1 can bean sprouts*, or 1 cup fresh bean sprouts, chopped.1 pound pork sausage, finely chopped, or ground beef._ American Chop SueyĪdapted from Country Cookin' by the Monterey County CowBelles, 1975 edition Culinary experimentation is a dangerous thing. If sauerkraut crosses my path soon, I will attempt Polish Chop Suey. Best of all, the hour-long baking seemed to eliminate the preservative aftertaste I associate with Campbell's soups.Īs for The Pessimist, he took third helpings, leaving me with both an empty casserole dish and a self-satisfied grin.īe warned, friends. My sausages lent enough flavor that I didn't have to season the dish, and the rice absorbed the liquid well without becoming mushy. The finished casserole tasted better than expected. He had, apparently, eaten the CowBelle chop suey too many times as a kid. 'Why are you making chop suey?' Jacob asked a few days ago at Safeway. Until recently, I was not aware canned bean sprouts even existed. By the late 1980s, it had dropped off most Chinese menus in the Northeast (though contemporaries like chow mein and pupu platters remained.) To my parents, La Choy products were as foreign as Twinkies. I did not grow up with American chop suey. Later, some smart chef figured out that his customers loved anything crispy, and added fried noodles to the mix. Which Chinese mother has not stir-fried every leftover bit in her kitchen with soy sauce? What developed in the US just had a thicker sauce, more standardized vegetables (onions and celery were a must), and fewer Mysterious Animal Parts. After all, it was the page with the most food stains, the telltale sign of a beloved recipe.Ĭhop suey, the emblematic dish of the America's Chinese restaurants, is similar to the Cantonse 'jap sui', literally 'odds and ends'. Zooming past the egg foo young and sweet and sour beef, I zeroed in on chop suey.

Old fashioned chop suey recipe