The Woman Who Invented the Green Bean Casserole

[longknife]

I swear I had it during the war from my grandmother’s kitchen. I do clearly remember having it for almost every holiday meal I had after the war.


I still like it.

In 1955, Dorcas was working as a supervisor at the home economics department of a Campbell’s test kitchen in Camden, New Jersey, when she was tasked with creating a recipe for a feature that would appear in the Associated Press. The recipe had to be based on ingredients that any home cook would have on hand, including Campbell’s mushroom soup and green beans.

Dorcas, who had earned a degree in home economics from Drexel University (known then as the Drexel Institute of Technology), got to tinkering. According to Today’s Vidya Rao, she and her team initially toyed with adding celery salt and ham to the recipe, but ultimately settled on six simple, affordable ingredients that could be stirred together in a casserole dish and popped into the oven for 25 minutes. The prep time was minimal; the dish worked well with frozen or canned green beans, and the fried onions were pre-packaged.

More @ The Woman Who Invented the Green Bean Casserole | Smart News | Smithsonian

 

[Darkwind]

Ranks right up there with the tuna noodle casserole.

 

[SweetSue92]

I swear I had it during the war from my grandmother’s kitchen. I do clearly remember having it for almost every holiday meal I had after the war.


I still like it.

In 1955, Dorcas was working as a supervisor at the home economics department of a Campbell’s test kitchen in Camden, New Jersey, when she was tasked with creating a recipe for a feature that would appear in the Associated Press. The recipe had to be based on ingredients that any home cook would have on hand, including Campbell’s mushroom soup and green beans.

Dorcas, who had earned a degree in home economics from Drexel University (known then as the Drexel Institute of Technology), got to tinkering. According to Today’s Vidya Rao, she and her team initially toyed with adding celery salt and ham to the recipe, but ultimately settled on six simple, affordable ingredients that could be stirred together in a casserole dish and popped into the oven for 25 minutes. The prep time was minimal; the dish worked well with frozen or canned green beans, and the fried onions were pre-packaged.

More @ The Woman Who Invented the Green Bean Casserole | Smart News | Smithsonian

I make this once a year--for Christmas Eve Dinner. Just my little family of four. My kids--now young adults--go wild for it. It's the highlight of the meal for them. It's a quick and easy dish to heat up after our Christmas Eve service.

To me it's the classic side dish from the heartland--even though it's not really from the heartland.

 

[Windparadox]

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I'm not big into beans. Some I will not touch. (Lima & Pinto) However, I will eat some green bean casserole if it is served to me but it is not something I will make.

 

[Marion Morrison]

I swear I had it during the war from my grandmother’s kitchen. I do clearly remember having it for almost every holiday meal I had after the war.


I still like it.

In 1955, Dorcas was working as a supervisor at the home economics department of a Campbell’s test kitchen in Camden, New Jersey, when she was tasked with creating a recipe for a feature that would appear in the Associated Press. The recipe had to be based on ingredients that any home cook would have on hand, including Campbell’s mushroom soup and green beans.

Dorcas, who had earned a degree in home economics from Drexel University (known then as the Drexel Institute of Technology), got to tinkering. According to Today’s Vidya Rao, she and her team initially toyed with adding celery salt and ham to the recipe, but ultimately settled on six simple, affordable ingredients that could be stirred together in a casserole dish and popped into the oven for 25 minutes. The prep time was minimal; the dish worked well with frozen or canned green beans, and the fried onions were pre-packaged.

More @ The Woman Who Invented the Green Bean Casserole | Smart News | Smithsonian

I always wondered about that. Wtf you mean it isn't complete w/o the damn French Fried onion rings?

 

[sparky]

sure....she probably went out to view a bumper harvest in the garden and thought "wtf am I going to do with all these d*mn beans?"

~S~

 

[Marion Morrison]

It was always string beans when I was growing up. They look like anemic green beans, all shriveled and skinny.

 

[Mindful]

It was always string beans when I was growing up. They look like anemic green beans, all shriveled and skinny.

Can we get into definitions here? Because what might be string beans to you, might not be to me.

 

[Mindful]

Marion; I grew up on these.

My parents grew them in the back garden.

 

[longknife]

I swear I had it during the war from my grandmother’s kitchen. I do clearly remember having it for almost every holiday meal I had after the war.


I still like it.

In 1955, Dorcas was working as a supervisor at the home economics department of a Campbell’s test kitchen in Camden, New Jersey, when she was tasked with creating a recipe for a feature that would appear in the Associated Press. The recipe had to be based on ingredients that any home cook would have on hand, including Campbell’s mushroom soup and green beans.

Dorcas, who had earned a degree in home economics from Drexel University (known then as the Drexel Institute of Technology), got to tinkering. According to Today’s Vidya Rao, she and her team initially toyed with adding celery salt and ham to the recipe, but ultimately settled on six simple, affordable ingredients that could be stirred together in a casserole dish and popped into the oven for 25 minutes. The prep time was minimal; the dish worked well with frozen or canned green beans, and the fried onions were pre-packaged.

More @ The Woman Who Invented the Green Bean Casserole | Smart News | Smithsonian

I always wondered about that. Wtf you mean it isn't complete w/o the damn French Fried onion rings?

Of course it isn't. The French Fried onion rings make it the best!