
For this recipe, I’ve used pork shoulder chops, but any tender, flavorful cut of meat or seafood such as chicken or shrimp will work. Protein – I usually add about 200 grams of protein to my Chop Suey. Like any stir-fry, the ingredients for this one are pretty flexible, just make sure you maintain the relative ratios of protein and veggies to sauce, and you should be good.

The additional mass also helps it retain heat better, so the temperature doesn’t fluctuate as much when you add ingredients. I like using a large frying pan as the extra surface area allows more of the food to come into contact with the hot pan.

It’s also not a dish well suited for take-out as the vegetables tend to get soggy and mushy when they’re not eaten right away.

I suspect that as Chinese-American cuisine evolved to include more proteins, restaurants preferred pushing patrons towards more protein-heavy dishes that they could charge more for. Trends change, and dishes like Chop Suey and Moo Goo Gai Pan have fallen out of favor. Sounds pretty good, huh? So how did this standard-bearer fall from being the face of Chinese cuisine in America to become a culinary abomination? With a history stretching back over 150 years in this country, it’s one of the first known examples of Chinese-American cuisine.Īt its core, Chop Suey is a quick stir-fry, including a little meat and a lot of vegetables, that’s finished off in a savory sauce that’s thick enough to coat everything with flavor. Despite being an early ambassador for Chinese cuisine in the US, Chop Suey was most likely created in America. There was a time when Chop Suey was synonymous with Chinese food, and neon-lit signs towered over Main streets across the country.
