Sweet and Sour Chicken

Sweet and sour chicken as it exists outside China is largely a Cantonese export, shaped by the diaspora restaurants of the mid-twentieth century. The original Chinese sweet-and-sour tradition — tancu, meaning sugar-vinegar — belongs mainly to Cantonese cooking and was traditionally made with pork. The pineapple-and-bell-pepper version became the Western standard, adapted to suit unfamiliar palates. The balance is what the dish is about. The sauce should hit sour first, then sweet, then the background salt from the soy. Ketchup contributes both colour and a mild tomato acidity that rounds the flavour. The chicken is coated in cornstarch before frying, which produces a thin crisp shell that holds when tossed in the sauce — without it, the coating absorbs moisture and goes soft.