Puester wrote:
>[snip]
> Didn't you ever have American Chop Suey in your school cafeterias?
> Hamburger, elbow macaroni, onions, celery, tomatoes all mixed
> together, served with a neon orange cube of cheese on the side.
>
> Not gourmet, but a popular jr. high lunch.
>
We had a really good school cafeteria that served genuine food to
middle and high school. I do know that dish, now that you describe it,
but never heard anyone call it "American Chop Suey", and it didn't have
the cheese cube. I still make something similar every great once in a
while, based on a story in one of MFK Fisher's books. Its
distinguishing feature is the addition of creamed corn. Sounds
unlikely, but works.

That school cafeteria is where I was first introduced to food service.
Learned to run the dishwashing machine, cleaned up, then later worked
the service line. After several months they introduced me to some prep
work involving the potato peeling machine and the mixer, not including
knife work. But I watched the cooks' knife skills with a lot of
interest. Eventually, I was flipping burgers and frying potatoes on
the big griddle. It was great experience for a later stint in a short
order setting. One of the things I learned, later ratified in the
army, was that different people could take the same ingredients and the
same recipes and produce very different results, based on the skill and
care they took.

-aem