restaurant. The chef served him this dish with finely
chopped chicken stir fried with lots of spices. The chicken was so soft and the
peppercorn opened his appetite, and he never ever had such amazing meat before.
He was so happy and hired the chef as his personal chef. Afterwards, his chef
invented lots of dishes for Ding Baozhen, but named the original stir fried
chopped chicken as Kung Bao chicken after the official title of Ding Baozhen-
Kung Bao (Gong Bao).
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