Soup maven honoured
HADDONFIELD, N.J. The woman who created a U.S. Thanksgiving staple — the green bean casserole — has died at the age of 92.
Dorcas Reilly died on Oct. 15, and her family will celebrate her life Saturday in Haddonfield, N.J., where she lived.
Campbell Soup officials said the New Jersey resident was the driving force behind the popular dish, made with green beans and cream of mushroom soup topped with crunchy fried onions, first made when Reilly was a Campbell Soup kitchen supervisor in 1955 for an Associated Press feature.
The company said it is the most popular recipe ever to come out of its corporate kitchen in Camden, N.J.
In a 2005 AP interview marking the recipe’s 50th anniversary, Reilly didn’t remember having a hand in it. She said the dish was among hundreds she helped create including tomato soup meat loaf, a tuna noodle casserole and sloppy Joe-like “souper burgers.”