Not a heck of a lot of restaurants, certainly no going to one with a family unless it was a special occasion. Those were the days without the Food Network and superstar chefs. They would substitute or cook something else. I don’t remember anyone in my family ever running to the store for a certain ingredient. They cooked without a recipe and used what was on hand. I think that the variations everyone is so proud of stems from a time when our moms, dads, grandparents etc. Wow! I get a kick out of how these recipes bring out a family loyalty. Chop Suey to me is a beloved Chinese dish that has nothing to do with a Italian or Hungarian tasting style dish. I have heard it called American Chop Suey a few times, but it always annoyed me. As others have said the hamburger was drained of grease before the mixing of ingredients and bread was provided to make little sandwiches or to use to mop up every last bit! 🙂 And it was always made on the stovetop or over the campfire. He also used both canned tomatoes (or fresh tomatoes depending on the time of years and garden) and paste or sauce (depending on what we had on the shelf, but mainly paste). During the summer well cooked zucchini and/or yellow summer squash usually found their way into it, since they’re kinda bland it didn’t really change the flavor of the marzetti, it acted as a cheap filler to make it go farther and was a way to get us kids to eat vegetables. Dad used to go heavy on the bell peppers when he made it (because my brother and I loved them so much) and he would always add in mushrooms (again because of us kids). It was always a very forgiving recipe where you could add whatever you wanted, I don’t think I’ve ever seen it with garlic or red pepper flakes but I might try it that way.
I also grew up on this concoction, although living in Ohio it was always called Johnny Marzetti, Goulash or at sometimes Campers Food.
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