11/18/2023 0 Comments La choy chop suey recipe![]() ![]() Chow Mein is literally “stir-fried noodles,” usually a stir-fried dish consisting of noodles ,meat and vegetables. That’s a little white lie, but probably sounds better to the producer.Ĭhop Suey roughly means “chopped up odds and ends.” It is alleged to have been invented by Chinese immigrant cooks working on the United States Transcontinental Railway in the 19th century. Note that the canned versions in the recipe are called Chow Mein. I never saw the recipe written down, and as a kid, I wasn’t privy as to what went into it, didn’t care. ![]() ![]() Still, it ain’t the same, even if you substitute Spam for the pork.įinally, I realized that to get that memorable taste and texture, I would have to recreate the all-canned variety. In it I found an excellent recipe for Chow Mein, Cantonese Style using pork. In 1989, Jeff Smith came out with The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Three Ancient Cuisines: China, Greece and Rome, and I couldn’t wait to buy it I loved his TV show. I stuck to the Spam, because after all, that’s “American.” And I made my own sauce, no cans for me (okay, water chestnuts and bamboo shoots are still canned). So I go about recreating my mom’s chop suey using fresh bean sprouts, fresh vegetables and even fried, fresh Chinese noodles. Years pass and we’re living in Newton with kids of our own, Julia Child on the TV, and a new Vulcan restaurant range with six burners. Mom didn’t settle for just the can of chop suey, she made her own additions of the extra vegetables, but you needed the can of chop suey to get that dark brown sauce that was so good. Who knew this wasn’t the real deal? There were no Chinese restaurants in Columbus, Ohio in the ‘50’s, or if there were, we didn’t go there. Its saltiness and soft texture blends well with the salty over-processed texture of the canned vegetables, and is set off by the crunchiness of the canned noodles. Spam, as the meat of choice, was just right. My mom made this for us as kids in Ohio, and it usually made an appearance at church suppers and whatnot. ![]()
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