General Tso’s chicken is named for Tso Tsung-t’ang (now usually transliterated as Zuo Zongtang), a formidable 19th-century general who is said to have enjoyed eating it. But although many Chinese dishes are named after famous personages, there is no record of any dish named after Tso. Despite its international reputation, however, the dish is virtually unknown in the Chinese province of Hunan itself.

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