Grandma’s Recipes – Chicken Chow Mein

I wasn’t surprised when I found a recipe for an Asian dish among my grandmother’s recipes. Though most of her recipes are decidedly “American”, finding this recipe reminded me that the 50s and 60s saw a rise of curiosity in Americans about other nations foods. Asian food was establishing itself on the American culinary scene and housewives tried out recipes like this one to introduce their families to new and exotic flavors. I wrote about the history of Asian food in America here if you want to read more about the fastinating journey.

This is a rather interesting recipe with its use of canned milk and canned chow mein noodles. They are the crispy, fried noodles that are often used for bird’s nest cookies. You can customize this recipe however you would like as it is a basically a casserole. My grandmother noted that you can add mushrooms or peas on her original recipe.

I decided not to try this recipe out. My family and I are use to actual authentic Chinese, Thai and Korean food with its use of spices and heat and amazing flavors. I think this would be a bit bland for us! 🙂 But I am including it here in case you want to try it and because it is such a good look at the flavors that were enjoyed in the past!