Fire on The Chew, Swapping Spit & American Ghoul-ash (aka American Chop Suey) Ozzified

If we learned anything on today’s The Chew, it was that cooking isn’t for the faint of heart. First Mario Batali pays an audience member $100.00 to take a bite of blood sausage.  She didn’t seem to have any qualms about using the fork Mario used rather than her own fork so I’m guessing she has less problem with sharing saliva which has been shown to cause illness than she does with trying a food people have eaten for years without getting ill.

Then there was the flash fire when Michael Symon was showing Daphne Oz how to make his American Ghoul-ash. I’m still not convinced it was an accident. It looked more like an alcohol fire than a grease fire, and it sure went out a lot faster than any grease fire I’ve ever seen. It flared up as he tilted the plate containing the ground beef – BEFORE the meat even hit the pan. In watching it a second time, it appeared to be more sleight of hand than actual kitchen emergency. My guess is there was some sort of liquor like vodka on the plate that fell into the pan when he tipped it to spark a fire he could then demonstrate how to put out. Note also that Daphne had her hair braided rather than loose like it normally is.

All the shenanigans aside, Michael Symon made a super dish to feed the kids before they go Trick or Treating. He was correct when he said that his American Ghoul-ash was “…a great meal – it’s going to give your kids energy.   It’s got good carbs, & good protein.” 

I Ozzified it today with better carbs and better protein:

• Replaced high fat ground beef with 96% lean ground beef and added more olive oil to replace the LDL cholesterol fat missing from the beef with heart-healthy fat high in HDL cholesterol 
• Replaced Michael’s white enriched macaroni with whole wheat elbow macaroni raising the fiber count per serving up to 5 grams instead of 2
• Replaced Michael’s pricey, high sodium canned San Marzano tomatoes with no salt added organic tomatoes saving 90 mg sodium per quarter cup 
• Added fresh sliced mushrooms for additional fiber and protein

American Goulash, as it’s called in the Midwest where Michael was raised, has many variations around the country. In New England, it’s a staple on lunchroom menus and called American Chop Suey. Some families make it with tomato soup rather than tomato sauce, a common substitution back in the 1950s when the soup companies began touting their product as an easier and healthier way to prepare family favorites. 

I’m a California girl and our version was called “Chili Mac.” Mom browned the ground beef and onion, then added a can of Campbell’s Chili Soup, a can of Tomato Soup, a can of kidney beans, a dash or two of chili powder, and some water along with the cooked and drained macaroni. She then covered the whole thing with slices of American cheese.  It was the dinner served the night I graduated from high school, probably because she could feed the army that was our family with a minimum of prep time or clean-up since she made it in one HUGE electric skillet that was 8” deep and at least a foot wide.  It would take some tweaking for sure to replicate this dish since Campbell’s discontinued the very soup they invented this recipe for.