Yum yum!

You might like that better with a large can (or two smaller cans) of crushed tomatoes instead of tomato soup. Add a little garlic, a pinch or two of herbs and seasonings you like (or Italian Seasoning) and carry on as described.

But Elmer, that would totally change the flavor that calls out to her!

“P.S. - I slipped up.”

schoolhouse, I understand! My mom used to make something my husband still occasionally requests…basically ground beef, onion, garlic, Kraft Mac ’n Cheese (yes, the blue box - made as directed) and a can of Campbell’s Golden Mushroom Soup all combined in a baking dish and topped with sharp cheddar for the oven. It can make me slip up, too.😉

Johnny Mac (aka Johnny Marzetti, More, Tallerini, goulash, etc.) is NOT an Italian casserole so why try to manipulate it into one unnecessarily? It will completely change the flavor, texture and appearance of the end result and not at all "make it better". Just different.

As with the name, the variations on the recipe are almost endless although all follow a very similar basic framework - pasta/noodles, ground meat, cheese and soup.

A variation of this dish is probably my favorite meal from childhood and still is. Yes, it IS pure comfort!

My mother called it "slumgullion" (spelling debatable. ) One of my favorites as a kid, but I dare not make it now. I'd slip up.

My mom knew it as Johnny Marzetti and she kept the recipe a secret! So I never knew what all was in it but I didn't need to know. lol Great comfort food!!

The concoction is unfamililar to me and the name schoolhouse used didn't trigger a connection. I've never used canned soup as a cooking ingredient and I personally don't find doing so to be an appealing approach.

I'll stick with the suggestion to try adding a can of good tomatoes instead of using soup. Even if keeping the rest of it the same and skipping the added herbs and flavorings, the substitution should produce a better tasting result. But maybe one that's different to the flavor of the traditional version.

It's an interesting idea to add uncooked pasta to the sauce and then cooking it while it simmers. The starch the pasta will give off as it cooks will thicken the sauce.

I used eat something like this when living with my parents. My mother used to make ”American Chop Suey.” Similar. Different households had different renditions. sometimes it got called goulash. DH doesn’t recall any chunks of tomato, but I do. I think my mom used canned diced tomato, and his mother likely used tomato soup. I think my mom used green bell pepper (not sure). DH says he never saw any.

Hamburger (ground beef), onion, maybe garlic powder (Some parts of New England did not see fresh garlic or fresh mushroom at the market until the late 1960s). Elbow macaroni, salt, pepper, maybe some dried parsley flakes, maybe dried oregano, maybe some other dried herb. I liked it!

Link American Chop Suey https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_chop_suey

Link goulash: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_goulash

From Wikipedia:

“Though this comfort food is influenced by Italian-American cuisine, as well as older New England quick and practical meals like the "potato bargain" and "necessity mess", it is known as "American chop suey" both because it is a sometimes-haphazard hodgepodge of meat, vegetables and Italian seasonings,[6] and because it once used rice, a staple ingredient in Chinese cuisine, instead of pasta.[4]”

Every household had its own version. It was one of those quickly put together, quasi economical dishes.

Slumgullion is an actual word. That's exactly what my grandfather called that concoction above, that is calling my name now. That's a good looking comfort food!

If this dish is unfamilar to you, Elmer, then you obviously have not tasted it as intended. If that is the case, then you cannot possibly make the assumption that your doctoring it up the way YOU think it should be is going to make it taste "better". I assure you it does not. Do not assume your preferences are shared by everyone (or even anyone) else. They are not!

Elmer wrote:

It's an interesting idea to add uncooked pasta to the sauce and then cooking it while it simmers. The starch the pasta will give off as it cooks will thicken the sauce.

That reminds me — Over the past year when I have craved clam spaghetti (pasta al vongole), I have save the clam broth* and used it when cooking the pasta. *Steamers only want a little bit of salted water because the clams give off water. I usuallly freeze the resulting clam broth (filtered to remove any sand or gritty sediment. That clam broth is ”gold!”

Looks good, schoolhouse. Any left? Did you make it from memory?

Look! Wikipedia! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Marzetti

it was/is popular in the Panama Canal Zone.

A friend gave me his recipe for a ”Fish Dish” that used a can of Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup.

It went something like this:

9” square Pyrex like pan (possibly larger)

light coat of butter in bottom of pan

Whitefish like flounder or haddock (skin removed)

Mushrooms — sliced fresh button

Maybe something else? Maybe a spash of ex dry sherry? salt, pepper.*

Cover w a can of condensed cream of mushroom soup.

Probably into a 300 or 350 deg F oven for a while until fish is cooked. I’ll guess ? 35 or 40 minutes.

Really good served with rice. Maybe a side like green beans or peas. It was good leftover.

* It might have had a bit of Worcestershire sauce, but I don’t think so.

Never heard of Johnny Marzetti, but this wouldn't be comfort food for me...Mac and cheese would, though. I haven't had ground beef in over 40 years, so my stomach would do cartwheels.

My aunt's 'slumgullion' was ring bologna sauteed with onions and potatoes 🙂

'Jonny Mac' reminds me of something I made several times years ago - a sort of Americana lasagna, pretty tasty, and instead of tomato sauce, I used this:

I lost the recipe - if I ever had one. I seem to recall I based it on a recipe very similar to the OP, but I don't think it was called Johnny Mac or Marzetti.

I had a roommate that cooked something like this once. It really hit home how much what you are raised with can inform comfort. It was not my thing.

My comfort food is my mom's bread pudding. Yes, I'll eat it for dinner. Or noodle kugel.

I was a very picky eater when I was a child. My mom made me creamed tuna on toast or on crispy chow mein noodles. I now have that sometimes when getting over a flu. Another comfort food was soft boiled eggs on toast.