I once heard someone defend middle-class casseroles, saying Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup was just pre-made Bechamel sauce.
I thought of that last night when I made a fancy version of Pork Chops in Cream of Mushroom soup.
I skimmed the recipe I found online.
I assembled my ingredients: pork chops, spices, portobello mushrooms, lah lah, and on and on, and of course Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup.
I was about a half hour deep into making this when I read that I should set the soup aside. Why? It was there by the sink, still in its can.
To my horror I discovered that the sauce I’d stirred for ten minutes was a from-scratch version of Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup, not an augmentation to the recipe I grew up on.
Verdict: I am looking forward to another serving, and I don’t remember doing that with the Campbell’s version. However, it took 45 minutes to make instead of five.
2 responses to “White Sauce”
The stuff in the can is such creamy, mushroomy, junk-food-y goodness. and fast! But yes, from-scratch is different. (and sometimes definitely better, although a lot of canned-soup recipes also take other shortcuts [like not browning the meat] that also affect the final product)
KC – For this pork chop meal, I would rather have the time. I can brown my own meat before any casserole.