American Chop Suey
Yee Haw! Howdy pilgrims and welcome to the second of our Redneck Recipe Fridays series! This installment of lip smackin’, burpin’ good vittles? American Chop Suey. That’s right. Hold on there, don’t get yer undies all in a bind, this ain’t no Oriental dish. This is straight down-home cooking your grand pappy woulda loved.
Oh yeah, and to clarify: all VdV Redneck Recipes are Road Tested. Meaning? Just like all our valuable, irreverent and downright clever insights on where to go, eat and drink, we git ‘er done. OK WTF does that mean? Means we’ve actually Seen it Done it Hunted it Killed it Cooked it and Ate it. Get me?
So this is a diner meal, people. Picture a dingy little diner with tobacco-smoke stained curtains in rural (is there an ‘urban’?) Tennessee. Feel me? And, this stuff tastes so damn good it’s not even funny. Kinda like this post. That is, unless you’re onna them vegan types we hear about out in California…
So chop chop, let’s get it on! Here’s whatcha do (with any redneck translations in parenthesis):
- Wash your hands (Spit shine)
- Heat 3 tablespoons EVOO (bacon fat), and 3 tablespoons butter (lard) in a large pot over high heat,
- Add 1 finely chopped medium yellow onion and 1 cored, seeded and finely chopped medium green bell pepper and cook until softened, 8-10 minutes,
- Add 1 pound ground beef or turkey (squirrel or coon), 2 tsp garlic powder, 2 tsp onion powder,
1 tsp paprika, 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes, and some salt & pepper to taste (salt & pepper), - Cook it, stirring occasionally until the meat is lightly browned, 5-6 minutes,
- Add 1 28-oz can of whole peeled tomatoes, with the juices, crushing them with your hands,
- Add 2 15-oz cans tomato sauce, 2 tsp sugar, and 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon and stir in well,
- Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally until thickened, 45-50 minutes.
- Meantime, bring a large pot of salted water, with a little EVOO (bacon fat) to a boil. Add 1 lb dried elbow macaroni (elbow macaroni!) and cook until soft about 10 minutes. Us rednecks don’t like that ‘Al Dente’ crap!
- Drain it (the macaroni, that is) and rinse with cold water. Transfer the noodles to the sauce and stir well. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Cook some more, about 10 minutes to meld the flavors. Dish it! Makes enough for about 6-8 hungry rednecks.
VdV Rating: 4
Note: we got this recipe from Saveur Magazine doin’ a special on diners.
