--- title: "The creator of General Tso’s chicken wanted to impress a US Navy admiral" date: "2018-04-02" modified: "2020-10-22" authors: - name: "Blake Stilwell" job_title: "Editor-In-Chief, Air Force Veteran" link: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/authors/blake/" url: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/articles/the-creator-of-general-tsos-chicken-wanted-to-impress-a-us-navy-admiral/" categories: - "Entertainment" --- # The creator of General Tso’s chicken wanted to impress a US Navy admiral ![]() General Tso is dead – long dead actually. But the man who invented his chicken dish just died in November 2016. --- [Taiwan News]() reported the death of Chef Peng Chang-kuei, creator of the famous spicy chicken, at the ripe old age of 98. And in an interesting international twist, it turns out one of Peng's most famous dishes was hurriedly named during a visit to China by a U.S. Navy admiral in the '50s. Before Chairman Mao Zedong's Communists overran mainland China, Peng was in charge of the Nationalist government banquets. When Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek and his government fled the mainland for Taiwan in 1949, Peng came along. ![]() *Mr. Peng Changgui and Ms. Peng Zhanli were married in Taiwan. (wikimedia commons)* Once in Taiwan, Chef Peng founded the Hunan restaurant chain Peng Garden. Shortly after that Peng created the legendary dish, now served at more than [50,000 restaurants worldwide](). There's even a full documentary about the history of it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7z0hmBIR8BE Peng told the [China Times]() that it was during a visit from the U.S. Navy's Admiral Arthur W. Radford in 1952 that General Tso's Chicken was born. He served the admiral and other guests almost everything he knew how to make. So in an effort to keep it all fresh, Peng fried up some chicken and added a unique mix of sauces and seasonings. ![]() The admiral was impressed with the dish and asked its name. Thinking quickly, Peng named it after a 19th-century Hunan Chinese general who squashed a series of rebellions during the Qing Dynasty. The real General Tso would not know what his namesake chicken tastes like. When Peng opened a restaurant near the United Nations building in New York, the dish followed him. Like other New York establishments' signature dishes – the Waldorf Salad and Eggs Benedict to name a few– Peng's chicken dish spread across America. ![]() The General Tso's Chicken with which most of us are familiar is actually a slight variation on Peng's original recipe. If you want to taste the original, just make a [quick visit to Peng's]() in Taipei. ## Author Blake Stilwell is We Are The Mighty's Editor-in-Chief, covering military news, entertainment, and history, along with veteran education, employment and entrepreneurship. He is a former U.S. Air Force combat cameraman with degrees in Graphic Design, Television and Film, International Relations, Public Relations, Business Management and Middle Eastern Affairs. After leaving the military, he began working in film and television production in New York and Los Angeles, work that included ABC News, NBC Olympics, and HBO Sports. He then spent two years in Washington with White House Communications, before joining the Near East Foundation. At NEF he served as an International Development Fellow, then Communications Officer, and finally, Media Officer for the Middle East and Africa. Based in the Palestinian Territory, he coordinated strategic communications between eight country offices, international media, and government and NGO partners. He began a career focused on writing and editing in 2015 with We Are The Mighty. He left in 2019 for Military.com, but returned as Editor-in-Chief in 2025. Blake’s work has been seen on CBS News, Fox News, CBC, The Chicago Tribune, Task & Purpose, Military Times, Recoil, Skillset, American History, and was shockingly even used in a Supreme Court argument. He is an avid traveler and small business owner in Ohio, where he spends most of his energy fixing up a very old house. ### Author social links [Facebook]() [Twitter]() [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()