I know at one time or another we have all had a casserole (or something) made with the old standard "Cream of Mushroom/chicken/you name it" soup. Apparently it is now considered culinary bad taste (no pun intended) to take such shortcuts, but I'll freely admit that I'm not above it. To that end, I recently noticed some new additions to the standard Cream of Whatever lineup, and added these to my grocery order: Not sure what I will create with these, but I'm thinking with enough cheese, noodles, leftover bits of meat, that they might be worth trying. I'll report back once I have used them. If you have a favorite "Cream of" recipe, please do share.
@Beth Gallagher I've always like substituting Cream of Celery for the other two stand-bys, like the taste, less fat. Now, however, my wife brings "cost"into the equation........."Off-brand" soups at places like Dollar Tree lack the "tangy taste" found in Campbells. Frank
I totally agree that as canned soups go, the knock-off store brands are usually not up to the same quality taste-wise as Campbells. My sister likes to buy the Dollar Store stuff and then she complains that recipes "don't taste right." These two I bought to try are HEB store brand, but only because they weren't available in Campbell's. If they suck I'm not out much money.
I have always avoided the "Cream of" stuff. Cream of stuff takes milk and I seldom wanted to add milk to anything but breakfast ceral. Of course I never knew how to cook or what went with what or how to prepare it so I may be wrong.
I never add milk to canned creamed soup. Always water. Less water than called for makes it thicker. I eat it loaded with crackers anyway, so it doesn't matter much. Used to like Campbell's cream of mushroom soup, but several years (maybe decades) ago, they changed it. It became snow white and starchy, like they added a lot of tasteless flour.
Seems like a lot of things don't taste as good as they used to. Not sure if the manufacturers have changed so much or if my taste buds are just old and tired. I used to really love Snow's Clam Chowder, but it really does not taste the same as I remember. Hmmm, I just googled it and now it is called "Bumble Bee" with Snow's in fine print.
@Beth Gallagher I had an aunt who worked much of her lifetime at Campbell's Soup company in Chicago. She steadfastly refused to eat, keep, or serve (she served the entire family on holiday get-togethers, doing much of the cooking herself) ANY Campbell's Soup Co. product, even down to the canned spaghetti my mother made for me school day lunches. My aunt told of having seen horrible acts of employee maliciousness including rats...........'nuff said. Nonetheless, I totally agree the less-popular brands of cream soups make inferior-tasting sauces. Frank
Now, I'm just the opposite. I will never have tomato soup made with water. *shivers* But I do agree that I add about half the liquid they call for.
I'm sure there are similar stories from any food-packing plant/industry, Frank. My mother hated eating in restaurants because she couldn't see how clean the kitchen was. All of our kids worked in various fast food places when they were in college, and I didn't want to hear their stories. Ignorance really is bliss.
That's exactly what the factory story brought to mind for me. My older brother worked at Roy Rogers. It was next to a creek. That's all I'm gonna say.
By the time the wrapped sandwich makes its way to your bag, the dirty deed has been done. It's all a matter of chance. I'd worry more about the made-to-order places. I bet there's less oversight there.
@Beth Gallagher While we were still living in the Phoenix area, the newspaper printed a story of a cop who ordered a sandwich at our neighborhood Arby's, SAW the young man in the back SPIT, presumably on the sandwich. The young kid was charged with "endangering the life of a police officer!". Frank
I had a friend who's brother worked for the government and he said don't buy any canned goods unless from a name brand because at that time those people were the only ones who had any inspectors to enforce fed requirements. Another friend, long since gonem would not eat in any restaurant unless they gave a tour of the kitchen first. No tour no eat.