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American Chop Suey I

A quick stew of Hamburg steak, onions, macaroni, and tomato soup, seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

American Chop Suey I

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Fry the onions in bacon fat until soft.

  2. Add the Hamburg steak and cook until browned.

  3. Stir in the uncooked macaroni and the tomato soup (or water and stewed tomatoes).

  4. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

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. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Hamburg steak
Provides the meaty base and browned flavor that carries the whole dish.
Onions
Soften to add sweetness and aroma as they cook in the fat.
Macaroni
Absorbs liquid as it cooks, becoming tender and giving the dish body.
Bacon fat
Adds fat for frying the onions and carries savory flavor.
Tomato soup
Supplies moisture, acidity and sweetness to form the sauce.

The step that matters

Stirring in the uncooked macaroni. Dry pasta cooks by absorbing liquid and releasing starch. If the mixture is too dry or simmers too briefly, the macaroni stays firm and the sauce thickens unevenly. Keep enough liquid in the pan and stir so the pasta cooks through.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Eggplantfits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, pepper. 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.

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