Before every food company converted their frozen meals to be microwaveable; the containers were aluminum and the plastic or cardboard covers needed to be removed first before heating. One of my very favorites was Stouffer's "Escalloped Chicken and Noodles"; chunks of white meat chicken, veggies and egg noodles in a luscious, creamy sauce. Alas, Stouffer's went the microwave route also; the containers became thin plastic with plastic wrap covers that stayed on, and the food stuck to. Not only that, the portions became smaller, but the prices almost doubled, and by now they have tripled. What the heck is that all about!?!
I decided I'd had enough of this nonsense, and set upon making a copycat version of my own. I purchased one more entree, heated it up and then analyzed it...the taste, textures, smell, what ingredients I could readily see or taste. I'm sure if I was a scientist in a lab, I could have come up with an almost perfect copycat recipe; but I'm not and I'm still happy with the end result.
Using canned creamed soups saved me the trouble of using heavy cream which could break in a sauce if not cooked properly. Adding chicken broth provided extra moisture for the egg noodles, so they did not harden up during the baking process. I used fresh onion, red bell pepper and mushrooms, so their flavors are prominent in the dish now instead of just hinted at.
After making the recipe, and being very satisfied with the result, it was then that I took a look at the ingredient list on the box. I wanted to see how close I was in my taste, texture and smell assessments. Hmm, strange, but red bell peppers were not listed, but in the microwave entrée, I could see the tiny slivers of red. There were also tiny bits of green, so I presumed that was celery diced to microscopic bits. But no, what I took for peppers were “2% or less of carrots”, peas were listed, but where they were was a mystery to me.
Throughout the years of buying the boxed product, the predominant ingredients were “noodles, chicken, slivers of red, bits of green, loads of chopped mushrooms, toasted topping, and a very lickable creamy sauce. But the box ingredient list states I am totally wrong, “Tender white meat chicken, freshly made fettuccini noodles, mushrooms, peas, celery, and carrots in a creamy sauce.”. Listen, I know what I was eating, I saw what I was eating, tasted and smelled it, and the photo on the box did not show peas and carrots; not like it does nowadays.
Asking a question at the Stouffer’s site got me this result, “No, Stouffer’s did not use red bell peppers in the Escalloped Chicken and Noodles. If you recall eating Stouffer's Escalloped Chicken and Noodles with red bell peppers, it's possible you are remembering a limited edition or regional version of the recipe.”.
Now I do not believe in coincidence, but right after this, Roy came in and started to ask me questions in the line of, “Do you remember this food having this name?”, or “Do you remember this food having this ingredient?” Depending on the item, I could give a definite “yes”, “no”, or “never tried it, so don’t know”, and that’s when he began to explain “The Mandela Effect”.
The Mandela Effect is a phenomenon where a large group of people collectively misremembers an event or detail. The term was coined by Fiona Broome after she discovered many people shared her false memory that Nelson Mandela died in prison in the 1980s, when he actually passed away in 2013, and had been a freed man since 1990.
This principal is explained in two ways:
Collective false memory: It's a situation where many people share the same incorrect memory about something, such as an event, a phrase, or an image.
Psychological phenomenon: Psychologists explain the Mandela Effect as a demonstration of how imperfect and suggestible human memory can be. Memories can change over time and be influenced by external information.
When it comes to food, here are two perfect examples:
1 - Jif peanut butter was never called Jiffy; it has always been Jif since it was founded in 1958.
The name Jiffy may have been confused with the brand due to a tagline referring to making a sandwich "in a jiffy”; or by mixing the name with Skippy, another popular peanut butter brand.
2 - Oscar Mayer: This brand is sometimes recalled as "Oscar Meyer". This commercial jingle debuted in 1974.
"My Bologna has a first name,
It's O-S-C-A-R.
My bologna has a second name,
It's M-A-Y-E-R.
Oh, I love to eat it every day,
And if you ask me why I'll say,
Cause' Oscar Mayer has a way with B-O-L-O-G-N-A!!!!"
Previously, "The Wiener Song" debuted in 1962, but the lyrics only said the name, and did not spell it out as it was sung.
"Oh, I wish I were an Oscar Mayer Wiener,
That is what I'd truly like to be-ee-ee.
Cause if I were an Oscar Mayer Wiener,
Everyone would be in love with me."
With this information, now I had to wonder if my memory of a favorite frozen dish was actually false, or just mixed up with another item I used to eat often.
So back to Escalloped Chicken and Noodles, and the development of the recipe during the Depression Era. It became such an easy, and cheap in cost, recipe to make; with its popularity escalating once Stouffer’s began to sell prepackaged meals in the frozen food section of local markets and supermarkets.
Here is my version of this dish, sans the peas and carrots, but if you want to try the recipe, and add them (1 and ½ cups frozen peas and carrots mix, thawed), be my guest.
Escalloped Chicken and Noodles
Ingredients:
4 Tbsp. butter
1 cup sliced mushrooms
½ cup diced onion
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| Chicken Breasts are boiled in salted water. |
4 Tbsp. flour
4 cups cooked and shredded white meat chicken
½ tsp. ground black pepper
1 (14.5 oz.) can chicken broth
1 (10.5 oz.) can cream of chicken soup
1 (10.5 oz.) can cream of celery soup
1 (8 oz.) package medium width egg noodles, cooked
1/2 cup plain, fine bread crumbs
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 F. and spray a 3-quart casserole dish with nonstick spray.
In 10-inch skillet, medium-high heat, melt butter and sauté mushrooms, onion and red bell pepper until softened, but not browned; add flour and mix well.
In large mixing bowl, combine sautéed vegetables, chicken, pepper, broth, creamed soups and noodles.
Spread mixture into casserole dish; sprinkle bread crumbs on top. Bake 30-35 minutes; until sauce is bubbling and bread crumbs are golden brown.
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| Sprinkle bread crumbs over all. |
Makes 8 servings.
Remembering something from the past, and you are positive, but facts say otherwise, maybe you are experiencing The Mandela Effect.
Mary Cokenour
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