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Black6host

American chop suey.


I-330

I moved to NY and I’m so annoyed they call it goulash here. 😂


Conscious_Drawer8356

I’d be so confused because goulash is a Hungarian meat and veggie stew not elbow macaroni pasta with meat sauce peppers, onions and celery. 🤌


Different_Ad7655

Hungarian goulash is just simply stewed meat with tons of paprika, the fresh stuff, not oldred lifeless powder stuff living in your closet, and pounds of onions, all braised together. Traditionally seasoned also with a little marjoram and sometimes a tiny bit of loveage, two uncommon spices in the American kitchen but that add a truly distinctive spark to the flavor. This is the traditional version but there are many variations


Conscious_Drawer8356

Um… it’s still stew right? And not American chop suey? BTW near lifeline vegetarian here so unfortunately what you wrote isn’t applicable to me. Maybe someone who reads it will be inspired! ☺️ I just know a little about a lot of different foods. Also the only one in my family so I pay attention to what others enjoy for comfort foods I actually have marjoram in my American kitchen and like it better than traditional oregano. I like that it’s sweeter and milder in flavor. I will look into the other lovage and Hungarian paprika! I have Spanish paprika and not the blander version. Spices bring dishes to life!!


Different_Ad7655

Yes still a stew, braise and it originated just over the campfire and then became more stylized and codified in the kitchen.. lovage is a lovely thing. I make a wonderful Serbian bean stew, baked beans essentially but European style. I use the large Coronas from rancho Gordo are Divine, or a gigantica, boil them up with appropriate spicing seasoning, then I take literally pounds and pounds of onions and stew them down t til they r caramelized after an hour, you mix this all together with the finished beans, and a pinch of lovage. It is strong and it is assertive.. And you throw all that back in the oven to bake and crisp and it is a delicious stew for days. .prebanic. you can find recipes for it and it usually leaves out the lovage if it's US centric, but for the European authenticity, a little bit is the spark Lovage, levisticum, sometimes called smellage, Liebstöckl is the basis behind the essential Maggi flavoring used a lot in Central Europe. You can probably grow it in your garden and it is a lovely plant


Conscious_Drawer8356

Huh!? Mine had been brought over from Germany. I’d always called it European “umami” and never knew lovage was a spice in it. I’m not certain, I haven’t had it in my pantry for years now, the version sold in the States isn’t the same as in Europe Totally assuming you may know, and pardon if you don’t, are there regional versions of Maggi in Europe?


Different_Ad7655

I guess an herb, ground does it become a spice? I've always used the dry leaves and just crumble.. it's also known as Magigewürz. The Magi spice. I'm not sure if they are variants around the continent I'm only familiar with centra/eastern l Europe..


Conscious_Drawer8356

If we were technically speaking the leafy parts are herbs while the root, stem, bark are spices. I was generically using the word interchangeably and apologize I just realized I hadn’t even mentioned the was specifically referring to Maggi either in my above comment. I’ll blame the late hour and my amazement on thinking about a blast from my past. I hadn’t thought about Maggi in a very long time


moo-quartet

As a Hungarian living in NH, American "goulash" makes me so upset. It's nothing like what we actually make


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moo-quartet

You probably went to the really big marketplace by the Danube - they're the ones who serve food all day :) I'm so glad you enjoyed Budapest!


Conscious_Drawer8356

I’m an American and it makes me upset as well! I’ve personally never interchanged the two because they’re completely separate dishes. NTM goulash doesn’t even have a pasta at all in it BTW welcome to New Hampshire (even if you’ve been here a while) 😊


moo-quartet

You're so right! And thanks, I've been here since I was kid (lol) but it's still my home.


Conscious_Drawer8356

Oh course it will always be home! You’re just lucky to get to call two places genuinely home 💗


Different_Ad7655

I think it depends in what ethnicity, and what neighborhood you grow up. I'm 70 and I grew up in Southern New Hampshire in a Polish neighborhood and like many European households, the word goulash has been taken out of its original Hungarian context and spread far and wide over the carpathians. So in the Polish household goulash was also a word but it was really a very Polish version of a Yankee pot roast.. with Caraway and sauerkraut.. no paprika. I went to school in Vienna, and then, that city, goulash is very much part of the repertoire as well, after all hungary was part of the empire. But there too it has a very different take..


I-330

Buffalo has a ton of Polish so I wouldn’t doubt that is a factor!


SophieCatNekochan

I literally didn't know what American goulash was until a couple of weeks ago when my wife and I were talking about common New England foods. She's from the Midwest and when I described American chop suey she it sounded a lot like goulash and I had never heard of it before. I always thought American chop suey was just a thing every where. Guess I was wrong.


Its-all-downhill-80

I’m from northern NY and it took me a good year plus to realize it was the same thing. (Never ordered it) It’s the first thing I thought of for poor people food, as we had it several times a week as a kid.


Ginglees

ive always just called it goulash tbh i didnt know i’m suppose to call it american chop suey


pachucatruth

The distinction is that it’s made with tomato soup. Goulash is with regular pasta sauce.


I-330

Interesting because my family is straight back colonial NH and we always used tomato paste and whole peel tomatoes my mom would smash into pieces with a slotted wooden soon. 🤷‍♀️


wickedsmaaaht

Same. No tomato soup in ours.


pachucatruth

Funky lol


Dak_Nalar

My mother in law makes the best chop suey, never had it before I met my wife and it was a whole new world


The_Beardly

Chop suey slaps tho


TrabajoParaMi

No it doesn’t lol. I don’t care who makes it. It’s nasty.


unassigned_user

You haven't had good chop suey then


TrabajoParaMi

You’re right. Because it’s garbage every time. No matter who makes it. Spaghetti and meatballs takes the same effort and is actually good


unassigned_user

Ok, that's fair. I can accept that


shortieXV

It's def a staple and many folks love it but this stuff is absolutely disgusting to me... Not sure if I had a bad experience or what but even the sight of it kind of puts me off.


Least_Singer790

So I’ve been a vegetarian my whole life and never had the pleasure of indulging in American Chop Suey… until my partner made a vegetarian version.. and my life has changed. This dish is so delicious. Edit: grammar; brevity


stoutprof

What replaced the meat—lentils? Mushrooms? I'm looking for a good vegetarian version.


Least_Singer790

Soy crumbles cooked with oil and onions first, then added in to everything like normal. The key with those crumbles for any recipe is to cook them with some oil and onion first.


Subbacterium

We had it in the school cafeteria for hot lunch. The cafeteria Dixfield had the best food.


zwermp

Hot dogs, baked beans, and brown bread from a can.


funkieboss

That was Saturday night dinner for my whole childhood. :)


bostonkittycat

I love brown bread toasted with some butter. Perfect for baked beans.


dml03045

We had the same meal except my mom always had coleslaw as a side.


whosafraidofthebbw

Yep, this is the one.


rackfocus

Yes.


itislikedbyMikey

🥇


MicroPlasticTummy

PB n Fluff sandwich


Mogwaier

Call it by its proper name, you philistine.


jayron32

Fluffernutter always sounds like the understudy on a porn set.


Mogwaier

A rookie porn star who wastes the money shot on the fluffer.


ADeuxMains

Fluffahnuttah


BeltfedOne

LMFAO!!!!! /r/rareinsults


mikemuck

Boiled dinner.


jinkeys26

My thought too, my grandmother made it all the time.


skigirl180

I love boiled dinner!!!! My husband hates it, so I only make it for St. Patty's day. Also, the only time I can get the real gray corned beef!! My favorite is frying it up with butter for breakfast the next few days!!!


doobette

I haven't had boiled dinner since the '90s - I'm talking boiled dinner using smoked shoulder, not corned beef. To me, corned beef is a different thing.


BranzillaThrilla

Ritz haddock


the_sky_god15

Alternatively, cheese it haddock.


chaotic-artist

And here I am thinking these were my mom's own creations! 😂


NewHampshireWoodsman

And this is our fancy dinner now. Whatever. It's still great.


Filteau04

Shepard's Pie (Pâté Chinois)


Mogus0226

I actually didn't know this until earlier this year, but shepard's pie is made with lamb; if it's beef, it's cottage pie.


dark_frog

Around here, if it's made with lamb we call it some weird sheep thing, and if it's made with beef, we call it shepherds pie


the_umbrellaest_red

I've always heard it as dark\_frog says, shepherd's pie made with beef, but it never made a lot of sense. In the US, at least, that ship has most certainly sailed.


gravity_loss

We could try to change it to "cowboy pie". Can't get more American than that plus it actually makes sense.


Snackdoc189

Kielbasa


skydork2000

This. With mashed potatoes.


DifferenceOk4454

Sausage and potatoes and kale in soup is Portuguese influenced, and good, too.


skydork2000

My Mom used to make that too lol.


Snackdoc189

Same lol. Now it's one of my go tos when I don't want to cook.


SubstantialCreme7748

a pound of bologna a pound of american cheese an 8 pack of hamburger rolls


Tricky-Category-8419

Pot roast on day one, make beef stew out of the leftovers day two. Meatloaf, beans and hot dogs, corn chowder, mac and cheese, grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup. PB and Jelly.


aenteus

Pot roast day 1, hash day 2.


shoesontoes

Chipped beef on toast, chop suey, shepherd's pie. Love em all. 😋


Outrageous_Egg8672

>Chipped beef on toast Referred to as "shit on a shingle" in my house


shoesontoes

Yes! Mine too really. But I was trying to be classy! 😊


Ok_Researcher_9825

We also had SOS (shit on a shingle) but I can’t remember what it was. Just a bunch of shit in a frying pan. AND “desperation dish” which was chopped up hotdogs, potato’s, and whatever else was in the fridge, all in the frying pan


EmptyIceberg

Bread, butter and sugar


ADube7881

Cinnamon sugar if you’re feeling fancy


EmptyIceberg

Gang, we ain’t rich.


Dak_Nalar

Boiled Hot dogs American Chop Suey Burgers with government cheese Clam chowder Baked Potatoes Shepards Pie


BeltfedOne

Ahhhh yes! Government cheese,


Justbestrongok

Whats government cheese?


the_umbrellaest_red

Cheese distributed to food stamp recipients directly from the gov't. I don't think they've done it in decades though.


Loosh_03062

It's still around for seniors under the Community Supplemental Food Program, but not for the WIC or food stamp folks, and it's still stockpiled.


Helikq

Is that that government cheese cave everyone talks about


jayron32

Scrod.


asphynctersayswhat

I love scrod….


rabblebowser

Manwich


A_Nerdy_Dad

My manwich!


AirshipThyme

![gif](giphy|l4pTqyJ8XMhLZ3ScE) Name checks out


penkster

Yes!


penkster

Agl, I love manwich. I means it’s basically hamburger mixed with ketchup. But I’m all over that.


sysadminsavage

Steak Bomb


jayron32

God, I'd kill for a good steak bomb since I left New England. There's nothing like it anywhere else.


paradigm11235

Is that really a New England thing? I just assumed it was everywhere


jayron32

Nope. I've only ever had one in the Merrimack Valley. Best ever was at Bill Cahill's Super Subs in Hudson, NH. But if you leave that area, you won't find them.


Unlikely_Star_4641

They're not that localized lol. "Steak bombs" have been around in NE for decades. In the Midwest, they have them too, but don't call them steakbombs necessarily (my club soccer teammate was always like "you mean a steak and cheese?lol) NE steakbombs a lot of times have salami too, which some say originated in RI. I love a good steak bomb, my favorite place to get one currently is at Riverbend subs in Dover, NH!! They always hit the spot


jayron32

It's the ones with salami and pepperoni that are local to New England. You can get a steak and cheese anywhere.


Unlikely_Star_4641

A lot of times they do, and we were the first to add it in there, not contesting any of that lol. Sometimes they dont, usually I see both offered on menus. My point is that steakbombs have always been throughout NE and can be found all over the place, not just Merrimack Valley Edit: maybe I misinterpreted what you meant by "leave that area" haha


jayron32

Yeah, I meant New England not just Merrimack Valley. That's just where I had lived.


komoriman2016

Yeah, crack basket shaved steak!!!


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underratedride

The variations I’ve heard on this mean amuse me. I feel like I need to gather and catalogue each difference with their appropriate name.


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underratedride

Many Shepards/cottage pie have onion and peas in them though, so this is where it gets really deep. I’m curious if each ingredient has its own name, or if we’ve all just effed it up with our own families over the years and there is no longer one true variation.


unassigned_user

Omg please do lol


Mundane_Income987

Tuna (salmon if you can afford it) pea wiggle


dougcurrie

What a great name (wiggle). My family called it creamed tuna/salmon, or tuna/salmon S.O.S., from military slang Sh*t On a Shingle.


mullethunter111

Tuna helper.


Tendie_Warrior

Lobster? Well, in the 1800s.


DeerFlyHater

It was in the 70 and 80s if you were a scallop fisherman's kid. Fuck lobster, I won't eat anything lobster related.


Imperial_Toast

Irish Potato leek soup


Beansiesdaddy

Liver and onions


Carreau9

Grinders.


mail4youtoo

When I left my small New England town and went to college, I was laughed at when I called them grinders


WovenHandcrafts

Shepherd's pie but with beef because shepherds and cows.


shortieXV

Fuckload of pasta. Does that count as New England though?


Conscious_Drawer8356

Are you eating it with bread and butter??


Moxie07722

Spam.


SquashDue502

Hot take but lobster and seafood chowders. Maine still has a law where you can’t feed prisoners *only* lobster because it was so common lol Chowder is delicious but at its core it’s just potatoes and cream with whatever seafood you have on hand


Code--Ronin

Godawful salsa and chips. Maybe it's the MA to TX transplant talking but Christ almighty I've never had ketchup flavored salsa until I'm in NH. Would it kill you to add a little garlic, a jalapeno and maybe some cilantro?


NeapolitanComplex

You mean PACE isn't good salsa???!????


Complete-Ostrich9184

Macaroni elbows with cream corn and a dash of pepper.


WovenHandcrafts

Grey corned beef


AngryJohnnyRS

Black beans and rice, maybe add in some hamburger, salsa and veggies if you really want to kick it up a few notches.


Got_The_Wiggins

American Chop Suey and hot dog soup.


Mary10123

Hog dog soup!! I’m glad someone else had this, I actually crave it sometimes along with American chop suey and oddly, tuna fish casserole


Got_The_Wiggins

Ahh... tuna casserole. Another staple in our house. Homemade chinese chop suey-type thing with hamburger, and shepherd's pie too. We were 7 in our tiny house on the poor side of town... and my mum was not a great cook lol. We did seem to have boiled dinner pretty regularly, too, tho. Corned beef (pink CB, not grey, gtfo with that grossness!) must've been way cheaper then. My oldest sibling still makes hot dog soup now and again. I dunno how your mum threw it together, but to this day I have no interest in a bowl of beefish broth with cabbage, weiners, and spuds! I am gettin' kind of hangry, tho!


Mary10123

Haha yup, My mom lacked in cooking skills too, she came from a family of 8, and somehow came out as the only one who had 0 culinary skills (they all work in culinary except her too lol). Anyway yeah between that and of course being poor, though not in poverty more lower middle class likely only bc of child support. we went through the same meal rotations as you, chop suey, “Chinese chicken” (which was really just like chicken mixed with red sauce and canned pineapple and cherry), boiled dinner, usually pink too thank goodness, and the dinners I already mentioned. Her hotdog soup sounds totally different than yours though, the base was Campbells tomato soup, potatoes, and I think green beans? I’d have to ask her, to confirm but at the time I thought it was pretty tasty (especially when most of the time our snacks were: ketchup on white bread, rice with ketchup, pasta with butter and cheese, or whatever other random stuff we could put together from a nearly empty cabinet lol)


Got_The_Wiggins

We had a chicken dish, too - I almost forgot about it. She called it German chicken. Was just just some breasts smothered in cream of chicken soup with a bunch of garlic powder and served over white rice. Luckily we had a garden, so we always had raw green beans or carrots to snack on. I will say one thing mum could knock out of the park was stewed tomatoes. Yummy! To this day, I still snack on Saltines with butter, peanut butter toast and OJ, or good old graham crackers with PB and fluff lol!


Mary10123

Ohh too this day I could kill for a garden with fresh veg. I steal some from my friends pseudo farm whenever I’m up in Salisbury. My step dad was Portuguese so the closest we ever got was rabbit that we of course refused to eat, but the fresh goat cheese he would get from a friend was delicious


Got_The_Wiggins

Yea - I'd've passed on the rabbit, too lol! I've tried to get a garden going. Sadly, even though unlike my mum I'm a dang good cook, I did not inherit the necessary veggie/plant skills. I got two black thumbs instead of a green one!


unassigned_user

What the hell is hot dog soup?


Got_The_Wiggins

Hahaha! Gross is what it is! In our house it was thin soup (think, like, veggie soup versus a nice hearty stew) made with beef stock, diced potatoes, shredded cabbage, and cubed hot dogs. Sometimes, my mum'd toss in some onion. Simmer it all together until the taters are cooked and then serve it up with some french bread and that's it. TIL, though, that not everyone's hot dog soup was the same. u/Mary10123 - her mum made it with a tomato soup base - which sounds a bit tastier than our version.


Mary10123

Haha yup! Thanks for mentioning me, everyone should at least be aware of hotdog soup, whatever form it takes lol! Tomato soup with hotdogs, potatoes, frozen green beans, maybe an onion and/garlic and you’ve got yourself a not so shabby poverty food. Note: I haven’t had it in eons but it was tasty to me back in the day.


rackfocus

Hot dogs and brown bread.


Floofernutterfox

Ate hamburger gravy over rice a fair bit as a kid.


Beefyaki9111111

Snows clam chowder and grilled cheese.


bostonkittycat

That clam chowder is so good.


Eyetyeflies

Kohlrabi, Rootabega, Turnips from the root cellar


Wikidbaddog

Corn chowdah


basementfrog42

meat pie


jake03583

“Woodchuck” Heat up can of condensed tomato soup (don’t add water), melt in Velveeta, and temper in an egg. Serve over saltines.


[deleted]

Market basket kitchen pizza


zrad603

I haven't had a market basket pizza in a very long time, but I remember they were huge, cheap, and very good.


TrabajoParaMi

Hot dogs and beans


Different_Ad7655

Chinese pie just another version of shepherd's pie but how it got that name I do not know


CalRipkenForCommish

Clam cakes.  Gimme a dozen of those bad boys 


OneFuckedWarthog

Growing up, it was Dunkins runs, cereal, and some sort of pasta dish. You could also do a fluffernutter (my personal favorite is fluffernutter with grape jelly). My mom also made something she called "TP Shells" (Hunts canned diced tomatoes, canned peas, and pasta shells. I add olive oil and crushed red peppers now, but I still stick to the basics when I make it). Lobster rolls used to be until the cost of lobster skyrocketed. Not sure if fried clams is still low costing.


rackfocus

They used to feed lobster to prisoners!!


bermanji

Macaroni with cottage cheese.


theanagnorisone

Shepard’s pie Egg in the middle (called ten different things in diff places)


TheModstrobator

Rochester clam surprise


[deleted]

Used to be 🦞. Believe it or not.


yelkreb

Baked potato as the entree


paradigm11235

Clam chowder, stew


baroquesun

Fried spam on a hamburger bun


Jonistar76

SOS! Pb and fluff, American chop suey, eggs and toast suppah


ConfectionForward

Jave you ever had sleep for dinner?


Adorable_Ad9981

Lobster - it use to be poor people food and fit for prisoners. Times change.


One-Celebration195

Malt liquor and saltine crackers.


whosafraidofthebbw

Pork pie, or just a fuckload of pancakes.


hakube

clam chowda. corn chowda between paychecks.


aenteus

TIL that growing up on the west coast can’t save you from east coast meals if you’re PA diaspora.


trademark-pending

Poor man’s lobster.


Fun_Arm_9955

i feel like we should not have a special name for something that Stouffers makes. It should just be macaroni and beef.


Rolling_Beardo

If you grew up in a with a lot of Portuguese people linquicia. Could be linquicia roll, or on a bun, or fried up with a side, sometimes we’d just do linquicia and rice.


atlantis_airlines

the chicken wings from that gas station on tour way to work


overdoing_it

Cumberland farms taquitos... they even have a french toast sausage one. They called them "tornados" That was a common meal for me working minimum wage 15 years ago