posted on January 12, 2002 09:59:05 PM
From a WWII-era cookbook my mother actually used, from 1945 on--
American Chop Suey
1 cup macaroni
1 pound ground beef
2 cups celery, sliced
1 t. salt
1 medium onion, diced
2 cups tomatoes
Boil macaroni. Mix with other ingredients. Pour into baking dish, cover, and bake for 1 hour. Spaghetti may be used in place of macaroni.
So. . . what makes it chop suey? The celery?
Actually, here's another, from the same page!
Spanish Spaghetti with Sizzled Beef
1/3 c. finely chopped onion
1/3 cup finely chopped green pepper (I guess this is what makes it "Spanish"
3 T. butter
3/4 cup shredded dried beef
1 can COOKED SPAGHETTI IN TOMATO SAUCE (Could this be Franco American?!!!)
Cook onions and green pepper in butter, add beef and canned spaghetti, cook until heated. The suggestion is that fruit and vegetable salad and a lemon pie will complete the meal. As if! Just give me the lemon pie, please.
posted on January 12, 2002 10:27:57 PM
I think I can top that. My mother has a recipe book from one of our local churches that has a recipe for "Field Mice Pie". I don't know if it's a gag recipe but I certainly hope so.
posted on January 13, 2002 09:27:54 AM
OMG, Helen! 2 cups sugar AND marshmallow creme AND 1 box of powdered sugar! Makes me gag to think about.
Barbkeith: PLEASE ask your mother if the pie is a joke. PLEASE. If not, you win. (I'm guessing there's something brown or gray and lumpy in the pie and they're just pretending it's field mice? Please, God, let me be right.
posted on January 13, 2002 11:00:40 AM
Ok, here goes. This recipe is from "Tasty Temptations", Mt. Zion Methodist Church, Laurel, DE.
FIELD MOUSE PIE
5 fat field mice, 1 c. macaroni, 1/2 medium onion, 1 can tomatoes, 1 c. cracker crumbs. Boil macaroni for 10 minutes. Fry field mice and remove fat. Grease casserole and put one layer of macaroni in it. Add onions, tomato, salt and pepper. Add field mice, cover with macaroni. Sprinkle with cracker crumbs. Season with butter, salt and pepper. Bake at 325 for 20 minutes or until well done. When field mice are hard to find, substitute with sausages. Anyone want to try it? Yuck!!!!
posted on January 18, 2002 12:10:04 PM"So. . . what makes it chop suey? The celery?"
Yes. It was at the suggestion of Celery growers in California that lead to new recipes utilizing the nearly tasteless and waterlogged veggie. By incorporating the vegetable into traditional Chinese Cuisine came the all-American invention of Chop Suey. While Chop Suey has faded into dining history, Celery remains as a major component in most beef and chicken soups and stocks.
posted on January 18, 2002 02:53:00 PM
Borillar: Thanks for the celery explanation! It is indeed a stupid vegetable; when I was on Diet Center diet (worked temporarily, didn't work permanently), my counselor told me to eat lots of vegetables (undressed, no sauce, etc.) but to avoid even raw celery and carrots. Said the reason we like them!! is that they have so much natural sugar in them. I don't get it! Celery may be good with cream cheese or peanut butter in it, or salt on it, but plain?
