Another story is that Li wandered to a local Chinese restaurant after the hotel kitchen had closed, where the chef, embarrassed that he had nothing ready to offer, came up with the new dish using scraps of leftovers. Another tale is that it was created during Qing Dynasty premier Li Hongzhang's visit to the United States in 1896 by his chef, who tried to create a meal suitable for both Chinese and American palates. One account claims that it was invented by Chinese American cooks working on the transcontinental railroad in the 19th century.

In Chinese Indonesian cuisine/Dutch Chinese indonesian cuisine it is known as cap cai (tjap tjoi) (雜菜, 'mixed vegetables') and mainly consists of vegetables.įilipino chop suey, introduced during the American colonial period of the Philippines It is typically served with rice but can become the Chinese-American form of chow mein with the substitution of stir-fried noodles for rice.Ĭhop suey has become a prominent part of American Chinese cuisine, Filipino cuisine, Canadian Chinese cuisine, German Chinese cuisine, Indian Chinese cuisine, and Polynesian cuisine. For other uses, see chop suey (disambiguation) Chop sueyĬhop suey ( / ˈ tʃ ɒ p ˈ s uː i/) is a dish in American Chinese cuisine and other forms of overseas Chinese cuisine, consisting of meat (usually chicken, pork, beef, shrimp or fish) and eggs, cooked quickly with vegetables such as bean sprouts, cabbage, and celery and bound in a starch-thickened sauce. Sprinkle the chow mein noodles on top before serving.For the New England dish, see American chop suey.Add the meat and onion mixture on the top. Pour half the mixture into the bottom of the dish, layer the rice on top, and pour the rest of the mixture over the rice. In a separate bowl, mix together the Cream of Chicken, water, soy sauce, bean sprouts, and water chestnuts.Add the meat and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until no longer red. Over medium-high heat, sauté the onions, celery, and green pepper until just cooked but not yet brown.*Given the difficulty of finding water chestnuts or bean sprouts in ranch country, I used La Choy Chop Suey Canned Vegetables, which also has bits of onion and celery. 1 can bean sprouts*, or 1 cup fresh bean sprouts, chopped.1 pound pork sausage, finely chopped, or ground beef._ American Chop SueyĪdapted from Country Cookin' by the Monterey County CowBelles, 1975 edition Culinary experimentation is a dangerous thing. If sauerkraut crosses my path soon, I will attempt Polish Chop Suey. Best of all, the hour-long baking seemed to eliminate the preservative aftertaste I associate with Campbell's soups.Īs for The Pessimist, he took third helpings, leaving me with both an empty casserole dish and a self-satisfied grin.īe warned, friends. My sausages lent enough flavor that I didn't have to season the dish, and the rice absorbed the liquid well without becoming mushy. The finished casserole tasted better than expected.

He had, apparently, eaten the CowBelle chop suey too many times as a kid. 'Why are you making chop suey?' Jacob asked a few days ago at Safeway. Until recently, I was not aware canned bean sprouts even existed. By the late 1980s, it had dropped off most Chinese menus in the Northeast (though contemporaries like chow mein and pupu platters remained.) To my parents, La Choy products were as foreign as Twinkies.

I did not grow up with American chop suey. Later, some smart chef figured out that his customers loved anything crispy, and added fried noodles to the mix. Which Chinese mother has not stir-fried every leftover bit in her kitchen with soy sauce? What developed in the US just had a thicker sauce, more standardized vegetables (onions and celery were a must), and fewer Mysterious Animal Parts. After all, it was the page with the most food stains, the telltale sign of a beloved recipe.Ĭhop suey, the emblematic dish of the America's Chinese restaurants, is similar to the Cantonse 'jap sui', literally 'odds and ends'. Zooming past the egg foo young and sweet and sour beef, I zeroed in on chop suey.

Chop suey vegetables