Foodporn: American Chop Suey
By T. F argo
Original content published on Newsvine Fri Apr 18, 2014 8:21 AM
What is chop suey? In Chinese, the two characters for chop suey are pronounced "tsa sui" in Mandarin or in Cantonese "shap sui," meaning "mixed small bits" or "odds and ends." As a culinary term, shap sui refers to a kind of stew made of many different ingredients mixed together. In New England there is a regional comfort food version of the Chinese original and aside from the name, there is really nothing Chinese about it. It is a simple dish, hearty and tasty.
The list of ingredients is pretty simple and readily available and should be shared with any prospective collage student, it could save their life. Okay, maybe not, but this dish can be easily warmed up on a dorm room hot plate. Recipe nuances do vary from one area of New England to another, but the basics are always the same: Beef, tomatoes and macaroni. Here's my approach:
The Mise En Place, Don't those tomatoes look delicious?
Mise en place
Chopped peeled Romas, onions and garlic sweating it out, water boiling for macaroni- Hey! Macaroni!
- 1 pound macaroni cooked al dente and cooled
- 3 Tbsp butter or olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 1 or 2 cloves Garlic, minced
- 35 oz can stewed or peeled tomatoes
- 1 can tomato soup
- 1 pound of lean ground beef
- 1 1/2 tsp dry Basil
- 1 1/2 tsp dry Oregano
- Kosher salt to taste
- 1 tsp coarse ground black pepper
- 1 Tbsp sugar
Chopped peeled Romas, onions and garlic sweating it out, water boiling for macaroni- Hey! Macaroni!
Method
In a large skillet place the butter or oil, the onion and garlic. Turn heat on medium high and sweat out the vegetables. Add in the hamburger, salt and pepper and fry until all pink is gone. Add the dry herbs. If you have whole peeled tomatoes, chop them into large chunks and add to the meat with all remaining juice. Stir in the can of tomato soup, add sugar and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. Adjust seasoning as desired. Pour macaroni over meat mixture, stir to combine and serve immediately.
The meat miasma w/ herbs
All the tomatoes and soup simmering away
If the dish will not be consumed immediately, place desired amount of macaroni in a bowl and spoon some meat mixture over the top. Keeping the two separate prevents the macaroni from becoming mealy.
I like to top mine with some Pecorino or Parmesean and dig in with a large spoon. The macaroni glistens with a pale scarlet juice. The smell of meat and herbs meets my nostrils with flare. I place a spoon full into my mouth. The brightness of the tomato is tempered by the sweetness of the soup and sugar. The macaroni holds the flavorful juice that squeezes out with every chew. The satisfaction upon completion is rewarding with the repleteness of my belly. I have the energy now to carry on to the next episode of Food Porn.
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Still working out how to polish my articles... the pictures don't end up the way I want.
Still makes me hungry for more !
Of course - it's Foodporn!
Hmm, I think I figured it out.
Now I have to work on installing the aromas.
Some day we'll have Smell-A-Vision
Your pictures are fine, and enough to make me hungry after finishing my bowl of cold cereal this morning!
Thanks! They'll get better I promise.
I left a comment in your other one. We called this goulash where I come from
Some call it that around my neck of the woods. Goulash is basically meat chunks and lots of paprika with variants all over the world.
My mom would make this with leftover ham instead of hamburger. I loved it
We made pea soup with leftover ham that didn't make it into ham salad or deviled ham or ham hash. Damn. I like ham.
Ever heard it called Slumgullion?
No.
Never heard Slumgullion before but looking it up made me think it might be the same as what my dad use to refer to as his "Mulligan Stew" or sometime "Hobo Stew".
For him that just meant simmering a weeks worth of leftovers in a stew pot with tomatoes and onions, for easy dip and eat meals over the weekend.
Now if you'll excuse me, your pictures made me hungry and I've got some leftover spaghetti to warm up,
My Japanese friend uses the term Mulligan stew. Funny!
Neat.
Wonder if their Mulligan is the same thing that Dad would throw together down in Texas back in the 50's?
We never knew what would be in it. Green beans, corn, mac & cheese, cut up weenies, any and everything we had in the fridge at the time he started throwing stuff into the pot.
My Grandfather is from Czechoslovakia and my mom has a recipe for Hungarian goulash that I haven't made yet but I do make a variant of this. Hamburger, elbow macaroni, seasonings and spicy V8 juice.
Ditto. My mom used to make that, but hasn't in years. I remember not liking it when I was growing up (God, I was a picky eater), but it sounds good now.
I was also a very picky eater growing up. I am frankly surprised that I survived because there were so many foods that I refused to eat. I learned to like a lot of things when I was in college. Some of them were foreign foods that I had never been exposed to and I tried because everyone else was doing the same. The other foods I ate because I didn't have much money so I bought what was cheap and liked it.
I'm willing to try many more foods now, with the exception of organ meats.
In Ohio it is usually termed Johnny Marzetti. I like it when it is done well.
Looks yummy to me ( and the article looks fine, too). Any anyone who says "Mise En Place" is a food god.
TYVM. I have a ton of these articles and will post them as time permits. Nice place you've got here!
I hoper you aren't referring to me. I also use the terms mirepoix and Maillard reaction. In a knife and tool whore.
I've miss you, Fargo!!!!!
It's starting to look like the old band is getting back together!
I've missed y'all too.
I remember lots of great recipes you posted. Do more!
I have all my legacy articles... thanks!
LOL. Living in China for more than 11 1/2 years, eaten in hundreds of restaurants, have a Chinese wife who's a fabulous cook, never saw anything like that - macaroni??? Maybe Chop Suey is an American invention, sort of like King Pau Chicken or Chicken Fried Rice.
This one certainly is.
LOL. Living in China for more than 11 1/2 years, eaten in hundreds of restaurants, have a Chinese wife who's a fabulous cook, never saw anything like that - macaroni??? Maybe Chop Suey is an American invention, sort of like King Pau Chicken or Chicken Fried Rice.
It's definitely a song.
T. Fargo, you need a theme song for this article.
Bummer, I can't use YT at work.
You're lucky. I can't use it at all.
Do you use a VPN ? Not that anything on Youtube is that fabulous, but there is a way to get it in China.
It's the the song from Flower Drum Song, Chop Suey...
The free ones get blocked very quickly, and anyway I won't put my credit card information on the internet for the ones that require payment.
In case people don't know, mise en place just means everything in its place or putting in place. It's fancy chef talk for "get your shit together before cooking" lol.
Anyway, I'm all for food fusions and re-imaginings. I do feel like Chop Suey is really an American thing for the most part though.
my own invention. extremely delicious
per person
thin slice a medium white potato
some chopped green pepper
chopped onion
chopped tomato
third of a pound breakfast sausage
partially cook the sausage, leave in pan
add enough oil to coat bottom of pan and add sliced potato ,stir to coat with oil, cook on med heat for 5 minutes
add green pepper and onion stir, lower heat and cook covered for 20 minutes, intermittently tossing the potato green pepper and onion mixture
teaspoon of cajun spices
add a few drops of sriracha sauce, stir mixture
and season with black pepper
add chopped tomato
cook on low covered for 7 more minutes
add enough salsa to coat the entire mixture
top with sour cream in bowl
Sounds tasty.
Sounds very good, like a fricassee.
Woohoo! T.Fargo's here! Good to see ya!
Thanks for the welcome!
I should be committed? Heard that before... 😁
T Fargo is here, things are improving and I'm hungry
Dear Friend Charger 383: Agreed.
Great point.
Please pass the soy sauce.
Enoch.
The original American stew...Sagamite (American Indian stew)
Hominy, or Indian corn, veggies (three sisters) wild rice (not the store bought crap) and the meat of your choice.
Without meat it would be considered vegatarian stew and Ojibwe consider that people that eat stew without meat simply can't hunt...
Dear Brother Kavika: Sagamite stew is as much fun as a person can have with their clothes still on.
Don't forget the Three Sisters Stew, Iroquois Confederation Style.
Enoch, Digesting.
Don't let me catch you in the stew with your cloths off niijii...LOL
The Three Sisters are mentioned as a integral part of the Sagamite stew.
BOL!