DEBORAH CROMBIE: I grew up in a household that didn't eat a lot of meals that now seem to be considered "classic American" dishes. Very few casseroles, no hamburger helper, not even lasagna! My parents loved seafood, and my dad particularly loved New Orleans style seafood, so we had things like crawfish etouffee, shrimp jambalya, and my mom made a mean gumbo that I've never been able to replicate. We had Julia Child's era French food, and high-end Mexican food, like red snapper Veracruz and ceviche (although I never remember my mother making more pedestrian fare like enchiladas.)
So when I recently ran across this recipe for goulash in the New York Times, it was new to me, and on a cold December day it was tempting. I had a pound of ground beef languishing in the freezer--everything else, except for the onion and garlic, was a pantry staple.
(My hat goes off to food photographers--there is no way to make beef and tomatoes look sexy!)
I was curious about the origins of this American goulash, as it doesn't bear much resemblance to real Hungarian goulash. Authentic goulash has neither ground beef nor macaroni. It's a cross between a soup and a stew, made with stewing beef, carrots, red and yellow bell peppers, tomato, and potatoes. The common denominator between the two dishes is paprika.
Reading the recipe comments, I learned that this dish is also called American Chop Suey, which seemed curiouser and curiouser. Was this purely a regional thing? How did a dish with roughly eastern European origins end up with a Chinese moniker?
One theory, I learned, is that the term "chop suey" came from the Mandarin "tsa tsui" which means "a little bit of this and that." But which came first, the American goulash or the American chop suey? According to this fascinating research, recipes for American chop suey, with macaroni, predate recipes called "goulash" by about 25 years, although some version of both recipes appear in newspapers as far back as 1909. I'm fascinated by what people eat and by the cultural evolution of recipes. For instance, if you switch the paprika for cumin and chili powder, you have another beef and macaroni-based dish, Chili Mac. Also an American staple!
(We didn't eat that, either, but my friend who grew up in south Texas did.)
I made the NYT goulash recipe as written, except I subbed smoked paprika for the sweet paprika--because I have a passion thing going with smoked paprika--and it was delish. I also used whole wheat macaroni and very sharp white Cheddar, and pronounced my version of American Goulash very comforting on a cold winter night!
Reds and readers, was this a staple in your childhood? If so, what did--or do--you call it, in your part of the country?
P.S. I've put the New York Times recipe in the comments.
This goulash does look good, Debs . . . and I share your passion for smoked paprika . . . .
ReplyDeleteNeither American Chop Suey [or whatever you want to call it] nor Chili Mac were a dinner time staple when I was growing up. My mom baked her own bread, made the yummiest macaroni and cheese, and made an amazing lasagna, but mostly I remember meals being of the meat, potatoes, and vegetable variety . . . and it was always delicious.
My mom made up casseroles to use up leftovers or whatever was in the freezer. They were easy for feeding a family of 7. I loved the American Chopped Suey and her Baked Macaroni and Cheese. She made the worst Lasagna that I've ever had but I learned how to make a really good one. Whenever I needed something from my parents, I would invite them over for my famous lasagna dinner, with salad and garlic bread and make something yummy for dessert. Plus they got to spend time with their first born grandson. My mom would request me to make it for family functions too.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the reasons we didn't eat a lot of these "classic American" dishes is that we were never a big family. My brother was out of the house by the time I was seven, and then it was just me, my parents, and my grandmother.
DeleteI grew up on a farm. My mother would make and serve corn casserole about twelve times a day eaqch and every day throughout my childhood. Even while drowning in a sea of ketchup, it was not palatable. I have been told that I exaggerate how often I was fed that swill, but I don't think so.
ReplyDeleteLOL Jerry, I love corn casserole!
DeleteFor all of us corn lovers - this is the cutest endorsement of corn from a little boy in the midwest. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VbZE6YhjKk
DeleteAlso, my father-in-law was in the Navy during WWII. Thus, while my wife was growing up, he refused to have chipped beef on toast (or, "blip on a shingle," as he called it) served in his home. She first tasted it after we were married. She was not impressed, deciding that her father was right after all.
ReplyDeletehaha! Love it! My dad and husband both were in the Navy and I remember chipped beef on toast - also known as S.O.S. (the s word being replaced by your dad's family word "blip").
DeleteJerry, one of my uncles was in the navy in the Pacific fleet, and he could never afterwards stand even the smell of lamb. Apparently that was all they ate.
DeleteMy father had a similar aversion. He would serve lamb, but every bit of fat had to be cut off before cooking. Apparently they were served mutton, not tender lamb, and it had a pronounced odor.
DeleteMy dad was in Europe WW11 and wouldn't eat Spam or allow it in the house. We never had chipped beef (SOS) either.
DeleteThere IS a reason for the phrase "mutton dressed like lamb"!
DeleteThis is Gigi. My dad was also in the Navy during WWII, and rice is what he banned from our diet. I didn't try it until after the divorce, and now it's a staple in my house.
DeleteSpam is very, VERY popular in Hawaii - do I remember correctly that it is offered at McDonald's in Hawaii?
DeleteThis looks yummy but wasn't a staple in my household. We didn't even have meatloaf - I was surprised by how much I loved it at a friend's house when I was in high school. My older sister started making lasagna when she was a teenager, and we had tacos (with premade taco shells and a seasoning packet for the ground beef), but otherwise dinners were plain, nutritious, and uninspired. Mommy was a brilliant baker and seamstress. Savory food? Not so much.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up, my father and grandfather were butchers. My grandfather had come over from Russia in the early 1900's with nothing and soon purchased land and property. He had a slaughter house and with my grandmother opened a small grocery store specializing in meat. We lived in a duplex about 100 yards from the store.
ReplyDeleteMy mother had grown up poor in NYC. As a child, we always had meat, potatoes, vegetables. She made a very nice spaghetti sauce and a beef stew, but not that much imaginative and no haute cuisine. There were no fancy cookbooks on her shelf. Both of my grandmothers were good cooks and good bakers, and there are lots of dishes I remember fondly, but the food I cook is mostly very different from what we ate back then.
Nope, never ate this American goulash in childhood or as an adult. But I spent 6 weeks on a geography travel course to Austria & Hungary while in 3rd year university where I got to eat Hungarian goulash. A Hungarian friend who worked with me at Environment Canada's office in Toronto gave me an authentic recipe for goulash in the late 1980s. I make her goulash dish every year since I like entrees with paprika.
ReplyDeleteMy mom learned how to cook typical North American meals using the Betty Crocker cookbook & made everything from scratch. So no Hamburger Helper or Kraft's Mac and Cheese but we did eat meatloaf.
I only got to enjoy eating British pub, French, German, Italian & Mexican food when I left Toronto to go to university in Waterloo, Ontario. My dad was not an adventurous eater.
I had an amazing real Hungarian goulash in Salzburg one summer. Mmm, so delicious.
DeleteHmmm, I visited Salzburg three times but can't remember what I ate except for excellent coffee and pastries! My only food memory was buying fresh fruit from an outdoor farmers market in the downtown with my mom.
DeleteRecipe, Grace?
DeleteGULASCH with pickles and carrots, serves 4, prep time: 2 hours
DeleteIngredients
75 g dried mushrooms
3 tbsp sherry
250 ml hot water
1 kg stewing beef
1 onion
50 g butter
paprika, salt and pepper (no amounts listed)
400 ml beef stock
250 g dill pickle
300 g (3) carrots
20 g butter
1 bunch parsley
2 tbsp cornstarch
STEPS
1. Soak dried mushrooms with sherry (or warm water) for 30 minutes.
2. Rinse meat and dry with paper towels. Cut larger pieces into smaller pieces.
3. Dice onion into large pieces
4. Heat 50 g butter in a large pot to high heat. Brown meat in 3 portions.
5. Return all browned meat back to port. Add diced onion and saute. Add paprika to taste and saute for a short period. Be careful NOT to brown the paprika or the sauce will taste bitter. Add salt and pepper to taste.
6. Add rehydrated mushrooms and soaking liquid to pot. NOTE: I would strain liquid in cheesecloth first. Add half the beef stock and while stirring bring mixture to boil, cover and reduce heat and simmer for 1.5 hours.
7. Let dill pickles drain and cut into slices. Wash, peel and cut carrots into 1 cm pieces.
8. Saute the carrots in butter for 3 minutes. Add salt and pepper.
9. Add carrots to gulasch. Add the rest of the beef stock. Simmer for 15 minutes. Add pickles after 10 minutes & simmer for 5 minutes. Season the gulasch with more paprika, salt and pepper to taste.
10. Wash, dry and mince parsley. Thicken gulasch with cornstarch. Add parsley.
Serve with spaetzle or buttered potatoes.
Grace, I am saving your recipe for the next time we get stew beef. Never thought of adding pickles!
DeleteGRACE: thank you for reminding me. I had Hungarian goulash at a Hungarian restaurant in Kobenhaven facing the Tivoli Gardens. Even if the Gardens was closed, I could look out the window from the restaurant.
DeleteDiana
Yes, pickles are a bit unexpected but it works! Hope you can figure out the combo of metric & imperial measurements & adding appropriate amounts of paprika, salt & pepper to taste in several steps.
DeleteI imagine the pickles add a bit of acid, as do the tomatoes in the American version. Sounds good, Grace!
DeleteMy mother worked full-time and with four kids needed to get meals on the table as soon as possible after she got home at 5:00. Later than that if she had to pick us up at our aunt's and walk the couple of miles home (no car), at least one kid in a stroller.
ReplyDeleteShe relied heavily on packaged and canned foods for our meals: spaghetti in a box with a can of tomato sauce in the box, and a pound of ground beef. Or chili mac out of a package, or macaroni and cheese. We ate a lot of liver, which she fried to shoe leather in a pan. Everything, including the spaghetti, served with mashed potatoes (every meal), canned baked beans, and maybe canned peas. Not the most balanced meals. On Sundays she'd make a roast, or fried chicken, or chicken and dumplings, when she had time to prepare a real meal.
Mother was a fantastic baker and dessert maker, though. From scratch German chocolate cakes with boiled coconut topping; carrot cakes made from pounds of grated carrots; delicious pies and cookies. Mostly, her girlfriends coming over for "card club" or a shower or other kind of "hen" party were the inspirations.
She is actually half Hungarian, but the only Hungarian dish we ever ate at home was her mother's family recipe for potato salad, which I still make, and all my kids love. And now my grandson is the sixth American generation keeping it alive.
Meant to add that our school cafeteria served what they called goulash, along with a Hungarian coffeecake I also still make. Maybe one of the lunch ladies had that heritage.
DeleteThis sounds like my mother with the job and 4 kids--no walking miles after work though, yikes Karen! No wonder she wasn't a fancy cook. (We had the shoe leather liver too, but I refused that!)
DeleteMy mother didn't learn to drive until she married her second husband--at 40 years old! But then she was an excellent driver, and deeply appreciative at not having to depend on anyone else to get where she wanted to go.
DeleteYes, can you imagine wrangling all those kids after working all day, and then having to put a decent meal on the table? Wears me out thinking about it. No wonder she made my sister and me do the dishes.
We did sometimes have goulash. Other dishes I remember besides the meat, potato, veg meals are Salisbury steak, beef stroganoff, chicken and noodles over mashed potatoes, lasagne, and meatloaf. Once in a while we would have La Choy Chicken Chow Mein from a can. When I was in junior high we got to have Taco John’s because my sister got a job there. I do remember going to an authentic Mexican restaurant on a special occasion. My favorite was a hole-in-the-wall place that had peel and eat boiled shrimp or when my dad barbecued pork chops or ribs with his own secret sauce.
ReplyDeleteYes La Choy chicken chow mein--a travesty!
DeleteNo goulash, no chop Suey, American or country of origin in our house. My Dad had a rule “nothing glopped up”. The exception was my mother’s “turkey hash”, a whatever is still left a day or two after the main meal of the bird and sandwiches eaten. Perhaps because it was a “whatever dish”, I never could duplicate it. Elisabeth
ReplyDeleteNothing glopped up!
DeleteGoulash was a childhood staple for me and for my children. I made it just last week, by Julie’s request. No paprika but I’ll try that next time!
ReplyDeleteI also made chicken and dumplings last week, recipe for the latter from Bisquick box, another family dish. Perfect every time.
Another childhood favorite is pimento cheese. Putting it on my grocery list as we speak! Wegmans make a pretty good substitute for my homemade
Merry Everything Reds!
Same to you, dear Ann! One of my fondest childhood memories is my grandmother's pimento cheese. Such a simple thing. I've never liked storebought pimento cheese because I don't think it should be sweet and the commercial brand's like Price's are loaded with sugar.
DeleteFrom Celia: It is so fascinating to read what everyone ate as children. I have very few food memories from childhood but I am sure I ate a lot of Shepherds Pie. In Ceylon curry was always served for Sunday lunch but of course my mum wasn't doing the cooking. My food memories start as a teenager living with my mum's younger sister, my godmother and her new husband when I was left at boarding school. My Godmother was a wonderful cook and would bake Victoria sponge for tea etc. Biscuits always came from the shop. I think I learned a lot about cooking from Pauline who would turn out Sunday lunch of roast beef, roast lamb or for special occasions roast chicken (chicken was expensive), roast potatoes, Yorkshire pud, green veggie and of course gravy. So delicious. When my parents were in England my father loved to buy American brand meals in a box. I remember a lot of Chef BoyerDee. My father was always drawn to convenience foods. I prefer to draw a veil over boarding school food though everyone's favorite breakfast was baked beans on toast with bacon. I still love that on occasion. Childhood preferences don't seem to fade.
ReplyDeleteCelia, he who harrumphs a lot would join you for that breakfast, if you add marmalade to the toast and bacon - one of his favourites!
DeleteFrom Celia: I think he might be disappointed right now Margo as I have been put on a low salt diet, so sad, so hard, such suffering. Still onward and upward.
Deletel love marmalade, toast, and bacon, too! Interesting that chicken was more expensive than beef.
DeleteOnce in a while I make goulash. Cincinnati probably has a Hungarian restaurant that makes a wonderful version. A staple of my high school cafeteria was "Johnny Marzetti," a casserole dish made with ground beef, macaroni, and tomato sauce.
ReplyDeleteJohnny Marzetti was my father-in-law's favorite dish. We could never find Steve's mom's recipe, so I had to experiment to find one that came close, he pined for it so much. I think the green peppers are the key to authenticity.
DeleteNow I want to know who Johnny Marzetti was!
DeleteApparently, he was Teresa Marzetti's brother-in-law, and the dish was his favorite that she served in her Columbus, Ohio restaurant. Who knew? But the original recipe does not appear to have green bell peppers, which is how I remember eating it since childhood.
Deletehttps://ohiothoughtsblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/johnny-marzetti-recipe-and-history.html
My mother did not make meatloaf, nor macaroni. I think she thought meatloaf took too much meat, and she detested macaroni. I inherited that gene!
ReplyDeleteShe did make hamburger goop, which seemed to turn up every Wednesday. Another recipe to forget. Hamburger, onions, a can of mushroom soup, cook in oven until invariably burned. Just to make it worse – add canned beans for vegetables. For some reason she loved it! Me, I wondered how I could go to someone else’s house for lunch/dinner or even walk over the end of the wharf.
Every now and again I make goop from the current cupboard/fridge – 1) hamburger, oyster sauce, onions, garlic, peppers, hot peppers, celery and a can of tomatoes. Top of stove until cooked. Or 2) hamburger, oyster sauce, onion, hot peppers, and then make a pkg of Kraft dinner and throw it in. Add extra lumps of cheese. Eat. Both are required only twice a year, when I am having a need a carb meal.
Book club people in our area tend to call it goulash – I didn’t know what they were taking about for years!
Going to have the last 'from our garden' BLT for lunch. The tomatoes have given a long run!
Wow, that IS a long run on your tomatoes, Margo! Where are you located?
DeleteMARGO: Lucky you still having tomatoes. Two (out of 3) cherry tomato plants on my balcony were killed off by blight in August, so it was a real short season for me.
DeleteBelieve it or not Catalone Gut, Cape Breton, where the wind blows off the ocean. Tomatoes are hard to grow in this part of Canada - not enough heat units. This year they did not start to ripen until late in August, and we picked the last huge amount in October. We still had not had a hard frost by then, but were worried. The picked ones either sat in a box, or a colander to finish ripening. We were also overrun with hot peppers this year - another thing that I have been unable to grow for the same reason.
DeleteWeather-wise, it was cool approx 20-25C, and dry as we had to water all season, while 10 kms away they were flooding. The sort-of warmish weather stayed until November - this year our first killing frost was long after Remembrance Day.
Climate change is definitely happening. This year was El Nino which is a bad system for our area. It means we don't get any real heat all summer.
From my childhood, I remember Sunday homemade rotisseried chicken (made on that contraption that Julia's FIL gave her), and mince (https://greatbritishrecipes.com/savoury-mince/) and canned tuna in white sauce with a chopped up hardboiled egg. And maybe my favourite: roast beef with crispy roast potatoes and stirfry-steamed (shredded) cabbage: yummy! Mum was an excellent cook and all three of us kids have followed in her footsteps. Not much baking, though each of us got our favourite cake for our birthdays: mine was Victoria sponge with raspberry jam in the centre, while my brother's was a chocolate cake recipe I brought home from my HomeEc class. I don't remember my sister's.
ReplyDeleteOh, I forgot that 'junket' was a fairly regular dessert in our house and one I learned to make. No skill involved, really. I wouldn't bother with it today, but loved it as a kid. With nutmeg grated on top, it seemed quite sophisticated to me back then. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6n9bjLhq2k4
DeleteI'd never heard of junket. Fascinating. Similar to blancmange except that is thickened with cornstarch rather than rennet. I do remember having milk pudding as a child but have no idea how it was thickened.
DeleteMy mother was an excellent cook. In the 50's my father was in the military and we lived in Hawaii, & Mississippi among other places before settling in Southern California. So my mom being an adventurous cook we grew up with some dishes my friends hadn't heard of at the time like New Orleans red beans and rice, gumbo, okra (yuck). We also had true style (not Taco Bell packaged taco shells) Mexican border food which was delicious. Most of our food was made from scratch even our pizza was home made - crusts and all.
ReplyDeleteThat's my kind of cooking. Maybe I'll make red beans and rice this week. And cornbread! (from scratch!)
DeleteI never had American chop suey until I met my husband in grad school. It was the first meal he ever made it for me. His family called it "macaroni mix" and he still requests it. My mother made what she called "goulash" but it had no paprika and consisted mainly of rice, hamburger, onion, and tomato sauce, baked in a casserole.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, as you'd think paprika would be the defining ingredient in goulash.
DeleteIn school we had goulash, which was basically ground beef, canned tomatoes and macaroni. It was okay although I seldom bought my lunch. At home we must have had something like that, although not sure what we called it then and I am sure it was tastier.
ReplyDeleteBut my father's mother, born around 1908 made American Chop Suey and I remember it being a little bit different every time. When I made it I discovered it was vastly improved by the addition of a bit of chopped zucchini. Who knew?
That would be a good way for me to sneak in zuccini, which husband doesn't like. I can get away with it in minestrone if I chop it small enough.
DeleteWe never had goulash growing up, although I understood it to be stew with paprika as opposed to beef stew with carrots and potatoes, and boiled beef with horseradish sauce, both of which we did have from time to time. It wasn't until I attained adulthood that I learned the pleasures of chopped beef and macaroni products. As for American chop suey, never heard of it until I moved to Aroostook County, Maine, where it's a common dish and a beloved childhood memory of many of my County friends!
ReplyDeleteComfort food at my house was something we called manast. My dad made it based on a great aunt's recipe. Ours had escarole, white beans, and Italian link sausage. A southern friend of mine grew up with a similar dish called beans and greens. Ya never know.
Fascinating how the same basic dishes get translated, isn't it? Where was your dad from?
DeleteDad was German, the manast recipe came from my Mom's aunt who was French/Italian. Mom was a fabulous cook, but she never mastered manast!
DeleteSo sad this is behind a pay wall.
ReplyDeleteOh sorry. I should have typed it out. Let me see if I can copy it.
DeleteRecipe now at bottom of comments. I'll make a note on front of blog.
Deletehaha, that's funny Annette! Did you have a big family?
ReplyDeleteMy mother used the Betty Crocker Cookbook (which had the red checkered tablecloth). I got a copy of the Betty Crocker's cookbook in 1969 as a wedding gift and I still have it and still use it - although it is in pretty ratty shape. Another favorite cookbook(s) is Ina Garten's.
ReplyDeleteThis was also our only cookbook. Hang on to it even if ratty - many of those classic recipes disappeared from newer versions.
Deleteno goulash in my childhood. Noodle pudding was a staple — flat noodles, sour cream, cottage cheese, milk, butter, and salt and sugar. Bake it in a 9 x 12 baking dish until it gets crispy on the top and on the bottom, I still make it all the time
ReplyDeleteHallie, I encountered noodle pudding in grad school--delish!
DeleteCheeses, butter and sugar! All my favorite ingredients Hallie - how can it not be delicious!
DeleteNever even heard of noodle pudding!
DeleteHallie that sounds similar to Kugal -- did I spell that correctly?
DeleteMoney was scarce when I was growing up. My mom was an excellent cook, but mostly we ate simple meals of meat and potatoes and vegetables. There was one time, just one time, when she made Hungarian goulash. It was not at all like the one posted here.I don’t if she found the recipe in a newspaper or magazine, or if someone gave it to her. I think the latter, because my godmother was of Hungarian descent. Mom never made it again, and I don’t know why. Maybe it was too expensive or not enough of us liked it. (Five kids plus two parents.) There were times when she made something similar to what was posted here, but she didn’t have a name for it.it was probably her own version of goulash.
ReplyDeleteI’ve eaten breakfast already but this conversation today is making me hungry!
DebRo
My sister and I did all the cooking in our household (based on mom's instructions) from 8th grade on, because mom was working full time. We did make Chile Mac, but we called it something else--it included the word chile, but the name escapes me. I've asked my sister for help remembering. Our most complicated dish was "cheese dish" which involved separating eggs. The egg whites were whipped to stiff peaks and the yolks mixed with cubes of old bread, lots of cheddar cheese, and milk. Then the egg whites were folded in and the whole thing was baked. Yum.
ReplyDeleteI remembered without any help! We called it Chili Skillet.
DeleteYou separated and whipped EGGS? I am very impressed. Sounds like a twist on bread pudding.
DeleteHallie, it was an almost souffle--it puffed up in the oven and got golden on top.
DeleteYes, Gillian, a fancy bread pudding! Sounds delicious!
DeleteDebs, I have this same recipe marked in my NYT cooking recipe box. Going to make it this week!
ReplyDeleteGreat minds, Lucy! :-)
DeleteGrowing up we did have this dish. I loved it. Though our version was nowhere near as soupy as the photo with this post. I think that would've been less appetizing to us as kids. But macaroni, beef and we used tomato puree and we had a great meal. I'm sure this will annoy the gourmets here at JRW but I put cheese on it as well. Oh man I loved this meal. Even after my dad died and it was just me and my mother at home, I'd make the full meal version of the "recipe" because it would be enough for two people to have a couple of helpings AND have leftovers as well.
ReplyDeleteI haven't made it in quite a while because I just don't do much cooking anymore (and I can't find the kind of puree I like anymore) but if I ever do, I know I will have quite a hearty meal to fill me up.
Oh, we didn't put vegetables in it though. GROSS!
DeleteIn in Massachusetts and my parents called it goulash.
DeleteYou didn't read the recipe, Jay! It calls for stirring in a cup of grated cheddar at the end. Delicious! And actually the photo I posted was from last night, and I had stretched the goulash to make enough for another meal. The first pass wasn't nearly as soupy.
DeleteDeborah, my parents used actual slices of cheese to melt into the recipe and I invariably needed to add more after the fact because I loved how the cheese bound all the ingredients together and it was so tasty that way to me.
DeleteGoulash/Chop Suey was a staple in my household while growing up. We usually called it Chop Suey and ate it with fresh bread. aprilbluetx at yahoo dot com
ReplyDeleteThe NYT recipe suggested cornbread, which I was too lazy to make but I think would be delicious. We had toasted sourdough.
DeleteLoving everyone's comments! If you ate either goulash or chop suey, can you add where you are from?
ReplyDeleteI have to run out to the bakery, but will respond to everyone when I get back!
From San Diego, but the Hungarian Goulash came from her cookbook!
ReplyDeleteWe had a homemade version of this--it was ground beef, macaroni, and lots of canned veggies from the garden. It was a soup, not too thick, and we all loved it (including me, and I don't like macaroni in anything else). This was Ohio mid-50s-on.
ReplyDeleteMore like minestrone, maybe?
DeleteMy husband used to live in an apartment with a bunch of guys in graduate school and they made something they called STAPLE STEW. I have no idea what the ingredients were, but I suspect it changed depending on whatever-we-have-in-the-cabinet-and-fridge. They were a punny bunch... the apartment opened on a long narrow hallway and there was a single looooong stream of toilet paper taped to that wall with the label, LONG HALL TRAILER.
ReplyDeleteLOL Hallie!
DeleteI grew up in rural Indiana… Our school cafeteria used to have American chop Suey, and I still remember being completely confused by that. Chop Suey was “Chinese “wasn’t it? I thought, and how could something that looked like Italian food be Chinese food?
ReplyDeleteIt was incredibly confusing.
There also used to be something called “Robin holiday “which was spaghetti. With meat sauce.
(I remember, asking my mother to make Roman Holiday, and she had no idea what I was talking about. )
Hungarian goulash with paprika was definitely in our general rotations, though. With the noodles. I think it was from the Julia Child Cookbook, could that be?
And my mother made lasagna from thar xookbook, too, is that possible? I remember it being very complicated, with a whole separate process to make bechamel sauce.
And sloppy Joes, right? Ground beef with… Gosh, thinking now, I have no idea. Tomato sauce I guess?
(We never had mac & cheese or meatloaf or casseroles , because my father would not allow it. As a result, movie, now, I love those things!)
I remember that VERY cornstarchy LaChoy chicken chop suey, I absolutely adored it.. Of course, now I wouldn’t. :-)
Hank, perhaps the Italian food connection to Chinese food had something to do with Marco Polo's Silk Road travels centuries ago?
DeleteDiana
I remember the chicken chow mein, with the crunchy noodles, and lots of celery? I think my grandmother made this...
DeleteI'm going to look up in my Julia Child, Hank!
DeleteDEBS and HANK: I typed up friend's Hungarian gulasch recipe in my original post. Just noticed she used a mixture of metric & imperial measurements. Paprika, salt & pepper are used in various steps to taste. Hope you like it!
DeleteThanks, Grace!
DeleteRoman Holiday, not Robin holiday.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in the Boston area of MA.
ReplyDeleteMy mother always made meals from scratch. Although she grew up in a family eating a very diverse homemade menu, my father’s family was very different.
He was basically meat and potatoes, no sauces, very few vegetables, fish only if fried though my mother got around that by baking it with breadcrumbs. Casseroles didn’t exist.
Very frustrating for her .
My mother and I were the only adventurous eaters.
I had American Chop Suey in school, ground beef, tomato sauce and elbow macaroni. It was pretty good considering it was a school staple.
I sometimes make a variation of it. I use ground turkey, onions, celery and green pepper, elbow macaroni. For the sauce I use Trader Joe’s organic marinara sauce which is low sodium and has a little tang to it. I usually make enough to freeze several quarts for the cold winter nights.
We'll have to try that. We don't normally eat much beef, but I had a couple of patties in the freezer that needed using up. Ground turkey with TJ marinara (our fave, too) would work. As long as it has paprika!
DeleteDeana here. I grew up eating a dish called More. Ground beef, simple, frozen vegies (maybe two), tomato sauce or paste and plain old elbow macaroni. It was easy and simple. It could be stretched a couple of time by adding something else the next day, more frozen corn or a small can of black olives. By the time day three came around, it was pretty much done. But it's a comfort memory and as simple as it was, I've never been able to get my version to close to Mom's. I don't the name as anything to do with where I lived but the need to feed a family somewhat inexpensively for a few days.
ReplyDeleteMore is perfect, Deana, and these sorts of recipes are infinitely stretchable.
DeleteMore is a great memory. I'm testing that I am no longer anonymous. ...
DeleteGrowing up in California, I do not recall goulash in my home. However, I remember fondue cheese. My mom baked apple cobblers and peach cobblers. My father was a meat and potatoes eater. Also baked beans on toast. Sometimes with hot dogs. My Mom made meals from scratch. Always had Salad for Dinner in addition to Beef or Chicken.
ReplyDeleteMy Uncle Refused to allow Hot Dogs in the home because of health concerns. So my cousins never had hot dogs at home, though they may have had hot dogs if they went out with friends.
As a child, I preferred American food like Grilled cheese sandwiches.
Diana
Fondue cheese was pretty sophisticated, Diana!
DeleteI grew up on Swanson's TV dinners so anything with fresh veggies, chopped and sautéd is gourmet to me. We've been making a variation of this at my house. Called it, "Heartburn Stew." As it happens, I have a pound of beef thawed, and most of the other ingredients, so I'm printing this off for Chef Dylan to make tonight. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteWe had our leftovers last night. It's even better the second time, I think, like most soups and stews.
DeleteKeenan, whenever my parents were away, my granddmother (who lived with us) and I would have frozen Swanson Chicken Pot Pies, on TV trays in the den. It was a huge treat as they were something we would never have for proper family dinners.
Casseroles and similar dishes seldom appeared in our house or my grandmother's. Lamb chops or steaks, or kloppies, or baked chicken or broiled beef liver were accompanied by rice, rice with mushrooms, ķboiled potatoes, mashed potatoes, cauliflower and broccoli. I may have eaten goulash out, but never at home. But back in the Eighties, Rosemary Clooney (who had 5 kids) gave me a feeds-everyone recipe for goulash. I'd have to find it-- but you started by stirring garlic powder and sweet paprika together with melted butter and that perfumed the kitchen. As I recall, the rest lived up to that start.
ReplyDeleteEllen Kozak
My family went out for Chinese food too, Rhys. White tablecloth places in those days--no Chinese takeout where we lived. But the food was delicious. My dad always had shrimp with lobster sauce and my mom and I had egg foo yung. I've never found it as good anywhere since.
ReplyDeleteTrying the recipe here.
ReplyDeleteINGREDIENTS
Yield:
4 to 6 servings
2tablespoons olive oil
1green or red bell pepper, cut into ½-inch pieces
1large yellow onion, chopped
2tablespoons minced garlic (about 5 cloves)
2teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
1½teaspoons sweet paprika
1½teaspoons dried oregano
1teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
Black pepper
1pound ground beef (at least 85-percent lean)
1tablespoon tomato paste
3cups low-sodium beef broth, plus more as needed
1(14-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1(14-ounce) can diced tomatoes
2tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1¼cups uncooked macaroni
1cup (4 ounces) shredded sharp Cheddar
Chopped fresh parsley, for serving
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Nutritional Information
PREPARATION
Step 1
In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the bell pepper and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent, 4 to 6 minutes. Add the garlic, thyme, paprika, oregano, salt and pepper and cook for 30 seconds, until the garlic is fragrant.
Step 2
Add the ground beef and cook, stirring often and breaking up the meat with a spoon, until no longer pink, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook for 1 minute.
Step 3
Pour in the broth, crushed and diced tomatoes and Worcestershire sauce; bring to a boil. Stir in the macaroni, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally and scraping the bottom of the pot, until the pasta is cooked and the liquid in the pan has thickened considerably, 18 to 20 minutes.
Step 4
Remove from the heat and stir in the Cheddar. Taste for seasonings and add salt and pepper, if needed. Serve in bowls, topped with fresh parsley. (The goulash will continue to thicken as it sits. If desired, add a splash of beef broth when reheating.)
Everything you mentioned was popular coming out of my mom's kitchen in the sixties and seventies, Debs, plus others all made with some variation of noodles, ground beef and sauce: American Goulash, Chili Mac, Hamburger Stroganoff, Cheeseburger Casserole, etc. I cooked many of these dishes for my kids as well.
ReplyDeleteThey all have three things in common: most children go for them, they're quick and easy to prepare, and they provide a very economical way to stretch a pound or so of ground beef to feed a family of five. At my parent's house, there might be several of his kids over for dinner as well, so it would have to cover seven or eight! It's hard to do Red Snapper Veracruz for eight in upstate New York...
My mom never cooked anything out of a box, so we never had hamburger helper or anything like that, but she was a wizard with leftovers and made a killer lasagna, corned beef hash (I can still see her using the meat grinder) with fried eggs was a winter staple. Like me, she's a baker so I remember her coconut custard pie and strawberry shortcake (with fresh baked angel food cake) the most.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in Upstate NY and we had a really unfancy goulash with macaroni, tomatoes that we canned, ground beef, and cheddar cheese and salt and pepper for seasonings. That’s it. And my dad loved Spanish Rice so that was in the rotation, too. I couldn’t stand the goulash or the Spanish Rice. But we had to eat it because that’s what was served for the meal.
ReplyDeleteGigi again. My mom had a version of Spanish rice that was odd, but edible. I make my own version now from time to time, and love it.
DeleteNope. Mom didn't ever make anything like that. I came close when I made what the Girl Scouts called Glop. It did not catch on.
ReplyDeleteThis is Gigi. For some reason Google has me signed in, but still anonymous. I don't think we ever had American goulash, but my mother was a very timid cook. She probably would have considered paprika "too spicy." I am puzzled, however, at how we got 100+ comments into the blog post without mention of tuna noodle casserole. A can of tuna, can of mushroom soup, and egg noodles. Some folks added peas. Some folks crumbled potato chips on top for a crunchy crust. It was bland as bland can be, but I loved that stuff, particularly cold the next day.
ReplyDeleteGrew up in Texas so we had Chili Mac. Even at school cafeteria. I liked it there because we got cornbread squares and honey.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteMy mom, as many mothers of the 60s were, was not a farm-to-table chef, but a can-to-table cook. As a child I loved my mother's "hungarian goulash." Years later when I asked my older sisters if they had the recipe, they howled with laughter. Mom's recipe was a can of Campbell's condensed vegetable beef soup mixed in with Uncle Ben's converted rice.