# Chicken and noodle over mashed potatoes--alien concept? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 5, 2010, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-and-noodle-over-mashed-potatoes-alien-concept/523756 "2010-01-05T15:56:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-and-noodle-over-mashed-potatoes-alien-concept/523756/41 "2010-01-06T04:56:56Z")
I first saw this ‘dish’ in a small town restaurant in my husband’s home town in Indiana. Thought it was weird then thinks it’s weird now.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-and-noodle-over-mashed-potatoes-alien-concept/523756/42 "2010-01-06T05:17:10Z")
It’s not that it sounds weird, but I can’t figure out what it is. Is it chicken noodle soup poured over mashed potatoes? Is it a chicken breast put over noodles and mashed potatoes. Is there gravy? Is it fried chicken over noodles and mashed potatoes? Are the potatoes mashed? It sounds like great comfort food, but too unfamiliar for my own comfort. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-and-noodle-over-mashed-potatoes-alien-concept/523756/43 "2010-01-06T05:29:57Z")
> [@WarmNPrickly](#): > > It’s not that it sounds weird, but I can’t figure out what it is. Is it chicken noodle soup poured over mashed potatoes? Is it a chicken breast put over noodles and mashed potatoes. Is there gravy? \*\* Is it fried chicken over noodles and mashed potatoes?\*\* Are the potatoes mashed? The bolded/underlined part – I want that! ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-and-noodle-over-mashed-potatoes-alien-concept/523756/44 "2010-01-06T15:42:15Z")
> [@WarmNPrickly](#): > > It’s not that it sounds weird, but I can’t figure out what it is. Is it chicken noodle soup poured over mashed potatoes? Is it a chicken breast put over noodles and mashed potatoes. Is there gravy? Is it fried chicken over noodles and mashed potatoes? Are the potatoes mashed? > > It sounds like great comfort food, but too unfamiliar for my own comfort. Imagine really really thick chicken noodle soup. There’s not a whole lot of broth, and it’s thickened. ---
**Author:** ![otternell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecc23a/32.png) [@otternell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/otternell)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-and-noodle-over-mashed-potatoes-alien-concept/523756/45 "2010-01-06T15:58:39Z")
And the spuds are mashed. Its truly like a chicken “stew” only with noodles (which soaks up the broth) then you add some thickener (like cornstarch - wow even more starch - who guessed!) and it basically becomes chunks of chicken (with veggies) and noodles, in a chicken gravy, over mashed potatoes. Served with toast of course. My husband would go nuts if I thought of serving chicken and noodles without mashed potatoes and toast. How can you possibly soak up all the gravy without spuds and bread??!! It is comfort food, as long as you don’t eat a lot of it. Too much and it is a discomfort food as your stomach bloats! 🙂 Yumm! ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-and-noodle-over-mashed-potatoes-alien-concept/523756/46 "2010-01-06T16:14:22Z")
> [@otternell](#): > > It is comfort food, as long as you don’t eat a lot of it. Too much and it is a discomfort food as your stomach bloats! 🙂 Yumm! I’m amused by “yum” being after “bloating.” Nothing could be finer than being bloated in the diner in the mooooornin’. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-and-noodle-over-mashed-potatoes-alien-concept/523756/47 "2010-01-06T16:24:28Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Never heard of it but long ago I discovered that all the things you pile food on top of are interchangeable. > > Thus mashed potatoes, rice, noodles, pasta, steamed vegetables, cous cous, bread, toast, pancakes, any other mashed/smashed vegetable can be used with any “topping”. > > Don’t feel like rice with your curry, toast some bread chop in to cubes put curry on top. > > Sick of spaghetti, slice veges long and thin, steam put sauce on top. > > Don’t feel like a tuna sandwich, stir the tuna through some noodles. I agree completely. Some of my favorite combinations are ratatouille on couscous and rice bolognese. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-and-noodle-over-mashed-potatoes-alien-concept/523756/48 "2010-01-06T19:14:43Z")
It does souns odd, and I’m having trouble getting past the chicken and noodles part. Are we talking about them as a soup or more of a casserole? Like a casserole sounds less odd than soup, but still fairly odd to be put on potatoes. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-and-noodle-over-mashed-potatoes-alien-concept/523756/49 "2010-01-06T19:47:13Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > The I ordered cioppino the other night in a restaurant and it came served over spaghetti. Wait, what? :eek: Did you get bread with that? I love cioppino but… no, that’s not right. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-and-noodle-over-mashed-potatoes-alien-concept/523756/50 "2010-01-06T20:20:46Z")
Loose the noodles and I’ll be happy to eat a big ol’ plate full. To me the noodles are the WTF? Sort of on par with how KFC puts cheese on top of their sadness bowls. ---
**Author:** ![Purd\_Werfect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47c2d/32.png) [@Purd\_Werfect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purd_Werfect)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-and-noodle-over-mashed-potatoes-alien-concept/523756/51 "2010-01-06T20:40:00Z")
Sounds good in the same way that drunk food sounds good. Tasty as hell, but overkill in some way. I don’t think it’s particularly odd, but I prefer one starch per meal. (Except when restaurants give you bread to dip in olive oil and balsamic before dinner.) ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-and-noodle-over-mashed-potatoes-alien-concept/523756/52 "2010-01-06T21:41:29Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Yeah, I wonder if this is a German and Amish thing. My family’s German, and there are lots of Amish around here, too. I believe it is. I’m from NE Ohio, which is chock full of people descended from German, Polish, and Slavic immigrants, among them the Amish. Not sure from which culture exactly that the noodles + potatoes came from, but I can tell you that I grew up on that dish and you’ve got me hankering for warm-me-up heavy German comfort food like my German grandmother used to make. :: drool :: ---
**Author:** ![badbadrubberpiggy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/57b2e6/32.png) [@badbadrubberpiggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badbadrubberpiggy)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-and-noodle-over-mashed-potatoes-alien-concept/523756/53 "2010-01-06T21:45:22Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > It does souns odd, and I’m having trouble getting past the chicken and noodles part. Are we talking about them as a soup or more of a casserole? Like a casserole sounds less odd than soup, but still fairly odd to be put on potatoes. More like gravy. Like the inside of a chicken pot pie, but with noodles, too. It’s familiar to me, but I don’t love it. When I make it, I leave out the noodles, to me it really is overkill and I feel too stuffed. Or I do beef & gravy over noodles or potatoes. ETA: and I agree it might be a German/Polish immigrant thing, it’s one of the things my grandfather always made (and pierogies!), and his parents immigrated from Poland around 1912. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-and-noodle-over-mashed-potatoes-alien-concept/523756/54 "2010-01-06T21:47:15Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > It does souns odd, and I’m having trouble getting past the chicken and noodles part. Are we talking about them as a soup or more of a casserole? Like a casserole sounds less odd than soup, but still fairly odd to be put on potatoes. More like a casserole, but not that solid. Grandma made homemade egg noodles – they are very thick and hearty, totally unlike egg noodles you buy in the grocery store. She took the leftover chicken and boiled it with the noodles and thickened the sauce however German Grandmothers thicken sauces. I’m thinking there’s an awful lot of starch in those homemade egg noodles, which are pretty much just flour and eggs, rolled out and cut into ribbons. So think like chicken and dumplings or a very thick stew consistency. Gramma would have made the chicken and noodles in a big Dutch oven or in a crock pot. Couldn’t you just invoke your Google Fu for images? Wouldn’t that be easier than me trying to write to describe something that I haven’t eaten in at least 20 years? :smack: [This looks about right.](http://perkyandprofessor.blogspot.com/2009/11/amish-dinner-of-chicken-and-noodles.html) ---
**Author:** ![otternell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecc23a/32.png) [@otternell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/otternell)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-and-noodle-over-mashed-potatoes-alien-concept/523756/55 "2010-01-06T22:12:52Z")
its close - but not enough gravy! ---
**Author:** ![badbadrubberpiggy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/57b2e6/32.png) [@badbadrubberpiggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badbadrubberpiggy)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-and-noodle-over-mashed-potatoes-alien-concept/523756/56 "2010-01-06T22:14:10Z")
> [@otternell](#): > > its close - but not enough gravy! I agree! More gravy is needed - I’m sticking with my “inside of a chicken pot pie, but with noodles added” description. That’s the closest common food item I can think of. ---
**Author:** ![cuberdon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/45deac/32.png) [@cuberdon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuberdon)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-and-noodle-over-mashed-potatoes-alien-concept/523756/57 "2010-01-06T22:56:28Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > _Noodles?_ On _potatoes?_ > > \*Insanity! \* From Marcella Hazan: [http://www.dolcevita.com/cuisine/recipes/sum/recipe6.htm](http://www.dolcevita.com/cuisine/recipes/sum/recipe6.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-and-noodle-over-mashed-potatoes-alien-concept/523756/58 "2010-01-09T04:04:55Z")
When I was growing up it was beef & noodles over mashed potatoes. Tastes great. Still have it every once in a while when the family gets together. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-and-noodle-over-mashed-potatoes-alien-concept/523756/59 "2010-01-09T04:37:59Z")
Haven’t tried it, but doesn’t sound bad… Heavy, but not bad. But then, I always make a pot of rice to go with pot roast. Beef, carrots, potatoes, and broth/gravy, served over rice. Food of the gods! (Made it earlier this week - awesome cold weather food, awesome “planned leftover” food.) My husband hadn’t tried it this way before, but he enjoyed it! Maybe these extra starches are just a way to stretch more expensive ingredients into a more filling meal? Around here (coastal Georgia,) rice was traditionally cheap, and potatoes cost relatively more. My family ate/eats rice with virtually everything, except for meals where grits were served. My stepdad, on the other hand, is from West Virginia, and expects potatoes with everything - rice is just weird, to him. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-and-noodle-over-mashed-potatoes-alien-concept/523756/60 "2010-01-09T07:34:13Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > When I was a kid, my family occasionally had chicken and noodles or beef and noodles and would eat them over mashed potatoes. This isn’t something I would still do just because I don’t find that much carbohydrate to be too good, but it doesn’t strike me as weird. My coworkers from this area also find it a normal idea. > > But my SIL, from West Virginia, thinks it’s _bizarre_. She found out my brother’s favorite dish is beef and noodles over mashed potatoes and she thought he was a giant freak. (He might be, but I think the evidence lies elsewhere!) > > So, whether or not you find it appealing, do you think the idea of chicken noodle over mashed potatoes is weird? My mom does this, and I think it is weird. Starch overload. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-and-noodle-over-mashed-potatoes-alien-concept/523756.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-and-noodle-over-mashed-potatoes-alien-concept/523756.md?page=4)