🇨🇳🇺🇸 My dad's General Tso's Chicken (左宗棠鸡) - A Chinese American Icon

Watch Daddy Lau teach us how to make General Tso's Chicken, a dish he's made thousands of times in his 50 years as a Chinese chef.

🍴 WRITTEN RECIPE + INGREDIENTS🍴
Visit our blog for step-by-step instructions:
https://madewithlau.com/recipes/gener...

🍜 JOIN THE CANTO COOKING CLUB 🍜
Develop the intuition and foundation to cook Cantonese food with exclusive classes from Daddy Lau!
Take a free peek inside: https://bit.ly/mwlclub

🍳 COOKWARE WE USE/LOVE 🍳
Chinese Cleaver: https://amzn.to/4eMSoL9
Carbon Steel Wok: https://amzn.to/3BH16fq
Stainless Steel Spatula: https://amzn.to/4fomqVZ
Non-Stick Wok: https://amzn.to/47Q8fGk
Non-Stick Spatula: https://amzn.to/489rWsY
Gas Burner: https://amzn.to/3XYAQVI
Electric Burner: https://amzn.to/4eLoXZO
Steaming rack: https://amzn.to/4eKewpQ
Steaming rack with holes: https://amzn.to/408qPYu

🥢 KITCHEN ACCESSORIES WE USE/LOVE 🥢
Infrared Laser Temperature Gun: https://amzn.to/3ZRioAK
Wireless Meat Thermometer: https://amzn.to/3BE6iRg
Food Scale: https://amzn.to/47QRIC6

👨‍🍳 DAD'S SPECIAL INGREDIENTS 👨‍🍳
Light Soy Sauce: https://amzn.to/3NcsQva
Dark Soy Sauce: https://amzn.to/3Y6uyV8
Chicken Bouillon: https://amzn.to/3ZQWn4V
Sesame Oil: https://amzn.to/3XJGef6
Rice Cooking Wine: https://amzn.to/4gJG405
Shaoxing Cooking Wine: https://amzn.to/3TWiBib
Premium Oyster Sauce: https://amzn.to/4drBPTS
Chili Oil: https://amzn.to/3Y7w1uo
Hoisin Sauce: https://amzn.to/3Y9mwuJ
Vegetarian Oyster Sauce: https://amzn.to/47RJ0U5
Gluten-Free Oyster Sauce: https://amzn.to/3NdKPRK
Handcrafted Soy Sauce: https://bit.ly/handcrafted-soysauce

🎥 MY CAMERA GEAR! 🎥
Workhorse Camera: https://amzn.to/3UaMdsd
Lens for Wide Shots: https://amzn.to/3YpCUHD
Lens for Detail Shots: https://amzn.to/4h781if
Macro Lens: https://amzn.to/3Y6ANXF

These links are affiliate links, which means that if you use our links to purchase these ingredients, Amazon pays my family a small amount for the sale - at no extra cost to you. If you use these links, we really appreciate the support!

⏲ CHAPTERS ⏲
00:00 - Intro
00:40 - Cut chicken
00:54 - Background on General Tso’s Chicken
01:43 - Marinate chicken
02:24 - Prepare chicken batter
03:24 - How do you know if your batter is the right consistency?
03:41 - Chop other ingredients
04:38 - Start heating oil for deep frying
04:55 - A quick primer on oils and smoke points
06:02 - How do you know if the oil is hot enough to fry?
07:44 - Create sauce mix
08:41 - Mix chicken with batter and start frying
10:32 - Remove chicken from wok #1
11:45 - Deep fry chicken #2
12:23 - Cook the sauce + flavors
13:58 - My thoughts on discrimination, "authentic" cuisine
17:41 - Has dad tried General Tso’s Chicken back in China?
18:20 - More on why we fry the chicken twice
19:02 - My parents’ stories on not having cooking oil in China
20:09 - Can you reuse the oil for later?
21:06 - Life lessons for Cam Cam

🔗 LINKS MENTIONED 🔗
The Search for General Tso: https://amzn.to/3bF7rZC
On Wok Hei:    • 😍  How to Make Chow Fun (蝦炒粉) | Daddy Lau'...  
Additional recommended reading/watching
Omsom's photo essay on why they don't use the word "authentic":   / cmsl-dnbac4  
@ChineseCookingDemystified on "Why Chinese Food uses so much from the Americas" -    • Why Chinese Food uses so much from the Ame...  
Atlas Obscura on how Monterey's once-thriving Chinese community was forced out - https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles...

🎵 OTHER CREDITS 🎵
Intro Flute Music - Performed by Daddy Lau
Copyright Chillhop Music - https://chll.to/49e6fa9c
Copyright Chillhop Music - https://chll.to/4ca8cc15
Overhead Camera Rig built by P.Oak -   / p.oak.co  

💛 OUR FAMILY 💛
Learn more about the Lau family, and why we started this channel + blog: https://madewithlau.com/family

👋 CONNECT WITH US 👋
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If you enjoy these videos and want to support us being able to continue creating content for many years to come, we’d love for you to consider becoming a patron of Made With Lau.
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