Chop suey — a stir-fry of mixed vegetables (bean sprouts, celery, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots) and meat (pork, chicken, or shrimp) in a starchy brown sauce, served over rice — is the original Chinese-American dish, the one that introduced Chinese food to the American mainstream in the late 19th century. The name derives from Cantonese *tsap seui* (雜碎, "mixed pieces" or "odds and ends"). The origin story is disputed (created for Chinese railroad workers? invented in a San Francisco kitchen to use leftovers? adapted from a Cantonese home-cooking technique?), but the cultural impact is documented: by the 1920s, chop suey restaurants were the most common Chinese restaurants in America, and the dish was the gateway through which an entire nation encountered Chinese food for the first time.
A stir-fry of bean sprouts (the dominant vegetable), sliced celery, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, bok choy or napa cabbage, sliced onion, mushrooms, and a protein (sliced pork, chicken, or shrimp), wok-fried in oil with garlic and ginger, then sauced with a mixture of soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, and cornstarch-thickened stock. The sauce should be glossy and lightly coat the vegetables without pooling. Served over steamed white rice.
1) High heat, fast cooking — the wok must be hot enough to sear the vegetables without steaming them. Each vegetable should retain crunch. 2) The sauce is light — not the thick, gloopy sauce of bad takeout. A teaspoon of cornstarch dissolved in stock, soy, and a touch of sugar produces the correct glossy-but-thin consistency. 3) Bean sprouts go in last — they need only 30 seconds of heat and lose their crunch immediately if overcooked.
Chop suey is culturally significant not for what it is (a simple stir-fry) but for what it represents: the first Chinese-American dish, the creation of a diaspora cuisine, and the beginning of America's relationship with Chinese food. Jennifer 8. Lee's *The Fortune Cookie Chronicles* documents this history with the depth it deserves.
Jennifer 8. Lee — The Fortune Cookie Chronicles; Andrew Coe — Chop Suey: A Cultural History of Chinese Food in the United States