CHOP SUEY

just wondering.. what is CHOP SUEY?  

Imelda, when I was a child my mother made Chop Suey - usually some chicken cut and lightly cooked and then a can of LaChoy Chop Suey vegetables were added. She thickened the juices with a cornstarch slury and then served it over white Minute rice and we added soy sauce at the table. Once in a while we'd get to share a can of the LaChoy noodles to sprinkle over the top for some crunch/texture. It wasn't very good ~ actually, it was awful. But it was our childhood introduction to "Chinese" food.

There is another version of American Chop Suey that is served on the East coast, New England states, that I've heard about but never had. I think it's what I would have called Johnny Marzetti....a tomato based ground beef mixture added to cooked elbow macaroni. We were served that casserole a lot when we were in school.

Chop Suey is almost any kind of meat chopped into small pieces and cooked with vegetables, usually bean sprouts, celery, cabbage and thickened with some kind of broth and cornstarch, then served over rice.  It may have been invented by Chinese railroad workers in the US or by some Chinese cook in the US who was using leftovers. When it is served over crunchy Chinese noodles it's called Chow Mein.

bethk wrote:Imelda, when I was a child my mother made Chop Suey - usually some chicken cut and lightly cooked and then a can of LaChoy Chop Suey vegetables were added.  She thickened the juices with a cornstarch slury and then served it over white Minute rice and we added soy sauce at the table.  Once in a while we'd get to share a can of the LaChoy noodles to sprinkle over the top for some crunch/texture.  It wasn't very good ~ actually, it was awful.  But it was our childhood introduction to "Chinese" food.

There is another version of American Chop Suey that is served on the East coast, New England states, that I've heard about but never had.  I think it's what I would have called Johnny Marzetti....a tomato based ground beef mixture added to cooked elbow macaroni.  We were served that casserole a lot when we were in school.

Funny you should bring up chop suey. I used to make it with the canned LaChoy veggies, a deep brown sauce, usually chicken, water chestnut, and served over white rice. My daughter used to eat just about everything except she hated chop suey. I was going to make some and think about her as we ate it.

JanaAZ wrote:Funny you should bring up chop suey.  I used to make it with the canned LaChoy veggies, a deep brown sauce, usually chicken, water chestnut, and served over white rice.  My daughter used to eat just about everything except she hated chop suey.  I was going to make some and think about her as we ate it.

Yes, those memories are precious....when my girls were young we called anything that was stir fried, "sukiyaki", not because it at all resembled the actual Asian dish but because from a very early age both my girls loved to say the word.....

(been thinking of you, Judy, how are you doing?)