

There were some more unusual recipes as well, such as meatless ones, or using ingredients such as pig’s heart, bananas, curry powder, and bologna sausage.Īs for the 1916 Manual for Army Cooks, it had two recipes for “ chop suey” and neither is called American chop suey. In 1915, similar recipes appeared in New York, Minnesota, and Virginia. Other newspapers, in 19, in Nebraska, Indiana, New Jersey and California also published recipes which include ground beef, macaroni and tomatoes. This is quite possibly the direct ancestor to the current versions of American chop suey. So we see Illinois as one of the originators of this style, and in 1910, another Illinois newspaper published the first recipe with the use of macaroni rather than spaghetti. The Chicago Daily News (IL), November 12, 1908, provided a recipe calling for ground beef, spaghetti and a can of tomatoes, very similar to what is considered the current version in American chop suey.

The two different versions didn’t appear just in recipes, but also in restaurants across the country, in places including Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Delaware, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Texas, and Arkansas, starting at least in 1905.Īround 1908, recipes for American chop suey started to diverge even more from the Chinese version. Multiple newspapers over the next ten years would indicate the main difference between the two cChop sSuey versions was that the American one had much more gravy and was only slightly thickened. Obviously, this was nothing like modern American chop suey. Both were cooked in a frying pan and then served with rice. The American version was made with lean fresh pork shaved small, Chinese potatoes, corn starch, see yon sauce, gee yon sauce, celery, and Chinese mushrooms. The ingredients in the two recipes varied, with the Chinese version made with chicken, pork, onion, dried mushrooms, celery, Chinese potatoes, and Chinese sauce. The Pacific Commercial Advertiser (HI), December 15, 1904, presented recipes for Chinese chop suey and American chop suey. The first reference I found to it was in a 1902 newspaper and the American version wasn’t significantly different from the Chinese version, but would evolve over time. It was prevalent across the entire country, under that same name, for many years.Īs the 20th century began, another version of Chinese chop suey started to appear, and it became known as American chop suey. In addition, American chop suey does not seem to have originated in New England either. My own research indicates this was not the case and that American chop suey originated earlier than 1916. The army recipe could be made with either beef round or pork shoulder, beef stock, barbecue sauce, and salt.” That book states: “ A likely origin for American chop suey is the recipe for Chop Suey Stew in the ‘1916 Manual for Army Cooks’, an urtext for many institutional foods of the twentieth century. Many of the articles you’ll find on the origins of American chop suey use The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink as a main source. However, is that true? What is the actual origin of American chop suey? How did it change from the Chinese version? Many people believe that it is primarily a New England dish, largely unknown in the rest of the country. I ate and enjoyed plenty of this hearty dish, which was considered inexpensive and easy to prepare.


The basics of this casserole dish included ground beef, macaroni and tomato sauce, with some variation of other ingredients, such as the addition of onions, peppers, or even Worcestershire sauce. Wouldnt recommend any complicated meals, but the simple dishes should satisfy your needs.įood is pretty good I just wish it would be more vegetables than meat, but thats just me.For those growing up in New England, especially during the 1960s-1980s, American chop suey was ubiquitous, at restaurants, functions, school cafeterias, and at home. Im a repeat customer.ĭecent overall takeout, but the location doesnt look as sanitary as it should be. Decent selection, and its nice that Thai flavored options are also available. Well above average for this kind of restaurant, and pretty good in absolute terms.
#First chop suey plus#
The b**** behind got my order wrong as hell because I ordered General Tsos Chicken and got Sweet & Sour Chicken plus it came with a shitload of rice that was too much for me.Īwful service the first time and lady was very rude!!! My order was messed up and she was blaming it on me and told me Ill have to pay for the new order. I have never in my whole life on this planet tasted the worst Chinese food ever especially when its outside of Chicago.
