Mom’s Chop Suey Circa 1958
3/4 beef 1/4 pork cut in cubes
brown in skillet on stove
chop up good size onion in there.
Salt and pepper.
Continue to brown till there is brown on the bottom of the pan
when you pour in a little water and it makes a brown color.
Add more water.
Cover and simmer 1 ½ hours
more or less.
Add more water as needed
Add chopped celery.
Cook 30 more minutes
Translation. I got beef stew meat & cut each chunk into 1 inch cubes or less. Cut the onions in 1 inch pieces, added 2 cups of water to begin with then add more later, sprinkled lots of salt & pepper. You should be able to smell the pepper when cooking. Cut the celery into ¼ inch slices & cook 30 more minutes. Served with brown basmati rice instead of the white rice Mom cooked. Use tamari instead of soy sauce.
7 thoughts on "Mom’s Chop Suey Circa 1958"
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Now I’m hungry 😋
Swear to God I’m going to make this. Mmmmm.
I can definitely smell the pepper!
I like that you added your edits to her recipe
Enjoyed the recipe revisions- reflecting change in times.
With Kevin on this, making this one! Love the echo of brown in the poem and in the taste!
I had to chuckle at this. Did you mom ever toss in some of that canned La Choy stuff? I loved, still love, the crunchy noodle thingies, but the canned chop suey — ei yi yi.
You’ve got wonderful sensory imagery going on in this poem, and I love how you shift from memory into making the same but not exactly the same.
Thank you for jarring my memory!