"Chop suey was once a classic Chinese American dish enjoyed on December 25 a day when most other restaurants were closed by Jews and other non-Christians. These days, we tend to think of chop suey as a mishmash of stir-fried ingredients that emerged from immigrant communities in the United States. But its roots run deep, says Miranda Brown, a professor of Chinese history at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor."
"Brown is quick to note that offal is flavorful, rich in nutrients, and was enjoyed widely until a few generations ago, thanks, in part to industrial meat packaging processes. "It can be chewy, it can be buttery, it can be kind of rubbery," Brown says of offal's distinctive textures. "For some people, that's really kind of exciting. Bouncy!" The origins of the dish itself bounces back hundreds of years, she says, to imperial China."
""We have references to chop suey in Ming Dynasty texts," she notes. "The Journey to the West, which is a famous novel [from the 16th century], has a reference to chop suey. You will find it on fancy banquet menus. A version of the dish was even eaten at the Qing court." When Chinese immigrants to the U.S. in the mid-1800s wanted to impress local officials, Brown says, they held banquets similar to ones back home,"
Chop suey originally consisted largely of chopped offal such as lung, liver, tripe and kidneys, prized for flavor, nutrients and varied textures. Offal textures can be chewy, buttery or rubbery, which some people find appealing. Historical references to chop suey appear in Ming Dynasty texts and in the 16th-century novel Journey to the West, and versions of the dish appeared on banquet menus and at the Qing court. Chinese immigrants in the mid-1800s recreated lavish banquets, featuring foods like Peking duck, chop suey and bird's nest soup, to impress local officials and audiences.
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