I confess. I have two recipes that I like to make that call for canned soup:
One is a recipe for Max and Erma’s Chicken tortilla soup that I got off line. It is not remotely like a chicken tortilla soup that I have had in Mexico, but by soup standards, it’s pretty darned tasty.
Second recipe is a spaghetti sauce- ground beef, celery, onions, canned tomato and mushroom soups etc. Not like a tomato sauce for pasta, not like a Bolognese but again, tasty comfort food. I think the recipe was my mother’s mother’s , so we’re talking circa 1950. I ate it as a kid and loved it. Like it as an adult and my husband loves it. Certainly not a mind blowing dish by any means.
I realize canned soups aren’t the healthiest. I really don’t eat them on their own although still have a soft spot for canned Campbell’s cream of mushroom.
Some people regard it as next to criminal to use a can of soup in anything but I am no snob. Anybody else got any canned soup gems out there?
One of my long-lost cookbooks was called something along the lines of, “Best Loved Recipes from the Backs of Boxes, Bottles, Cans, and Jars” - reminded me of my mother’s cooking, in a good way.
I do keep Cream of Mushroom (Campbell’s) in the pantry - stir it into veggie pot pies, etc.
One of my favorite childhood meals was Mom’s Curried Tuna - served over rice or toast. Golden Mushroom soup (I think it’s been discontinued), canned tuna, cheap/generic curry powder, and milk. Warm, filling, and very exotic tasting, especially for a kid growing up in a rural town with a population of 106.
I seem to recall a recipe for chicken enchiladas that involved Cream of Mushroom in the sauce, too.
I’ve also made a spice cake that contained canned tomato soup - I recall it being moist and thought it decadent due to the thick cream cheese frosting.
I use a can of condensed cream of tomato soup in my wholly inauthentic tortilla but totally delicious soup recipe. Thanks for the reminder…it’s going on next week’s menu
One of my most favorite dishes as a kid was a chicken and rice and cream of mushroom soup baked dish mom made. The recipe probably came off the can, she was always a fan of the recipes printed on the ingredients. Always in the big pyrex rectangle. I want to say the rice was raw going in, and then the chicken (thighs?) sat on top. Probably a once a week or so thing we all loved it and plus a salad dinner was done.
Once i became vegetarian (very young) she would bake me rice with the soup gravy stuff seperate from the chicken with tofu instead. Still good stuff.
Now that dairy hates me i make my own creamy dairy free mushroom gravy and have over a bowl of white rice to revive those fond memories but it’s just not quite the same…
My mother used to brown skin-on chicken parts along with onion then add a can of cream-o-mush. I think that’s all there was. It made a greasy gravy and I loved it despite the rubbery skin that resulted. I made it once a while back, without the skin, but it was too salty. I have been using very little salt for decades now, but I do use a dollop of cream-o-mush when making gravy for meat loaf. There’s always the remains of a can in the freezer.
Nice post. I almost forget this can of soup. Mine is also cream of mushroom from Campbell for my childhood. Actually, as a kid, I liked it so much was eating it directly from the can, without cooking or adding water. I don’t think I can find Campbell soup easily now in Paris, and now that I know how to make the mushroom creamy soup…
I must confess to having never heard of Max & Erma’s but there’s a boatload of recipes for several of their soups.
I used to use Tortilla soup to judge new Mexico places since almost everyplace has a version.
edit: That is one weird mix of menu items. I can see why they have had troubles.
Some of my favorite recipes of Mom’s involved “Cream of…” soups. She invariably thinned them with some sherry, so they always seemed elegant to my untrained palate Cream of chicken over cornbread and cream of shrimp over rice, plus tuna casserole with cream of mushroom. She had a LOT of mouths to feed and not much time, but we didn’t starve.
Cream of chicken over cornbread and cream of shrimp over rice, plus tuna casserole with cream of mushroom. She had a LOT of mouths to feed and not much time, but we didn’t starve.