The All-American History Of Green Bean Casserole

While most American families' Thanksgiving dinner tables include turkey as the main course and pumpkin pie for dessert, green bean casserole (Casserole is different from cassoulet) is often an unsung hero during the holiday season. It appears at over 20 million Thanksgiving celebrations every year, and yet its coverage seems to be next to nothing. The dish is fairly simple, usually consisting of three main ingredients: green beans, cream of mushroom soup, and fried onions (The recipe on the Campbell's can also includes milk, soy sauce, and black pepper). However, since it's a fairly forgotten dish, its history is one that may be lost in translation.

Green bean casserole enjoyers have Dorcas Reilly to thank for this dish. She was a recipe supervisor at Campbell's who rightfully earned her title as the "Grandmother of the Green Bean Bake" after mixing up the concoction in 1955. Reilly tried adding many ingredients that didn't end up making the cut (like Worcestershire sauce and ham) before perfecting the recipe that is widely regarded as the perfect mixture for a green bean casserole.

Reilly was asked to craft a recipe for the Associated Press with ingredients that the average home cook would already have without having to visit a grocery store. She opted to create a dish that took very minimal preparation and could cook quickly in the oven for a hungry family. And as America was only a few years out of World War II, cheap recipes that used canned foods were ideal.

While the recipe for green bean casserole has stayed consistent since its official debut, the dish actually had food styling guidelines in its early years. This included the placement of the fried onions, which could not appear in the middle of the dish. However, these rules are no longer in place, which is why each casserole may look different in photos of fan-made recipes. Green bean casserole also did not start off as a dish specifically designed for Thanksgiving. However, it has certainly become one, as over 50% of Campbell's cream of mushroom soup sales happen between November and January.

In fact, the preparation of the casserole allegedly makes up for over 40% of cream of mushroom soup sales in the United States. There are also so many ways to spice up the original green bean casserole recipe, including adding some of the ingredients that didn't make the final draft — like the much-loved Worcestershire sauce, a bit of ham, or a sprinkling of peppery, grassy celery salt.

For those interested in seeing Dorcas Reilly's genius in person, the card that the inventor had written the original recipe on for the Green Bean Bake can be found in the same building as Thomas Edison's light bulb: the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Akron, Ohio. The card was donated in 2002 and can still be found there today.