General Tso's Chicken

[lunchman]

It's been a while since I've made a stir fry or any sort of Chinese food. Although most was done indoors, the final preparation was done outside on the Bubba Keg. I've never attempted this particular recipe which comes from the YouTube channel Souped Up Recipes. I find her videos and recipes well put together and for the most part think "I should make that!". Well, this time I decided to do so.

General Tso's Chicken

Preparation consisted of deboning approximately a pound and a half of chicken thighs, leaving the skin on.



Marinate with Soy, S&P, egg yolk. Dust with a mixture of AP Flour and Corn Starch. I used her method of dusting off the excess flour/corn starch using a sieve; worked perfectly.

It's too difficult to accurately control temps and too dangerous to control oil splashover if it occurs out on the grill, so the chicken was fried indoors. 350 for initial frying, then fried again to increase the crispiness at 375.

After frying at 350 -



And then back into the oil again at 375, monitoring oil temps with the Thermoworks ChefAlarm -



I prepared the sauce which consists of Soy, sugar, corn starch, water. The recipe calls for Chinese Black Vinegar which I don't have, so I substituted Rice Vinegar. In the meantime I fired up the Bubba Keg, placed the grate in the lowest position and heated the Wok.

Saute grated garlic and grated ginger in a small amount of oil, along with Hot Thai peppers, some of which have been cut to release some heat -



Grilling on the Keg was fun today due to a constant drizzle, but it's the only place I can make use of the Wok since our stove is a glass cooktop, not conducive to using a Wok.

Add in the sauce, allowing it to simmer for a while so it thickens a bit -



Toss in the chicken and stir to coat -



Plated, topped with toasted Sesame Seeds and Green Onion -







It definitely was as good as it looks! Some nice heat, chicken was tender yet crispy. I honestly can't tell the difference between mine and our local Chinese takeout.

We'll have this for lunch tomorrow, I'll serve it with some white rice.

And since I'm on a Chinese food kick, tomorrow I'll put together a Beef Stir Fry and might try my hand at Egg Foo Yong. Hopefully the weather will be more cooperative.

So there you have it. Dom's take on General Tso's Chicken. It really wasn't that difficult and turned out better than I had expected.

Thanks for checking out today's dish out on the Bubba Keg!

Regards,
-lunchman

 

[Stingerhook]

The general would be proud.

 

[Titch]

That looks stunning

 

[Joshw]

Easily my favorite Chinese food. That looks really good.

 

[PnkPanther]

I'll take a plate


I've deep-fried on kettle. I use less oil to avoid spill over, but good tip

 

[BillN]

Outstanding :thumb:

 

[Czarbecue]

Do you notice the chicken skin being on there?

 

[KB BBQ]

Very nice! I give it a perfect score, 2 chopsticks.

 

[BBQscott]

Love love love Chinese food, this looks great! You should do a BBQ/Chinese restaurant mix, I would be there daily.

 

[OlyQ]

The General is my go to at local take outs

Yours looks delish

 

[Grabnabber]

Great job! :mrgreen:

 

[lunchman]

Do you notice the chicken skin being on there?

I thought it might be a bit weird leaving it on and would negatively affect the outcome, but it didn't. I can't tell at all that the chicken pieces have skin on them.

Cold Chinese food can be somewhat addicting. I keep sneaking down to the fridge to take a bite. :mrgreen: It seems to be getting better the longer it sits. I hope it makes it through the night until lunch tomorrow.

I'm preparing my strategy for tomorrow's session with the Wok. I've got beef, broccoli, Bok Choi, carrots, celery, water chestnuts, and probably some other veggies I've forgotten about. Should be fun.

-lunchman

 

[DanB]

Great job. Looks better then you get in a Chinese restaurant. Now do have a good recipe Chinese BBQ Ribs. I've tried some of the bottle sauces but didn't care for them?
Thanks DanB

 

[lunchman]

Great job. Looks better then you get in a Chinese restaurant. Now do have a good recipe Chinese BBQ Ribs. I've tried some of the bottle sauces but didn't care for them?
Thanks DanB

In looking through her YouTube channel, Mandy does have a sweet and sour pork ribs recipe -

https://youtu.be/iqyBNjorCb0

Not sure if that will fit the bill and I've not made it. Again, this features Chinese Black Vinegar which my supermarket doesn't seem to carry. Perhaps amazon or a Chinese grocery store would have it.

I'd search through YouTube channels for recipes that you could try.

 

[MisterChrister]

Yes please, and seconds if I can!

 

[Al Czervik]

Sign me up... :hungry:

 

[Smoking Piney]

Outstanding! :thumb:

 

[Kade]

That looks great!

 

[lunchman]

Thanks for the kind sentiments. This was a fun cook, but is only part of what's turning out to be tonite's dinner instead of lunch.

Lots of prep work when making Chinese food, I think more so than when I'm normally preparing meals out on the grill.

Prepped some veggies this morning: red peppers, carrots and snow peas.



And more veggies: celery, broccoli and baby Bok Choi.



The small bag in front is very thinly sliced carrots, red pepper and Bok Choi for the Egg Foo Young. Since this is being made for my wife, no onions since she's not a fan of them. I'll put them in the stir fry as large pieces which can be easily avoided when serving. :biggrin1:



The beef sliced thin and marinating in Teriyaki and Soy. I opted not to use some of the Souped Up Recipes methods of egg white and corn starch in the marinade, I didn't think it was necessary.



I also have baby corn and water chestnuts. I get a bit carried away when I plan meals like this. It started out as Beef with Broccoli and morphed into a Veggie Stir Fry with Beef. That's usually the way it goes when I'm in the produce department at my supermarket. This will somewhat follow a recipe (at least the Egg Foo Young will), the rest is made up as I go along/past experience. We'll see how it goes. No plans for making the Egg Foo Young gravy, either.

Fortunately, it's dry and somewhat mild here in Massachusetts today so I won't have to deal with rain. I will have to manage all these veggies getting them in and out of the Wok in a timely manner. I also need to prepare some sauces for the stir fry.

More to come later.

-lunchman

 

[Moose]

That chicken looks Tso good! :hungry:


:biggrin1: