A Taste of the Fifties--Six-Can Casserole
A Taste of the Fifties--Six-Can Casserole
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A Taste of the Fifties--Six-Can Casserole
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Post #1 - June 7th, 2006, 8:35 amI recently came across the following recipe from an old Kansas City Star "Come into My Kitchen" column, which last year had its 50th Birthday:
Six Can Casserole
2 cans boned chicken
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can of chicken soup
1 small can of evaporated milk
1 small can of Chinese noodles
Combine all ingredients. Bake in a 2-quart casserole for 45 minutes to 1 hr at 350 degrees.
Yeah, I know, don't knock it if you haven't tried it, but I'd welcome any reports from an intrepid cook with an active can opener."The fork with two prongs is in use in northern Europe. In England, they’re armed with a steel trident, a fork with three prongs. In France we have a fork with four prongs; it’s the height of civilization." Eugene Briffault (1846)
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Post #2 - June 7th, 2006, 8:37 amCome to Wichita for Christmas with me, it's still being served in many homes.Watch Sky Full of Bacon, the Chicago food HD podcast!
New episode: Soil, Corn, Cows and Cheese
Watch the Reader's James Beard Award-winning Key Ingredient here.
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Post #3 - June 7th, 2006, 9:20 amMike G--
In Wichita, eh? I don't think I've run into it in KC, so maybe it's local. What is it like when completed--does it set up into a loaf, or is it served over something?? I *think* I know what canned Chinese noodles are, maybe my mother might have used them in something, but I can't remember what... can you describe them? I actually can't remember what they're like. [Jeez, maybe my mom served something like this? She grew up in Granite City IL, right across from St. Louis. Maybe they had it there, too.]
Does it have a name? (other than the six-can description) And, finally, why Christmas??
Wonderful food anthropology... : )
GeoSooo, you like wine and are looking for something good to read? Maybe *this* will do the trick!
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Post #4 - June 7th, 2006, 9:22 amIs this the complete recipe? No seasoning at all? I hope there's pepper on the table where this is being served.
Best,
Michael
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Post #5 - June 7th, 2006, 9:22 amHi,
During WW1, the U.S. government funded cookbooks where the key ingredients were canned goods. They were designed to free up women from household tasks to make them available for domestic and war-related industry.
I have seen these canned goods cookbooks before and thought it was some enthusiastic food industry initiative. Next time I find one, I will be checking the publication date as well as if there are indications of government funding.
As electricity became cheaper, I have seen cookbooks featuring food from your freezer and my all time favorite: toast. I used to chuckle and pass on these, but I think I will acquire some.
Regards,Cathy2
"You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways, Road Food 2012: Podcast
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Post #6 - June 7th, 2006, 10:52 amIs this the complete recipe? No seasoning at all?
That's it. You'd expect the company to do the seasoning for you. You could hardly trust the homemaker, and I'm sure there was plenty of salt and sugar etc. inside those cans.I *think* I know what canned Chinese noodles are, maybe my mother might have used them in something, but I can't remember what... can you describe them?
I'm thinking that this is something similar to the hard Chun King chow mein noodles, the ones with the consistency and taste of thin, overcooked pretzels without the salt. That is an assumption, but there are a lot of assumptions in this recipe (one of its glories) several of which are likely to lead to disaster."The fork with two prongs is in use in northern Europe. In England, they’re armed with a steel trident, a fork with three prongs. In France we have a fork with four prongs; it’s the height of civilization." Eugene Briffault (1846)
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Post #7 - June 7th, 2006, 11:09 amjbw wrote:Is this the complete recipe? No seasoning at all?
That's it. You'd expect the company to do the seasoning for you. You could hardly trust the homemaker, and I'm sure there was plenty of salt and sugar etc. inside those cans.
There's no doubt in my mind that salt would be the prevailing flavor here, hence my hope for the presence of pepper or anything else to lift the flavor profile from the sodium-based mass that I'd wager this recipe wallows in.
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Post #8 - June 7th, 2006, 1:07 pmOne of my brother-in-laws was waxing nostalgic at a family gathering a few years ago about a summer dish that my father-in-law's Mom used to make. Everyone else had a vague recollection of it, so at the next family gathering my Mother-in-law whipped up this dish/casserole which is basically a type of cold vegetable salad. The ingredients are basically an assortment of 4 or 5 varieties of canned vegetables (lima beans, corn, green beans, peas, carrots, etc.) mixed together with however much Miracle Whip or mayo it takes to hold it together. Chill until ready to serve. I couldn't even bring myself to try it and most of it ended up going down the garbage disposal.
Obviously said brother-in-law has never lived this down and grandma's vegtable salad has never made another appearance at a family party.
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Post #9 - June 7th, 2006, 1:11 pmThe reason why Christmas in Wichita is because that's when I end up there.
No, I don't know anybody who makes this specific dish. But dishes built on the sturdy foundation of a can of Campbell's Mushroom Soup are still very common in America's heartland, as are dry La Choy noodles (pretzels are a good comparison; so is plywood).
I speak from experience here. Bitter, hardfought, smile to keep the peace experience.
Have fans of 50s food seen this?Watch Sky Full of Bacon, the Chicago food HD podcast!
New episode: Soil, Corn, Cows and Cheese
Watch the Reader's James Beard Award-winning Key Ingredient here.
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Post #10 - June 7th, 2006, 1:19 pmThis recipe reminds me of something I once had as a kid in day camp. For lunch everybody would bring a can of soup from their pantry and they all got dumped into a big pot and cooked together. Most kids probably brought tomato soup and chicken noodle, but there was always someone who's mom used it as an excuse to get rid of the stuff nobody at home would eat like split pea soup, or something. The end result was a thick, salty soup with assorted noodles, meats and vegetables. Despite my not-so-flatterying discription it actually wasn't too bad (at least to a 7 year old). I think they had a very PC name for it like "hobo stew," or something along those lines.
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Post #11 - June 7th, 2006, 1:21 pmMike G said
But dishes built on the sturdy foundation of a can of Campbell's Mushroom Soup are still very common in America's heartland. I speak from experience here.
Oh boy, ya think?? : ) One fundamentalist rock of church suppers (and any other pot luck) around KC is green bean cassarole. See, for example
http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-00, ... le,FF.html
note that there are *1150* recipes in that file. My Fridays were typically
http://fooddownunder.com/cgi-bin/recipe.cgi?r=42639
So, yeah, Campbell's will continue to turn a profit based on Heartland usage alone, I'd reckon.
I'd thought--mistakenly--that "6-can" was some sort of a Christmas treat in Wichita.
Geo
PS. Just thinking about those canned onions used in the green bean cassarole brings childhood vibrations to my memory...Sooo, you like wine and are looking for something good to read? Maybe *this* will do the trick!
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Post #12 - June 7th, 2006, 9:13 pmAnyone ever heard of the "King Ranch Casserole", which is said to come from the largest working ranch in Texas?
There are quite a few versions out there. This one actually has an onion in it!
(Don't tell anyone, but this stuff is pretty tasty. Shhh...)
In a large bowl mix up the following:
1 chicken, boiled, cooled, then cut up bite size
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can Rotel tomatoes with green chilies
1 large onion, chopped
2 cups chicken broth from the chicken
12 corn tortillas, cut up
2 cups grated American cheese
Bake in one of those white Pyrex baking dishes with the blue flower pattern until bubbly.
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Post #13 - June 7th, 2006, 9:15 pmHmm, can't quite put my finger in it but I'm pretty sure there's one ingredient there that never ever appeared in any Campbell's-Mushroom-based dish I ate growing up... let's see, which could it be...
1 chicken, boiled, cooled, then cut up bite size
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can Rotel tomatoes with green chilies
1 large onion, chopped
2 cups chicken broth from the chicken
12 corn tortillas, cut up
2 cups grated American cheeseWatch Sky Full of Bacon, the Chicago food HD podcast!
New episode: Soil, Corn, Cows and Cheese
Watch the Reader's James Beard Award-winning Key Ingredient here.
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Post #14 - June 8th, 2006, 12:25 pmmy bride has been collecting the old "canned cookbooks" on and off for the last few years, so there are quite a few in this household...I wouldnt mind trying some of the recipes, except that evidently the books were published in such a zealous flurry that many of the recipes were never actually taste tested. That said, i am not sure how good a "summertime cocktail" based on cambells beef broth is going to be. I just don't know.
Erik.
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Post #15 - June 8th, 2006, 1:37 pmThis reminds of a WTTW "cooking" show a few years back wherein the "cook" (a "farmer's wife" sort) would inevitably dump in a few cans of cream of condensed whatever along with a soupcon of dried parsley. Always with the dried parsley! ("...and to top off my peanut butter pie I always add some dried parsley for color") Eventually every episode, her husband would wander in the kitchen his overalls artfully-smudged, a trucker cap perched high atop his head. They's fuss at each other and he'd mosey out of the frame.
This show predates Sandra Lee's tablescape atrocities, but not by much. Anyone else remember it?Being gauche rocks, stun the bourgeoisie
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Post #16 - June 8th, 2006, 3:29 pmSushiGaijin wrote: That said, i am not sure how good a "summertime cocktail" based on cambells beef broth is going to be. I just don't know.
Like this??
Wendy (I get to call her Wendy instead of--I don't know, "Comedy Goddess"-- because she grew up in Oak Park and used to babysit for a couple of LTH posters I know) actually tried to make this to bring to a book signing lately. Her not-to-be-missed account is here.
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Post #17 - June 8th, 2006, 7:11 pmDoes Wendy have anything to do with this?
http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/index.html
If not, she should!
GeoSooo, you like wine and are looking for something good to read? Maybe *this* will do the trick!
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Post #18 - June 12th, 2006, 12:45 amGeo wrote:So, yeah, Campbell's will continue to turn a profit based on Heartland usage alone, I'd reckon."Cheap. Fast. Good!" by Beverly Mills & Alicia Ross* wrote:Cream soups play a vital role in our pantries. They're such a budget queen's staple, we practically take them for granted. But a conversation with one of our food journalist colleagues made us stop and think.
"I'd never make a recipe that called for cream soup," she declared.
Why not, we asked.
"I just wouldn't."
The pained look on her face said it all. No food snob worth her Cuisinart would lower herself to use cream of mushroom soup in a recipe. For a couple of years after that conversation, we found ourselves second-guessing our cream soup instincts. Finally we decided to test the waters by printing a favorite skillet dinner that included a can of cream of mushroom soup in our Desperation Dinners newspaper column.
Our readers raved. The cheers came pouring in via letters and e-mail from harried mothers, busy retired couples, and budget-conscious graduate students. And that's what we find every time we feature a recipe with a "cream of" soup. Most people love them.
The reasons are simple. Using cream soup as a sauce base is far easier than making a traditional roux with butter and flour, then adding milk and cooking till thick. Heavy cream, the other quick alternative, contains too much fat for most people's weekday diets. Canned soups go on sale practically once a month, so it's easy to stay stocked up at the cheapest price, too.
*A pretty good cookbook, actually, if you're looking for budget ideas. Lots of tips and easy, workable recipes -- not all using canned soup, either.
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Post #19 - June 12th, 2006, 7:20 amUsing cream soup as a sauce base is far easier than making a traditional roux with butter and flour, then adding milk and cooking till thick. Heavy cream, the other quick alternative, contains too much fat for most people's weekday diets.
On the other hand, the soup is likely to salt it within an inch of its life.
I'm willing to accept the utility of this, and the homey likableness of some of these dishes, but my feeling is 1) any Campbell's soup is a salt blast, and given the lack of other seasonings, that means you really taste salt; 2) even if there's nothing wrong with making dishes built on cream o' shroom occasionally, there were a lot of cooks who didn't know the meaning of "occasionally" and everything they made except Jell-O tasted like mushroom soup, and 3) oh come on, a roux is not THAT hard, it's not really hard at all.Watch Sky Full of Bacon, the Chicago food HD podcast!
New episode: Soil, Corn, Cows and Cheese
Watch the Reader's James Beard Award-winning Key Ingredient here.
