- Jan 3, 2001
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Kind of going eclectic tonight. Making home make chop-suey, and for dessert a crockpot hazelnut bread pudding that I invented just now 
Chop suey is a bit of a treat for me, because when I was growing up, my bushia (Polish for grandma) would invite the entire family over to her apartment the first weekend after January 1st. She would make her version of chop suey and serve it with rice and...mashed potatoes.
I know, you're saying "WTF??? MASHED POTATOES WITH CHINESE FOOD???!!!!" However, it's actually even better than rice and there's a story behind it.
My dziadzia (pronounced "jah-jah": Polish for grandpa) served in WWII. He actually landed in Normandy on D-Day, and spent a LOT of time in trenches eating terrible food. The food was often rancid and had maggots on it. He couldn't eat rice since then because it looked like maggots to him. Bushia would make a special bowl of mashed potatoes for him instead...and the rest of us tried it and LOVED IT.
So, to this day when I get a little nostalgic for those much better, worry free times, I'll make some chop suey and mashed potatoes for my family.
BUSHIA'S CHOP SUEY:
1 Pork Shoulder (OR one large pack of bone-in country style ribs)
Flour
Salt
Pepper
Garlic
Celery
Onion - both green (spring) onion and yellow
2 sm cans of mushrooms
2 sm cans of water chestnuts
2 sm cans of bamboo shoots
2 sm cans of bean sprouts
- Cube up the pork, place bone(s) aside
- put cubes in a bag and cover with a mixture of flour, salt, and pepper and shake
- Fry pork in a hot frying pan for 5-6 minutes. Cook it until the outside starts to caramelize (don't cook it all the way through though)
- Transfer pork to a large roasting pan.
- Cover pork with 1 chopped onion, 6-7 chopped green onions, 6-7 cloves of crushed garlic, and 1 entire stalk of chopped celery (include the greens)
- Open all cans of remaining ingredients and add them to the pan (including the liquid)
- Fill the pan about 3/4 of the way up with water
Put in an oven at 350F for 3-4 hours. When done, if the broth isn't thick enough mix equal parts corn starch and water in a cup, blend it well, and stir it in to the pan a little at a time until the desired thickness is reached. You can also add some beef base/gravy browner (I like Kitchen Bouquet) if you need to darken it up a bit.
While it sits, make rice and mashed potatoes as needed, and invite some people over. This makes enough for 8-10 people with leftovers.
Enjoy
(I'll share my bread pudding recipe if the experiment is a success)
Chop suey is a bit of a treat for me, because when I was growing up, my bushia (Polish for grandma) would invite the entire family over to her apartment the first weekend after January 1st. She would make her version of chop suey and serve it with rice and...mashed potatoes.
I know, you're saying "WTF??? MASHED POTATOES WITH CHINESE FOOD???!!!!" However, it's actually even better than rice and there's a story behind it.
My dziadzia (pronounced "jah-jah": Polish for grandpa) served in WWII. He actually landed in Normandy on D-Day, and spent a LOT of time in trenches eating terrible food. The food was often rancid and had maggots on it. He couldn't eat rice since then because it looked like maggots to him. Bushia would make a special bowl of mashed potatoes for him instead...and the rest of us tried it and LOVED IT.
So, to this day when I get a little nostalgic for those much better, worry free times, I'll make some chop suey and mashed potatoes for my family.
BUSHIA'S CHOP SUEY:
1 Pork Shoulder (OR one large pack of bone-in country style ribs)
Flour
Salt
Pepper
Garlic
Celery
Onion - both green (spring) onion and yellow
2 sm cans of mushrooms
2 sm cans of water chestnuts
2 sm cans of bamboo shoots
2 sm cans of bean sprouts
- Cube up the pork, place bone(s) aside
- put cubes in a bag and cover with a mixture of flour, salt, and pepper and shake
- Fry pork in a hot frying pan for 5-6 minutes. Cook it until the outside starts to caramelize (don't cook it all the way through though)
- Transfer pork to a large roasting pan.
- Cover pork with 1 chopped onion, 6-7 chopped green onions, 6-7 cloves of crushed garlic, and 1 entire stalk of chopped celery (include the greens)
- Open all cans of remaining ingredients and add them to the pan (including the liquid)
- Fill the pan about 3/4 of the way up with water
Put in an oven at 350F for 3-4 hours. When done, if the broth isn't thick enough mix equal parts corn starch and water in a cup, blend it well, and stir it in to the pan a little at a time until the desired thickness is reached. You can also add some beef base/gravy browner (I like Kitchen Bouquet) if you need to darken it up a bit.
While it sits, make rice and mashed potatoes as needed, and invite some people over. This makes enough for 8-10 people with leftovers.
Enjoy
(I'll share my bread pudding recipe if the experiment is a success)
Last edited:
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