Skip to main content
Main

Chop Suey

A stir‑fry of meat, onions, celery, and molasses seasoned with paprika, cooked in lard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Onion and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,518 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Chop Suey

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the meat into pieces.

Make the chop suey

  1. Sear the meat in lard until browned.

  2. Add the chopped onions, celery, and molasses to the meat.

  3. Sprinkle in the paprika and cover with water.

  4. Cook until the meat is done.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Onion + meattop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,364 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Celery + meattop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,880 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Onion + molassestop 36% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together524 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. Molasses + meattop 37% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together441 recipes

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Choice meat
Provides the main protein, which browns during searing and becomes tender as it cooks.
Onions
Add aromatic sweetness and savory body as they soften in the pan.
Celery
Adds crisp-tender texture and a mild, fresh vegetable flavor.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, depth and a darker color to the sauce.
Paprika
Contributes mild warm flavor and a reddish color to the dish.

The step that matters

Sear the meat in lard until browned. Browning through the Maillard reaction builds deep savory flavor and color. Meat that is crowded, wet, or pale will steam instead, losing that flavor.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, molasses, meat):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Gingerfits better
  3. Clovefits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, molasses, meat. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

More chop suey recipes

American 4Chicken 3 See all 23 →

You might also like

Cream of Celery SoupCream of Celery Soup113 recipesMeat CroquettesMeat Croquettes52 recipesMeatballsMeatballs37 recipesMince MeatMince Meat37 recipes