Pastrami (1831?);YAC & RAC; Heronner; Gen. Tso

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PASTRAMI (1831?)

   This continues a discussion of "pastrami."  David Shulman discussed it on 60 MINUTES II last year.  I have two new items.
   For whatever it's worth, this is from JOURNAL OF A RESIDENCE IN BAGDAD DURING THE YEARS 1830 AND 1831 (James Nisbet, London, 1832) by Anthony N. Groves, pg. 250 (journal entry dated 12 September 1831):

   When dear Mr. Pfander left us, we made him some sausages, called in this country _pastourma_; he, however, took but a few, and the rest remained with us, and served us both during the plague....

   See the book STUFFED: ADVENTURES OF A RESTAURANT FAMILY (Alfred A. Knopf, October 2001) by Patricia Volk.  Volk claims that her great-grandfather, Sussman Volk, came to New York City from Vilna in 1887.   In 1888, at a deli on 86 1/2 Delancey Street, he introduced "pastrami" to the New World.
   At least, so says Patricia Volk.  I haven't read the book to see her documentation.  She also says that his was the first "delicatessen"--something that's plainly not true.  (See "delicatessen" in ADS-L archives.)

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YAC & RAC

   I was watching the Jets lose a football game to the Raiders last Saturday.  ESPN Sportscenter said that wide receiver Jerry Rice was piling up the "yak" yards.  Jerry Rice, a yak?
   A bit of web searching shows YAC (yards after catch), RAC (run after catch), and Y at C (yards at catch) on some football web sites, such as www.allmadden.com.
   YAC yards?  _Yards_ after catch _yards_?

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HERONNER/HIZZONER

   See "hizzoner" in the ADS-L archives.
   New York City has never had a woman become mayor, so it's always been "his honor."  There's talk of a change of succession, from the Public Advocate (now Betsy Gotbaum) to a deputy mayor.
   From the NEW YORK POST, 14 January 2002, pg. 8, cols. 2-5:

_Mike agrees: Betsy shouldn't be_
_Heronner if he's out of picture_

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GENERAL TSO

   This continues the typing of this item.
   Perhaps someone at Yale can forward this to the Yale branch in China?  Surely, they would know something.  Maybe something's even been written by them?
   From FLAVOR & FORTUNE, December 1996, pg. 5, col. 1:

   Once he was sent to Xinjang on a military expedition.  The people of this western border-province were mainly Muslims whose religion did not allow them to eat pork; so the general's diet was severely curtailed.  Three months later when he got back, specifically to (Col. 2--ed.) Lanzhour, a big feast was served in celebration of his successful expedition.  He told his associates that although he was not entertained with song and dance, this elaborate and bountiful meal more than made up for the very long and tough expedition where he had no pork to eat.
   In 1875, the Dowager Tse Xi promoted him to the royal court.  She held a banquest in his honor in the capital, Beijing.  At that banquet, they made sure that he had double servings of all the entrees.  The general would always finish his portion with one sweep of his chopsticks, as if to say, he was not impressed.
   After the above banquet, one of his compatriots asked him "Old friend, at one seating you can devour so much meat.  It is as the old saying goes: A general's fame is as big as his appetite.  I hope that stomach of yours can live up to your fame."  The general smiled and retorted: "Your people love to put words in other people's mouths.  What do you know?  Instead of meat you can only eat the roots of vegetables.  I am lucky that I enjoy meat.  Maybe one day I will be stigmatized and might even be called: The Meat Eating General."
   Everyone surmises that the chicken recipe in question was probably the general's favorite so the chef who prepared it named it after him.  I am supplying my wife's version of this dish for your reference.

(Recipe follows--ed.)