Shortly after Bob and I moved to Georgia, we visited his dad’s older brother. Our drop-in visit around five o’clock one Sunday afternoon found Uncle Jim, a widower, eating his supper - a bowl of canned cream of mushroom soup. It was the first time I had ever seen anyone actually eat this famous soup as a soup.
With my generation, our mothers discovered the magic in this canned product in the 1950s. Perhaps, their first encounter came with the introduction of the Campbell Soup Company’s now famous Green Bean Casserole made with canned green beans, a can of French fried onion rings and a can of its own Cream of Mushroom soup. It became a staple at Thanksgiving.
Kendra Nordin, an editor at The Christian Science Monitor reflects on this traditional dish. She writes, “Usually I allow myself an air of historic superiority as I dismiss green bean casserole when it is offered – surely the original Thanksgiving did not include a dish from a can.”
However after investigation, she reports that no one actually knows what was consumed at the first Thanksgiving. She concludes, “So, if a glob of canned soup in a Thanksgiving dish is really a nod to the convenient foods that temporarily freed mid-20th century American women everywhere so they could devote their thoughts and energies beyond the kitchen – for better or worse – then I concede. Green bean casserole has its proper place in the history of American Thanksgiving.”
But it’s not just food editors who disparage the addition of canned soups as ingredients. I’ve seen the same food snobbery appear in novels. Humorist Mary Kay Andrews often includes such scenes. In Ladies’ Night, she writes, “Grace fixed her with a look. ‘Are we going to get into this again? I’m sorry, Mom, if I like nice things. Sorry if it somehow offends you that I outgrew my childhood taste for...macaroni and cheese and frozen Tater Tots and casseroles made with cream of mushroom soup and canned onions rings.’”
And in Andrews’ The Weekenders, we read, “I don’t know which is worse, the cream of mushroom soup, the water chestnuts, or the…cheese goop. Don’t your friends know how to make anything that doesn’t call for canned soup or imitation cheese product?”
Interestingly, cookbook author Elizabeth Gordon has an entirely different take on food snobbery in writing for Psychology Today. She says, “So many people are struggling to even put food on the table. Aren't we really communicating frivolity rather than cleverness, thriftiness, sophistication and style through our super-styled backyard dinner parties?…Can't we just be real and not take food so seriously, because isn't that what a truly rich life is all about, feeling comfortable with who we are, not staging and posting photographs of the dinner party that might make other people envious?”
Recently, our daughter-in-law served an old fashioned green bean casserole. It was the first time I had eaten this combination of flavors in years. It was delicious.
It also prompted thoughts about some of my favorite recipes which begin their ingredient lists with a can of soup. Unless one’s diet requires certain restrictions, does anyone have a pot roast recipe better than the one calling for canned cream of mushroom soup and dry onion soup mix?
Two of our favorite seafood recipes also call for canned soups and I would be at a lost to make them without this ingredient. An interviewee shared The Shrimp and Noodle Casserole recipe with me. Because green noodles are difficult to locate, I usually use wide egg noodles; a relative chooses thinner noodles like linguine or angel hair. The Crab Bisque recipe came from my mother-in-law.
Shrimp and Noodles
1/2 of 8 oz. pkg. wide noodles, cooked according to package directions
1 lb. or more of peeled and boiled shrimp
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 C. dairy sour cream
1/4 C. mayonnaise
1 T. dijon style mustard (I use mustard + horse radish)
1 T. chopped chives
4 T. white cooking wine
grated cheddar cheese
Spray casserole with Pam and line with cooked noodles. Cover with shrimp. (Cut into bite size if large shrimp) Combine soup, sour cream, mayonnaise, chives, mustard and wine. Cover shrimp with mixture. Top with grated cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until cheese has melted and casserole is bubbly. (I often double this recipe)
Crab Bisque
Meat from six crabs
1 medium onion, chopped
½ large red or green bell pepper chopped
1 rib celery chopped
3 T. butter
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of celery soup
2 cans milk
½ can white wine
Remove all cartilage from crabmeat. In soup kettle, sauté vegetables in butter until tender. Add soups, milk and wine and blend. Bring to a boil. Do not boil; reduce heat. Add crabmeat. Simmer for ten to fifteen minutes. (I like to make bisque an hour before serving. After simmering, turn off heat. Cover and let sit to allow flavors to blend. Reheat and serve. (We freeze meat from about six crabs covered in milk in margarine tubs.)
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