American Chop Suey in Recipes

Ok guys. This is very very important. If you know me on facebook, and also know any of my family just because that kind of stuff happens on facebook, DO NOT TELL THEM I’M SHARING THIS RECIPE!!! I know it’s silly, but it is kept so secret my great grandmother would leave out ingredients intentionally if someone asked for it. I promise, though, I won’t do that here :)

You will need

A chunk of salt pork. Good luck finding it. Well, I can’t find it here in MO. I have found that bacon grease is a good substitute, and hey, bacon :)

Medium or large onion depending on your taste large dice, or chunks, or something like that.

A pound or so of ground beef (I use chuck, but it really doesn’t matter)

Two large cans of crushed tomatoes

Two medium cans of tomato sauce

Two small cans of tomato paste

Sugar

Rigatoni cooked and drained

Get a big ass pot and throw the salt pork in there. Render all the fat off of it than you can. Be careful though, If the heat is too high it smokes like a sonofabitch. If you can’t find salt pork, cook bacon until all the fat is rendered (like extra crispy bacon). I cook my bacon in the oven and just pour the grease into the pot.

Take all the salt pork out of the pot If they’re nice and crisp, eat them. Or at least try it. It’s pretty good. If you use bacon, pour the grease into the pot. Eat the bacon.

Throw the onion into the grease. Be careful… like, don’t do this part naked because it spits all over the place.

Cook the onion until soft, but not translucent.

DON’T DRAIN THE GREASE!

Throw all the tomato stuff in the pot. Put it on medium low. Just for a little while. You need the tomato paste to melt.

In a separate pan cook the ground beef until done, and drain that shit really well. But don’t go all gross and rinse it like some people do. ::shudder:: That’s just nasty.

Throw the ground beef in the sauce. Give it a good stir.

simmer for about 15 minutes so the flavors can combine. This actually does make a difference.

Ok this is the tough part. You want the sauce to be sweet, but not sweet enough that it will cause a cavity.

So, start with 1/4 cup of sugar. Stir it well and let it sit for 5 minutes or so. Taste it. If it still taste kind of like spaghetti sauce, add another 1/4 cup of sugar. It really depends on what you like. Say, like me. I don’t measure, I just take the bag and pour it in until it looks like about a cup of sugar. Believe it or not, it’s not too sweet. At least for us.

let the sauce simmer on low for about a half hour. Don’t ask, just do it.

While that is happening, cook the rigatoni. You can use whatever pasta you like, but you really want the sauce to stick to the pasta. Rigatoni is ridged and holds the sauce well.

When the pasta is done, ladle the sauce into the pan of pasta and stir it all together. Again, this is to your satisfaction. Pam likes a lot of sauce, I like … a medium amount. So whatever you like, go for it.

Easy peasy recipe, right? You would think that the entire family knows how to cook it, right? NOPE! I get at least one message from my oldest sister a year for this recipe, or the wing recipe, or.. gads, anything else the family cooked. Growing up next to my dad in the kitchen is a great thing :) I know all the secrets and stuff :)

See ya!