# Recipes that aren't quite what they should be **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 28, 2008, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-that-arent-quite-what-they-should-be/457934 "2008-07-28T17:07:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2008, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-that-arent-quite-what-they-should-be/457934/21 "2008-07-29T16:02:06Z")
[QUOTE=Litoris] **pulykamell** – I often joke that “goulash,” “hot and sour soup,” and “gumbo” are all just words that mean “we scraped up all the leftover stuff we had laying around and boiled it in a pot, here have some!” [/QUOTE] Yeah, “gumbo” does have that sort of sound to it, but, to be fair, I think most gumbos I’ve had have at least been somewhat faithful with including the main ingredient: okra. (Yes, there’s also file-based and roux-based gumbos, but up North, most folks are only familiar with the okra-based gumbos.) ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2008, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-that-arent-quite-what-they-should-be/457934/22 "2008-07-29T16:56:18Z")
I grew up calling that browned hamburger/canned tomatos/macaroni dish ‘slumgullion.’ My parents were from Iowa, if that is a factor. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2008, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-that-arent-quite-what-they-should-be/457934/23 "2008-07-29T18:02:15Z")
Does anyone else make meatloaf with just a loaf-sized hunk of ground meat (and maaaaybe an egg)? I’m always appalled at the rest of the world’s idea of “meatloaf” with all of the junk that’s put into the meat, like peppers and onions and pate and who knows what else. I absolutely love my dad’s meatloaf (a loaf of meat!) but would never, _ever_ order it at a restaurant because I don’t think others know how to do it “right”. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2008, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-that-arent-quite-what-they-should-be/457934/24 "2008-07-29T18:07:27Z")
Goulash = pasta, spaghetti sauce, and hamburger. Here’s a new one: I’m too lazy to use a blender when I make myself a milkshake, so it’s just milk poured over ice cream and then Ovaltine stirred in. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2008, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-that-arent-quite-what-they-should-be/457934/25 "2008-07-29T18:17:06Z")
[QUOTE=ZipperJJ] Does anyone else make meatloaf with just a loaf-sized hunk of ground meat (and maaaaybe an egg)? [/QUOTE] To me, meatloaf is meat + stretchers + binders at the very least, never just a hunk of meat. I don’t believe I’ve ever encountered meatloaf that is literally just a loaf of meat. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2008, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-that-arent-quite-what-they-should-be/457934/26 "2008-07-29T18:30:48Z")
[QUOTE=Litoris] **pulykamell** – I often joke that “goulash,” “hot and sour soup,” and “gumbo” are all just words that mean “we scraped up all the leftover stuff we had laying around and boiled it in a pot, here have some!” [/QUOTE] We’re not the only culture that does this. If you do this in Korea, for example, and arrange the leftovers separately on a bowl of rice (unmixed: little pile of veg, little pile of meat, etc), you have “bibimbap.” Restaurant bibimbap is a little more formal (hot stone bowl, topped with raw egg yolk, expectation of certain ingredients), but home bibimbap is for using up leftovers. ---
**Author:** ![Litoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@Litoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Litoris)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2008, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-that-arent-quite-what-they-should-be/457934/27 "2008-07-29T18:37:16Z")
[QUOTE=ZipperJJ] Does anyone else make meatloaf with just a loaf-sized hunk of ground meat (and maaaaybe an egg)? [/QUOTE] Well, my meatloaf is a little bit more than that (bread crumbs make it super moist and tender), but not much. My meatloaf has no onions, peppers or other vegetables in it, though – that’s just gross. I dated a guy whose mother put PEAS and CARROTS in hers. OMGWTF?ICK! \*\*FTR, my recipe is a modified version of the Better Homes & Gardens – it’s meat, an egg, bread crumbs and seasonings, topped with ketchup. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2008, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-that-arent-quite-what-they-should-be/457934/28 "2008-07-29T19:10:08Z")
Wait a sec… goulash is basically noodles, sauce and ground beef? Numerous summer camps and school cafeterias would serve noodle/sauce/beef usually covered with cheese and named something like spaghetti bake or Italian casserole. To make goulash, they used the leftovers and added chili powder and beans, pinto or kidney beans if memory serves. Same noodle/sauce/beef base, but the chili taste and the beans made it into goulash instead. No one else had this? ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2008, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-that-arent-quite-what-they-should-be/457934/29 "2008-07-29T19:11:02Z")
All this talk of ghoulash reminds me of my Mom’s ghoulash… Hamburger, a tin of tomato soup and a tin of peas (without the liquid). Yeah, we don’t eat that anymore, but I loved it as a kid. ETA: Tuna casserole was just tuna, cream of mushroom soup and peas. We also don’t eat that anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2008, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-that-arent-quite-what-they-should-be/457934/30 "2008-07-29T19:14:33Z")
[QUOTE=ZipperJJ] Does anyone else make meatloaf with just a loaf-sized hunk of ground meat (and maaaaybe an egg)? I’m always appalled at the rest of the world’s idea of “meatloaf” with all of the junk that’s put into the meat, like peppers and onions and pate and who knows what else. I absolutely love my dad’s meatloaf (a loaf of meat!) but would never, _ever_ order it at a restaurant because I don’t think others know how to do it “right”. [/QUOTE] Without the bread product, wouldn’t this just be swimming in grease while it bakes? I noticed one butcher near me would regularly have pre-mixed meatloaf on sale, a combination of beef, pork and veal usually, and the boasted they didn’t use any bread type binders. I tried theirs once and was all icked out by the greasiness, I’m talking pick up the loaf pan and pour 1/3 cup of liquid fat out. I figured mine didn’t do that because the bread crumbs soak up the fat and keep it incorporated, like. If your Dad’s was just solid meat and maybe an egg, did you have to drain it or where’d all the grease go? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2008, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-that-arent-quite-what-they-should-be/457934/31 "2008-07-29T19:35:06Z")
[QUOTE=Queen Tonya] Without the bread product, wouldn’t this just be swimming in grease while it bakes? I noticed one butcher near me would regularly have pre-mixed meatloaf on sale, a combination of beef, pork and veal usually, and the boasted they didn’t use any bread type binders. [/QUOTE] I’ve seen supermarkets carry that combo as “meatloaf mix,” but I’ve always understood that it’s just a blend of meats to use for meatloaf, not the final product to bake, for the reasons you’ve described. I quite often use that mix of meats for other dishes, like Serbian pljeskavica or Balkan cevapcici. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2008, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-that-arent-quite-what-they-should-be/457934/32 "2008-07-29T19:41:21Z")
[QUOTE=ZipperJJ] Does anyone else make meatloaf with just a loaf-sized hunk of ground meat (and maaaaybe an egg)? [/QUOTE] No. That was my mom’s idea of meatloaf, and I grew up thinking that meatloaf was a rock-hard, tasteless, dry boulder of baked hamburger. I hated it. To be fair to her, I think she associated “adding bread crumbs to the meat” with “underhanded corner butchers trying to cheat the customers by secretly adding filler”. When I got married, I discovered that my husband was addicted to good meatloaf, so I learned how to make it properly. That’s when I found out that well-made meatloaf was the food of the gods. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2008, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-that-arent-quite-what-they-should-be/457934/33 "2008-07-29T19:42:37Z")
[QUOTE=pulykamell] I’ve seen supermarkets carry that combo as “meatloaf mix,” but I’ve always understood that it’s just a blend of meats to use for meatloaf, not the final product to bake, for the reasons you’ve described. I quite often use that mix of meats for other dishes, like Serbian pljeskavica or Balkan cevapcici. [/QUOTE] Maybe that’s it…but the meat market sells them in the “Dinner’s Already Ready!” section, along with things like shish-ka-bobs ready to grill, butterflied chicken breasts stuffed with stuff, etc. I guess everyone else that buys them just pours out the grease periodically, but I was seriously squicked. ---
**Author:** ![Litoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@Litoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Litoris)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2008, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-that-arent-quite-what-they-should-be/457934/34 "2008-07-29T19:43:39Z")
[QUOTE=Queen Tonya] Without the bread product, wouldn’t this just be swimming in grease while it bakes? I noticed one butcher near me would regularly have pre-mixed meatloaf on sale, a combination of beef, pork and veal usually, and the boasted they didn’t use any bread type binders. I tried theirs once and was all icked out by the greasiness, I’m talking pick up the loaf pan and pour 1/3 cup of liquid fat out. I figured mine didn’t do that because the bread crumbs soak up the fat and keep it incorporated, like. If your Dad’s was just solid meat and maybe an egg, did you have to drain it or where’d all the grease go? [/QUOTE] We always cook meatloaf on a broiler pan, so the grease drains off and can be easily disposed. ---
**Author:** ![TheMerchandise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b487fb/32.png) [@TheMerchandise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMerchandise)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2008, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-that-arent-quite-what-they-should-be/457934/35 "2008-07-29T19:50:37Z")
I guess I’m the only one who had a more authentic version of goulash as a kid. Chunks of beef or pork, tomato sauce with tablespoons and tablespoons of paprika, and peppers and onions. You serve the mixture over egg noodles. In fact, I made this just the other night, using my mom’s recipe. I’m reading all your descriptions, thinking to myself “WTF?” This beef-pasta-cheese thing sounds like what my best friend’s family called “Hot Dish.” ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2008, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-that-arent-quite-what-they-should-be/457934/36 "2008-07-29T19:59:42Z")
[QUOTE=TheMerchandise] I guess I’m the only one who had a more authentic version of goulash as a kid. Chunks of beef or pork, tomato sauce with tablespoons and tablespoons of paprika, and peppers and onions. You serve the mixture over egg noodles. In fact, I made this just the other night, using my mom’s recipe. I’m reading all your descriptions, thinking to myself “WTF?” [/QUOTE] Yeah, that at least sounds like it has an obvious lineage to goulash. I suspect more authentic versions are found in communities near Cleveland and New York, which have more direct connections to the ancestry of this dish. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2008, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-that-arent-quite-what-they-should-be/457934/37 "2008-07-29T20:06:36Z")
My goulash is ground beef, macaroni, bell pepper, onion, diced canned tomatoes, tomato sauce and usually Italian or Mexican seasonings. I like to add cheese into the individual bowl. Slumgullion! I haven’t heard this in ages! It’s what my mom made! It’s the same as goulash, but it seems like there was no tomato sauce, just a broth of some sort. And it had to be made with shell macaroni! Us kids liked it just for the name, I think… ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2008, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-that-arent-quite-what-they-should-be/457934/38 "2008-07-29T20:23:46Z")
[QUOTE=Queen Tonya] Without the bread product, wouldn’t this just be swimming in grease while it bakes? I noticed one butcher near me would regularly have pre-mixed meatloaf on sale, a combination of beef, pork and veal usually, and the boasted they didn’t use any bread type binders. I tried theirs once and was all icked out by the greasiness, I’m talking pick up the loaf pan and pour 1/3 cup of liquid fat out. I figured mine didn’t do that because the bread crumbs soak up the fat and keep it incorporated, like. If your Dad’s was just solid meat and maybe an egg, did you have to drain it or where’d all the grease go? [/QUOTE] Actually, that particular blend of meats is to be combined with other things to make the finished meal … Veal for the moistness, pork to augment the flavor, beef for the main overall taste… add a panade of bread soaked in milk and the excess milk pressed out, an egg to bind and certain spices and you have a phenomenal pate rustique [french for meatloaf…] if you bake this in a crust, and after baking fill the airspaces with aspic and you have pate en croute [more or less] add egg and breadcrumbs, and italian herbs and you have quick and dirty meatballs, or jsut fry up and season for either spaghetti meat, or taco meat, or slumgullion, or even pat it into burgers for hamburgers… ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2008, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-that-arent-quite-what-they-should-be/457934/39 "2008-07-29T20:25:52Z")
[QUOTE=Litoris] Well, my meatloaf is a little bit more than that (bread crumbs make it super moist and tender), but not much. [/QUOTE] Same here, although sometimes we add banana pepper rings. Last time we made meatloaf was Sunday, we wrapped it in foil and smoked it over apple wood for a few hours. I’ve heard of using plain oatmeal instead of bread crumbs but haven’t tried it. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2008, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-that-arent-quite-what-they-should-be/457934/40 "2008-07-29T22:22:11Z")
[QUOTE=Chefguy] Cassoulet: I make it with hot Italian sausage, white beans, tomatoes, garlic, rosemary and chicken, in a skillet. It’s fookin’ fabulous, but isn’t at all like the French version. [/QUOTE] Recipe, please??!?? (Even if it’s just roughly proportionate amounts and “cook until it looks right” kind of directions.) When I was a kid, Campbell’s chicken noodle soup was the closest I came to eating any food that had multiple ingredients mixed up and touching each other, so my memory on these things is not clear. But it seems to me that mom’s beef stroganoff (which I did not eat, of course) was made with meatballs and served over rice. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-that-arent-quite-what-they-should-be/457934.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recipes-that-arent-quite-what-they-should-be/457934.md?page=3)