the world of orange chicken

what is orange chicken?

Orange chicken is an American Chinese dish of fried chicken in a sweet orange-flavored chili sauce glaze.

The variety of orange chicken most commonly found at North American Chinese restaurants consists of chopped, battered and fried chicken pieces coated in a sweet orange-flavored chili sauce, which thickens or caramelizes to a glaze. While the dish is very popular in the United States, it is most often found as a variation of General Tso's chicken in North America rather than the dish found in China. Chef Andy Kao claims to have developed the original Chinese-American orange chicken recipe at a Panda Express in Hawaii in 1987. Since Panda Express is closely associated with this dish, Panda Express uses orange chicken as a promotion tool by having a dedicated food truck tour the country distributing samples of orange chicken.

a brief history of orange chicken

Orange chicken is one of those classic Chinese-American dishes that makes you wonder, how did it get to America? What happened to it along the way that turned it from a citrus-flavored chicken stir-fry to the crispy, sweet and flavorful dish we CRAVE whenever we step into a Chinese restaurant?

In the 1800s, Chinese immigrants from the Guandong district immigrated to America seeking better opportunities. At the time, their district was ravaged from a rebellion and an unstable economy.

Their cuisine had some sweet elements, but overall was made of vegetables and meat stir-fried and served with rice.

The original “Orange Chicken” had no breading around each piece of chicken and the sauce was made of leftover orange or lemon peels cooked with soy sauce, chilis and garlic. The sauce had a citrus element, but it wasn’t as pronounced or sweet like you would think of today.

“Chow Chow” Restaurants were the first restaurants by Chinese immigrants in America. They were known for their inexpensive food, such as a dollar-all-you-can-eat menu.

Chefs had to make substitutions to accommodate the food that was available, such as using broccoli, carrots and peas instead of more common Chinese ingredients including Shitake mushrooms and mustard greens.

Some Americans were disgusted by how these chefs would use every part of the animal, such as dishes that featured chicken feet and head.

In the mid-1900s, Chinese restaurants began to adapt to American palates, which favored bolder flavors with more sweetness. Sodas were increasingly popular and that hunger for sugar in drinks drifted into Chinese cuisine.

Fat adds a lot of flavor and Chinese restaurants began to adapt chicken recipes to involve deep frying each piece of meat.

With added sugar and corn starch to help thicken and sweeten Chinese sauces, dishes such as General Tso’s Chicken, Sweet & Sour Chicken and, of course, Orange Chicken became very popular.

videos on orange chicken

The Original Orange Chicken by Panda Express

Making Orange Chicken Faster Than A Restaurant | But Faster

How Panda Express Makes 110 Million Pounds of Orange Chicken per Year

Panda Express has been a staple of mall foods across the country from its first location in the Glendale Galleria in California in 1983. Since then, it has expanded to 2,300 restaurants that serve American Chinese favorites like kung pao chicken and its iconic orange chicken.

in conclusion

Orange chicken is called Chinese food in North America, but orange chicken is rarely found in Chinese restaurants in China. Andrew Cheng, owner and founder of Panda Express, said that orange chicken is just a variation of General Tso's chicken, another dish that is almost unknown in China. Journalist Jennifer 8. Lee says that both "General Tso's chicken and Orange Chicken are Americanized mutations of sweet and sour dishes found in China." Orange chicken has also entered the menus of the mainstream U.S. by being served in school cafeterias, and in military bases' chow halls, and also found in the supermarket frozen meal aisle.

Jimmy Wang, executive director of culinary innovation at Panda Express, claims orange chicken is one of the most creative dishes in the past thirty years. In most countries in the western hemisphere, the names "orange chicken", "orange peel chicken", "orange-flavored chicken", and "tangerine chicken" are typically used for this particular dish.

This dish may have originally come from the "tangerine chicken" dish from Hunan, China. In Chinese, this dish is known as "陳皮雞", literally "dried citrus peel chicken", referring to dried orange or tangerine peel. However, the taste and recipes of this dish differ due to cultural and geographical factors. In American Chinese restaurants, the use of tangerine was changed to the use of fresh orange peel or no orange at all. Tangerine is used in traditional Chinese medicine as well as cooking. Tangerine chicken tastes fresh and spicy, but orange chicken tastes sweet and sour. Orange chicken is crispy cooked in a sweet and little spicy orange sauce. The sweetness of orange chicken was introduced to cater to American tastes.

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