American Chop Suey... [W:21] (1 Viewer)

[woodsman]

I’m sure all know this is not a hybrid American Asian dish It’s a pasta dish. I believe I’m correct with stating American chop suey is a northeast creation. One thing for sure is that every low income family in the Northeast ate this dish at least twice a month. It’s very economical and intended to be a catch-all for left overs.

This was the first dish I learned to cook as a child, my Mom was an awful cook, her meatless friday tuna casserole in todays world would be seen as child abuse. With some direction from Dad we started stashing away any left over meat from the weeks meals. We looked the other way with scrapping plates before washing, meaning any plate that had meat leftover went into our stash.

My brother and I typically did this chop suey on Sunday, this was not a sleep in day for us, it was a get up early day because Dad was making breakfast of eggs and bacon the only day that happened or those things were in our home. He would ask, did you save the leftover pork chops? We would nod knowing they were tucked away safely in washed and reused aluminum foil. He would then reach into his pocked and dispersed our weekly allowance while the bacon crisped.

These were the worst of times but in retrospect the best of times, the bonding and sharing was something that rarely happens in todays culture, I had no clue I was poor because I was rich with experiences, support and love.

Sorry folks the recipe will have to wait, writing the above put me out of the mood to post ingredients and directions.

 

[Risky Thicket]

Chop Suey is a great solution for Hung Chow.

 

[Excon]

I’m sure all know this is not a hybrid American Asian dish It’s a pasta dish. I believe I’m correct with stating American chop suey is a northeast creation. One thing for sure is that every low income family in the Northeast ate this dish at least twice a month. It’s very economical and intended to be a catch-all for left overs.

This was the first dish I learned to cook as a child, my Mom was an awful cook, her meatless friday tuna casserole in todays world would be seen as child abuse. With some direction from Dad we started stashing away any left over meat from the weeks meals. We looked the other way with scrapping plates before washing, meaning any plate that had meat leftover went into our stash.

My brother and I typically did this chop suey on Sunday, this was not a sleep in day for us, it was a get up early day because Dad was making breakfast of eggs and bacon the only day that happened or those things were in our home. He would ask, did you save the leftover pork chops? We would nod knowing they were tucked away safely in washed and reused aluminum foil. He would then reach into his pocked and dispersed our weekly allowance while the bacon crisped.

These were the worst of times but in retrospect the best of times, the bonding and sharing was something that rarely happens in todays culture, I had no clue I was poor because I was rich with experiences, support and love.

Sorry folks the recipe will have to wait, writing the above put me out of the mood to post ingredients and directions.

I am purposely ignoring the gist of your topic because all I saw after reading it was, Chop Suey and Bacon.
Mmmmm?

 

[woodsman]

I am purposely ignoring the gist of your topic because all I saw after reading it was, Chop Suey and Bacon.
Mmmmm?

Sliced bacon was only on Sundays if we were lucky and certainly not added into American Chop Suey, that was for the rich kids.

 

[bluesmoke]

I've never heard of Chop Suey with bacon. Back in the '60's, in elementary school, chop suey was a once a week or two regular. Always had celery and ground beef. And, of curse, steamed rice. Because I was born in Japan, and my parents spent years there, we went out often to Chinese restaurants because there were no Japanese restaurants where we lived. Anyway, we didn't order chop suey at a restaurant. Verboten. Funny. We made it at home. Go figure.

 

[Excon]

... and certainly not added into American Chop Suey,

Hence putting the two together and the question mark after Mmmm.

 

[Excon]

I've never heard of Chop Suey with bacon.

Me neither, which may be why my mind put the two flavors together. But it is why I put the two together with a question mark after the Mmmmm.

 

[woodsman]

Me neither, which may be why my mind put the two flavors together. But it is why I put the two together with a question mark after the Mmmmm.

Only the rich kids think this way, the one’s that didn’t make every school lunch with government cheese.

 

[Excon]

Only the rich kids think this way, the one’s that didn’t make every school lunch with government cheese.

Is that what you think?
That is as interesting as it is wrong.

 

[bluesmoke]

Is that what you think?
That is as interesting as it is wrong.

It took a couple punches before I saw the bigger picture of these posts. I mean, unless the rich kids went home to a lobster lunch or went to school with a lobster or roast beef sandwich, they were pretty much stuck with the rest of us all the day through. Spaghetti mush and find the meat in tomato sauce. Here's my 35 cents on the days my mom can afford it. Or it's a split hot dog, mayo and mustard on Wonder Bread.

 

[rhinefire]

It's comforting to know someone else survived a mom that could not cook.

 

[PoS]

Chop Suey is a great solution for Hung Chow.

Your Chinese is terrible- here's a quick 5 minute lesson in the proper use of the language:

 

[Excon]

It took a couple punches before I saw the bigger picture of these posts. I mean, unless the rich kids went home to a lobster lunch or went to school with a lobster or roast beef sandwich, they were pretty much stuck with the rest of us all the day through. Spaghetti mush and find the meat in tomato sauce. Here's my 35 cents on the days my mom can afford it. Or it's a split hot dog, mayo and mustard on Wonder Bread.

Ignorance and Envy.
Still what was said was untrue because it was based on what he assumed how a person thought based on another assumption of their wealth.


I had never heard of bacon in Chop Suey. Sounded good together.
A recipe search confirms it does.

 

[bluesmoke]

Ignorance and Envy.
Still what was said was untrue because it was based on what he assumed how a person thought based on another assumption of their wealth.


I had never heard of bacon in Chop Suey. Sounded good together.
A recipe search confirms it does.

I'm not so quick to have ever picked up the ignorance and envy, having known so many "rich kids" I hung out with growing up. I made a simple observation. Sharing public facilities makes everybody equal. They could still have gone to private school, where my wife sent our son. I lived in a fairly large house on a hill, with an interior garden and a Roman bath tub in the MB. But that's because both my parents worked and my mom threw out nothing, hence splitting the hot dogs down the middle to make me a sandwich to afford to have lobster/clam/scallop/oyster/fish/mussel soup with the main ingredients flown in, all live and fresh, from our uncle's place on the north shore of Long Island.

 

[rhinefire]

The recipes for pizza have been buried by the chain pizza businesses like Pappa Johns and Dominos like mac n cheese and burger pizzas. Pathetic.

 

[Militant_Vegan_]

The recipes for pizza have been buried by the chain pizza businesses like Pappa Johns and Dominos like mac n cheese and burger pizzas. Pathetic.

people who eat that garbage couldn't care less what they're being served. this country is full of morons who just eat whatever tastes good right at the moment.

 

[PoS]

people who eat that garbage couldn't care less what they're being served. this country is full of morons who just eat whatever tastes good right at the moment.

So anyone who eats tasty food is now a moron, are they? What a charming fellow you are. :roll:

 

[TheGoverness]

So anyone who eats tasty food is now a moron, are they? What a charming fellow you are. :roll:

Don't you just love militant vegans?

 

[Militant_Vegan_]

anyone who shoves low grade, chemically laced, ill prepared garbage down their gullets is a moron. indeed, wow, what a stumper

 

[CaptainCourtesy]

people who eat that garbage couldn't care less what they're being served. this country is full of morons who just eat whatever tastes good right at the moment.

Moderator's Warning:

YOU need to stop trolling these threads with attacking off-topic crap like this. I am completely uninterested in what you believe. You will behave or you will face the consequences.

 

[CaptainCourtesy]

Moderator's Warning:

Do you all remember a few weeks ago when I said the Vegan vs. Non-Vegan Wars are to stop? Well, I didn't. If the focus of a thread is Vegan, and you come into it with the intent to disrupt, you will immediately receive consequences. If the focus of the thread is NOT vegan, and you come into it with the intent to disrupt, you will receive immediate consequences. And guess what? I get to make the determination of whether or not your intent was to disrupt, so if I were you, I wouldn't post anything that even comes CLOSE to the line. I will now be taking it upon myself to be reading each thread in the Food Forum every day. Don't cross me or you will find yourself on the wrong end of significant consequences.

 

[Hawkeye10]

Chop suey out of a can over chow mein noodles was a real regular thing at my house. We all liked it, and it was cheap my mom said. This was one of the things we got when they were going out or were eating good food later. I think the real reason we got it was that it was fast/easy/cheap.

Never once in the last 40 years did it pop into my brain that I should make Chop Suey, or buy a can of it(do they even still make it?).

Imagine that.

 

[Ikari]

I’m sure all know this is not a hybrid American Asian dish It’s a pasta dish. I believe I’m correct with stating American chop suey is a northeast creation. One thing for sure is that every low income family in the Northeast ate this dish at least twice a month. It’s very economical and intended to be a catch-all for left overs.

I've never heard of the pasta dish. Chop Suey is American to start with, but I guess when I hear it i think of the American-Asian dish, and it's awesome!

 

[woodsman]

I've never heard of the pasta dish. Chop Suey is American to start with, but I guess when I hear it i think of the American-Asian dish, and it's awesome!

The term Chop Suey is a very loose description, If you translate from Chinese Chop Suey you will get multiple definitions but in a sense it means a catch all dish. If anything, It’s more Italian cuisine, similar to Cacciatore which is a rustic dish or Hunters dish, “catch all” served over pasta.

When I was a kid this dish was a way to utilize scraps of meat eaten throughout the week and saved, nothing went to waste. You can even go completely veggie with the dish to use up whatever before it spoils. My Dad use to go mushroom picking and then make this dish with those, It was great.

 

[JANFU]

It took a couple punches before I saw the bigger picture of these posts. I mean, unless the rich kids went home to a lobster lunch or went to school with a lobster or roast beef sandwich, they were pretty much stuck with the rest of us all the day through. Spaghetti mush and find the meat in tomato sauce. Here's my 35 cents on the days my mom can afford it. Or it's a split hot dog, mayo and mustard on Wonder Bread.

My 2 cents. I grew up in PEI, Canada. In the 50's lobster was so plentiful and cheap. Poor kids took lobster sandwiches to school, rich kids had peanut butter. Go figure.