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Deb's General Tso's Chicken

"A traditional Chinese favorite, you'll enjoy the spicy sweet soy sauce with ginger and garlic flavors, ingredients that make this dish so addictive. This is a true General's chicken recipe which requires frying the chicken twice to give it that extra crispiness. The cornstarch batter gives the chicken a light coating. Don't scrimp or replace the ingredients or you might be disappointed. If you are on a busy schedule, you can cut down the time considerably by making and refrigerating the sauce and chicken up to 3 days; and doing the second stage of frying the chicken later. Serve with rice or noodles tossed with lightly steamed fresh vegetables of your choice, such as broccoli, zucchini, squash, and green onions."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 14 ingredients
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Deb's General Tso's Chicken

Why it works: Chicken and rice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,769 recipes. Both carry (e,e)-2,4-decadienal, which smells fatty, deep fried. The science ↓

Deb's General Tso's Chicken

6 servings
Prep25 min
Cook30 min

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

909Calories
51 gProtein
24 gFat
111 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Chicken100g cooked165
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Chicken + ricetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,769 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  2. Chicken + garlictop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,850 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

  3. Vinegar + garlictop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,115 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Vinegar + sherrytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together660 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  5. Rice + garlictop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,358 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, chicken, sugar, vinegar, rice, sherry, sauce):

  1. Tarragonfits about as well
  2. Cinnamonfits about as well
  3. Gingerfits about as well
  4. Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, chicken, sugar, vinegar, rice, sherry, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.