If you grew up in New England, you're probably familiar with American chop suey. It showed up on school-lunch menus in Rhode Island when I was a kid, and it was a staple at gym dinners in central Maine when I lived in Harmony. American chop suey has nothing to do with real chop suey, and Wikipedia has no detailed explanation for the name link. Basically, it's elbow macaroni mixed with tomato sauce, chopped onion, and ground beef . . . simple, bland, and very comforting.
Last night I had good tomato sauce in the freezer, plenty of onions and non-traditional green peppers, and I was too lazy to make meatballs with the ground beef I'd thawed. So American chop suey it was. Because we are who we are, Tom and I are always looking stuff up; and though the aforementioned Wikipedia article was not particularly helpful about etymology, it did discuss American chop suey in the context of other plain, cheap, filling dishes of the Depression era, noting: "This comfort food is influenced by Italian-American cuisine as well as older New England quick and practical meals like the 'potato bargain' and 'necessity mess.''"
Potato bargain? Necessity mess? However did I miss these fabulous names? A small amount of research reveals that necessity mess (panfried cheap meat mixed with root vegetables) appears in a Martha's Vineyard cookbook, so maybe it was a Cape Cod and islands term. I haven't yet found a similar subregional mention of potato bargain, just a basic recipe for diced potatoes and salt pork. Clearly both fit into the 1930s "bulk out dinner with the cheapest possible ingredients" mode. And I love to imagine the cheerful cook who invented those names: "Here, kids! Necessity mess! Yay!"
When my older son was a toddler, I used to cut a hole in a piece of bread and fry him an egg in it. I'm sure this bread-egg combo has some real name, but I called it eggs a la dump truck because my boy was in love with heavy equipment. The name worked like a charm. His eyes lit up, and he cleaned his plate.
Oh, the secret lives of recipes.
5 comments:
My husband grew up loving "potato bargain" so yes...it's a regional thing, I assume. I make Am. Chop Suey often--it is easy, it reheats well, even freezes well. Now, Necessity Mess? That sounds like leftovers. =)
Amen to home cooked, heart-warming, soul-affirming church-dinner foods.
So potato bargain is a north country New Hampshire dish? I like knowing that. Betcha Robert Frost ate it a few times.
I bet anyone did who had root veggies and salt pork! Not sure it's entirely North Country, but definitely farm family. That said, probably Frost's family survived on it more than once, given his ...inconsistent pay...
Your post reminded me that my dad would make "egg in a blanket" with fresh eggs and Mom's homemade bread.
“Egg in a blanket” sounds elegant and appetizing. “Eggs a la dump truck”…great marketing! In my family, passed down through the heart of the Gopher Prairie side, this was called “a one-eyed Egyptian sandwich.” Never learned why it was called this, but, taking your cue, I do like the thought of Sinclair Lewis’s mom making one every now and again for him too. “Yay!” :)
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