I love this newsletter! What a fun day out you had. Thinking about the chop suey - you say that your traditional one is tomatoes and macaroni (and ground beef) which to me is a dish Mom called Roman Holiday Casserole. I've never honestly seen chop suey here on the prairies ever with tomatoes or macaroni or beef haha! All of our recipes attempted to replicate the chop suey from our local small-town Chinese restaurants. Travel tip for the Canadian prairies, every single small town has a good Chinese restaurant, many are still run by the descendants of the folks who started the restaurant almost a century ago. Thanks for writing!
I definitely need to (a) do a deep dive into American AND Canadian chop suey’s history; (b) get out your way to for a Canadian Chinese culinary adventure. See you in 2026!
1) prunes keep you “regular,” a big deal back then.
2) raisins & prunes were dried fruit that could be kept in the pantry. & prune “stars” (a Scandinavian cookie/pastry) are a big deal in the upper midwest. Plums, from whence prunes come, are one of the few cold-hardy fruits you can grow there.
You win the Bonus Round! Excellent information, Paula—I didn’t even consider the plum-growing angle and now you’ve got me wondering about Metamucil’s early beginnings 😆
You found some fun and entertaining books! I, too, love a molasses cookie or bar recipe so I would love that frosted molasses bar recipe if you could share. Regardless, I think I’ll be making molasses cookies tomorrow!
OK, hear me out: That description of American Chop Suey sounded a lot like something I've had called American Goulash; sure enough Wikipedia seems to think they're basically the same, but, you know... take that with a Wikipedia-sized grain of salt.
This is a recipe for "Goulashi" from a community cookbook from Big Spring, Texas, 1970 (unedited):
Brown together in frying pan:
2 lbs ground chuck; 1 large onion, diced
Add:
1 (6 oz) can tomato sauce; 1 Tbsp chili pepper; 2 tsp garlic salt; 1 tsp salt
Let this mixture simmer while cooking 2 cups of shell macaroni by directions on package. Add macaroni and meat mixture together with 1 (#2) can of tomato juice and 1 cup of grated cheese. Cook on low heat for about 15 minutes.
- Mrs. Leonard Burks
And I know you said "not online" BUT I went digging in Google Books, which I feel isn't quite the same as just plain online.
This is a recipe for "Chop Suey" from Modern Priscilla Cook Book from Boston, 1924 — so it may be closer to what you're actually looking for than the Goulashi above:
1/4 pound bacon; 2 cups diced celery; 3 cups sliced onions; 1 small green pepper; 1 pound steak; 1/3 cup rice; 1 cup noodles
Dice bacon, put in a hot frying-pan and cook until crisp and brown; remove from fat. Cook celery, onions, and chopped green pepper in the fat until brown; remove from fat. In the frying-pan cook steak, either Hamburg, or cut in small cubes, and add to other ingredients. Cook rice and noodles together in salted water, adding noodles after rice has cooked 10 minutes. Drain and add to steak. Season well to taste. This may be reheated in casserole in oven. Servings, 6
That cookbook is also available from Internet Archive, if you want to download/browse.
WHOA! Many thanks for your extensive research! The first one is exactly what we were looking for—and I also just found it in my community cookbook collection! They’re the best resources, right??
Such a fun edition, Amie! I always look for vintage cookbooks when traveling too—it’s another form of time traveling, as you (and Jolene!) have shown us! Prune whips, along with gelatin molds and casseroles, were mainstays in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Prunes were promoted for regularity, I guess, which turned people against them, so the Prune Board folks (from CA!) tried to convince people they were actually dried plums—which of course they are! Really, I think dried apricots work just as well! But prunes really got a bad rap! Maybe it’s time for a comeback!
The shop(s) you visited sound right up my alley! Beverages hot and cold, snackage, fun things to look at and buy in what sounds like such a neat little town. The coolness of the Ponderosa pines immediately had me sensing exactly what that must have been like. Super fun post, Amie!
P.S. I think my mom tried making American Chop Suey once from a Family Circle magazine recipe, or maybe she got the recipe from her Monday morning coffee group with the neighborhood moms (one of which was my husband, Jim's, mom. My mom and his were BFFs.) The dish didn't go over well, my poor mom. Making supper for seven people every night I imagine was tiring!
Thanks, Amie, and it’s so cool. We grew up in the same neighborhood, went to the same schools, have known each other since we were 4, though we never dated in high school (though we each thought the other was awfully cute!). Our moms and all the other neighborhood moms would rotate having coffee at someone’s house all year round, many of our yards blended into one another’s. It was pretty cool.
That Chop Suey recipe is a *classic!* (Sounds suspiciously similar to the "Cheeseburg" casseroles of my youth though lol.)
My brother used to make "creamed mushrooms" on toast aka toasted (white) bread, heavily buttered, layered with undiluted cream of mushroom soup, lots of pepper and put under a hot broiler ...
I know, I know but it WAS sort of good at the time.
I love this newsletter! What a fun day out you had. Thinking about the chop suey - you say that your traditional one is tomatoes and macaroni (and ground beef) which to me is a dish Mom called Roman Holiday Casserole. I've never honestly seen chop suey here on the prairies ever with tomatoes or macaroni or beef haha! All of our recipes attempted to replicate the chop suey from our local small-town Chinese restaurants. Travel tip for the Canadian prairies, every single small town has a good Chinese restaurant, many are still run by the descendants of the folks who started the restaurant almost a century ago. Thanks for writing!
I definitely need to (a) do a deep dive into American AND Canadian chop suey’s history; (b) get out your way to for a Canadian Chinese culinary adventure. See you in 2026!
Why prune recipes?
1) prunes keep you “regular,” a big deal back then.
2) raisins & prunes were dried fruit that could be kept in the pantry. & prune “stars” (a Scandinavian cookie/pastry) are a big deal in the upper midwest. Plums, from whence prunes come, are one of the few cold-hardy fruits you can grow there.
You win the Bonus Round! Excellent information, Paula—I didn’t even consider the plum-growing angle and now you’ve got me wondering about Metamucil’s early beginnings 😆
Love this post, Amie, and thanks for including TTK! Also: I love Frango mints!! ❤️
TTK will be mentioned early and often 🤣
😂❤️
You found some fun and entertaining books! I, too, love a molasses cookie or bar recipe so I would love that frosted molasses bar recipe if you could share. Regardless, I think I’ll be making molasses cookies tomorrow!
Sadly, you’ll have to wait a couple months until I return to my Arizona kitchen where that cookbook lives. Will send then!
😂💕Thanks so much! Very dear! Enjoy your travels!
OK, hear me out: That description of American Chop Suey sounded a lot like something I've had called American Goulash; sure enough Wikipedia seems to think they're basically the same, but, you know... take that with a Wikipedia-sized grain of salt.
This is a recipe for "Goulashi" from a community cookbook from Big Spring, Texas, 1970 (unedited):
Brown together in frying pan:
2 lbs ground chuck; 1 large onion, diced
Add:
1 (6 oz) can tomato sauce; 1 Tbsp chili pepper; 2 tsp garlic salt; 1 tsp salt
Let this mixture simmer while cooking 2 cups of shell macaroni by directions on package. Add macaroni and meat mixture together with 1 (#2) can of tomato juice and 1 cup of grated cheese. Cook on low heat for about 15 minutes.
- Mrs. Leonard Burks
And I know you said "not online" BUT I went digging in Google Books, which I feel isn't quite the same as just plain online.
This is a recipe for "Chop Suey" from Modern Priscilla Cook Book from Boston, 1924 — so it may be closer to what you're actually looking for than the Goulashi above:
1/4 pound bacon; 2 cups diced celery; 3 cups sliced onions; 1 small green pepper; 1 pound steak; 1/3 cup rice; 1 cup noodles
Dice bacon, put in a hot frying-pan and cook until crisp and brown; remove from fat. Cook celery, onions, and chopped green pepper in the fat until brown; remove from fat. In the frying-pan cook steak, either Hamburg, or cut in small cubes, and add to other ingredients. Cook rice and noodles together in salted water, adding noodles after rice has cooked 10 minutes. Drain and add to steak. Season well to taste. This may be reheated in casserole in oven. Servings, 6
That cookbook is also available from Internet Archive, if you want to download/browse.
WHOA! Many thanks for your extensive research! The first one is exactly what we were looking for—and I also just found it in my community cookbook collection! They’re the best resources, right??
Such a fun edition, Amie! I always look for vintage cookbooks when traveling too—it’s another form of time traveling, as you (and Jolene!) have shown us! Prune whips, along with gelatin molds and casseroles, were mainstays in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Prunes were promoted for regularity, I guess, which turned people against them, so the Prune Board folks (from CA!) tried to convince people they were actually dried plums—which of course they are! Really, I think dried apricots work just as well! But prunes really got a bad rap! Maybe it’s time for a comeback!
The shop(s) you visited sound right up my alley! Beverages hot and cold, snackage, fun things to look at and buy in what sounds like such a neat little town. The coolness of the Ponderosa pines immediately had me sensing exactly what that must have been like. Super fun post, Amie!
P.S. I think my mom tried making American Chop Suey once from a Family Circle magazine recipe, or maybe she got the recipe from her Monday morning coffee group with the neighborhood moms (one of which was my husband, Jim's, mom. My mom and his were BFFs.) The dish didn't go over well, my poor mom. Making supper for seven people every night I imagine was tiring!
Love the backstory on you and Jim’s moms! How cool is that?
Thanks, Amie, and it’s so cool. We grew up in the same neighborhood, went to the same schools, have known each other since we were 4, though we never dated in high school (though we each thought the other was awfully cute!). Our moms and all the other neighborhood moms would rotate having coffee at someone’s house all year round, many of our yards blended into one another’s. It was pretty cool.
That Chop Suey recipe is a *classic!* (Sounds suspiciously similar to the "Cheeseburg" casseroles of my youth though lol.)
My brother used to make "creamed mushrooms" on toast aka toasted (white) bread, heavily buttered, layered with undiluted cream of mushroom soup, lots of pepper and put under a hot broiler ...
I know, I know but it WAS sort of good at the time.
Thanks for this and I too collect cookbooks!
I believe we called that toast concoction “SOS” (i.e., $h!t on a shingle). Heh.
Works! 😆
please stay safe in that hellish Phoenix heat that is really pushing it
is there anything better than those old stapled food company "recipe" books plugging their own products? Jello, cheez whiz ~ yes please!
The only thing better would be a recipe for ASPIC incorporating both 😏