What does Joy of Cooking mean by "canned spaghetti"? My sister was browsing through her Joy of Cooking (the 1975 edition, her copy printed November 1983) and found several recipes that call for things like "1 can spaghetti: 24 oz." or "2 1/2 cups canned spaghetti". We can't for the life of us figure out what this means.

For example, here's a recipe for "Quick Spaghetti Meat Pie" (page 217):


  4 servings
  Preheat oven to 375&deg;
  Sauté lightly:
  &nbsp;  2 cups cubed or ground cooked meat
  &nbsp; 2 teaspoons grated onion
  in:
  &nbsp; 2 tablespoons butter
  Add:
  &nbsp; 1/4 cup cream
  Season it with:
  &nbsp; Salt and pepper
  &nbsp; (1/2 teaspoon basil)
  Place in a greased baking dish:
  &nbsp; 1 can spaghetti: 24 oz.
  Make a depression in the center. Place the meat in it. Sprinkle the top with:
  &nbsp; Au Gratin III, 553
  Bake about 25 minutes.


When we ask our friend Mr. Google to show us what "canned spaghetti" looks like, he shows us pictures of spaghetti sauce. Is "canned spaghetti" something that (thankfully) died out sometime in the intervening 40 years since this recipe was written?
Canned spaghetti unfortunately is still something that can be bought at supermarkets. A common brand for canned pasta is Chef Boyardee. They have ravioli, spaghetti and sometimes even canned meatballs inside the spaghetti. 



These spaghetti will have a very very soft texture similar to what you would expect the spaghetti texture to be if you overcook it by at least 10 minutes.