AN UPDATED HISTORY OF THE GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE. One of the charms of the green bean casserole is that—while most recipes go back in time a long way in folk memory or else have been devised by professional chefs at fancy restaurants—the green bean casserole has a history and an inventor. And the inventor did it on assignment for an American corporation in 1955.
I quoted Mary Jane in this post at Thanksgiving time in 2009 that the inventor should be celebrated for her achievement. An article in the Wall Street Journal (November 17-18, 2018) by F K Plous does celebrate her. Her name was Dorcas Reilly, and she worked for Campbell’s Soup Company. She was asked by the company to develop a recipe using a Campbell’s product as a key ingredient.
She was successful. Plous says that today 40% of Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup goes into green bean casseroles.