Casserole

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Casserole

A casserole, from the French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
for "saucepan," is a large, deep pot or dish used both in the oven

Oven

An oven is an enclosed compartment for heating, baking or drying. It is most commonly used in cooking and pottery. Ovens used in pottery are also known as kilns....
and as a serving dish. The word casserole is also used for the food cooked and served in such a dish. Casseroles originate from the ancient practice of stewing meat slowly in earthenware

Earthenware

Earthenware is a common ceramic material, which is used extensively for pottery tableware and decorative objects. Although body formulations vary tremendously between countries, and even between individual makers, a generic composition is 25% ball clay, 28% kaolin, 32% quartz, and 15% feldspar....
containers. Types of casserole include ragout

Ragout

The term ragout can refer either to a main-dish stew or to a sauce for noodles or other starch foods. The basic method of preparation involves slow cooking over a low heat....
, hotpot

Lancashire Hotpot

Lancashire hotpot is a culinary dish consisting essentially of Lamb and mutton, onion and potatoes left to bake in the oven all day in a heavy pot and on a low heat....
, cassoulet

Cassoulet

Cassoulet is a rich, slow-cooked bean stew or casserole originating in the south of France, containing meat , pork skin and white Common beans....
and carbonnade. A distinction may be made between casseroles and stew

Stew

A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been cooked in liquid and served in the resultant gravy.Ingredients in a stew can include any combination of vegetables , meat, poultry, sausages and seafood....
s: stewing is a cooking process whereby heat is applied to the bottom of the cooking vessel (typically over a fire or on a hob), whereas casseroling is done in an oven where heat circulates all round the cooking vessel.

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Encyclopedia

A casserole, from the French

French language

Oven

Earthenware

Ragout

The term ragout can refer either to a main-dish stew or to a sauce for noodles or other starch foods. The basic method of preparation involves slow cooking over a low heat....
, hotpot

Lancashire Hotpot

Lancashire hotpot is a culinary dish consisting essentially of Lamb and mutton, onion and potatoes left to bake in the oven all day in a heavy pot and on a low heat....
, cassoulet

Cassoulet

Stew

Braising

File:Potroast.JPG#fileBraising , is a combination cooking method using both moist and dry heat; typically the food is first seared at a high temperature and then finished in a covered pot with a variable amount of liquid, resulting in a particular flavour....
is similar to casseroling except that the pieces of meat or vegetable are larger and cooked in a smaller quantity of liquid. Casseroles tend to be thicker than soup

Soup

Soup is a food that is made by combining ingredients such as meat and vegetables in Stock or hot/boiling water, until the flavor is extracted, forming a broth....
. However the choice of name is largely a matter of custom; it is possible for the same dish to be described as soup, stew, and casserole.

Early 18th century casserole recipes consisted of rice

Rice

Filling (cooking)

Filling is a food mixture used to fill pastry, sandwiches and some other types of dishes, a process referred to as stuffing....
. Casseroles are cooked in Europe

Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
and Canada and the United States, and are found in other forms in many other culture

Culture

Culture is difficult to define. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions....
s around the world. The culinary term en casserole (also from French) means 'served in the vessel used for cooking'.

Casseroles usually consist of one or two meats or vegetables as the main ingredients. Liquid in the form of stock, alcohol (in the form of wine

Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage often made of fermentation grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes or other nutrients....
; for example coq au vin
Coq au vin

Coq au vin is a France fricassee of rooster cooked with wine, lardons, Edible mushroomss, and optionally garlic. Older roosters are traditionally used because they contain a lot of connective tissue, which creates a richer broth when cooked....
or beef Bourguignon
Beef Bourguignon

Beef Bourguignon is a well-known, traditional French cuisine. It is essentially a stew prepared with beef braised in red wine and beef broth, generally flavoured with garlic, onions, carrots, and a bouquet garni, and garnished with pearl onions and mushrooms....
), beer

Beer

Beer is the world's oldest and most widely consumed alcoholic beverage and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and Fermentation of starches, mainly derived from cereal?the most common of which is malted barley, although wheat, maize , and rice are widely used....
(for example lapin à la Gueuze
Gueuze

Gueuze is a type of lambic beer. It is made by blending young and old lambics into a new beer, which is then bottled for a second Fermentation ....
, gin, or cider

Cider

Cider is an alcoholic beverage usually made from the fermentation juice of apples, although pears are also used.While any variety of apple may be used, certain cultivars are preferred in some regions, and these may be known as cider apples....
) or vegetable juices is added. Further liquids are released from the meat and vegetables during cooking. Binders such as pasta

Pasta

Pasta is a generic term for Italian cuisine variants of noodles, food made from a dough of flour, water and/or Egg , that is Boiling. The word can also denote dishes in which pasta products are the primary ingredient, served with sauce or seasonings....
, potato

Potato

The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial plant Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family. The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well....
, rice

Rice

Rice is a staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in tropical Latin America, and East Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia, making it the second-most consumed cereal grain, after maize....
or other grains are added to thicken the sauce. It is cooked slowly and may be served as a main course or a side dish. It contains an extender, binder and protein with usually a bread crumble topping.

Meat is usually precooked or browned

Browning (partial cooking)

Browning is the process of partially cooking meat to help remove excessive fat and to give the meat a brown color and flavor via the Maillard reaction....
before placed in the casserole.

Use of term in the US and Canada

A characteristic method of preparing casserole in the United States and Canada is to use condensed soup, especially cream of mushroom soup

Cream of mushroom soup

Cream of mushroom soup is a common type of canned soup. The Campbell Soup Company began producing "Cream of Mushroom Soup" in 1934, the same year that it introduced "Chicken with Noodles"....
. Examples for casseroles that can be prepared in this manner are tuna casserole

Tuna casserole

Tuna casserole is a casserole mainly composed of egg noodles and canned tuna fish. The casseroles is often topped with potato chips or canned fried onions....
(with canned tuna, cooked noodles, sometimes peas, and cream-of-mushroom soup) and green bean casserole
Green bean casserole

Green bean casserole is a casserole consisting of Green Bean, Tin canned Cream of mushroom soup and fried onions. The recipe may also call for ground black pepper and/or soy sauce....
(green bean

Green bean

Green beans , French beans or runner beans , also called squeaky beans, are the unripe fruit of any kind of bean, including the yardlong bean, the hyacinth bean, the winged bean, and especially the common bean , whose pods are also usually called string beans in the northeastern United States, but can also go by snap b...
s with cream of mushroom soup, topped with french fried onion

Onion

Onion is a term used for many plants in the genus Allium. They are known by the common name "onion" but, used without qualifiers, it usually refers to Allium cepa....
s). A similar staple food, macaroni and cheese

Macaroni and cheese

Macaroni and cheese was created to be a common casserole, similar to the British dish cauliflower cheese. The main ingredients of macaroni and cheese are cooked macaroni and a cheese sauce, usually made from cheddar cheese....
, can also be prepared as a casserole.

Casseroles are a staple at potlucks and family gatherings.

Hotdish

Hotdish

Hotdish is any of a variety of baked casserole popular in the Midwestern United States, and especially in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and western Wisconsin....
is a US

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
Midwestern (and particularly Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States of the United States. The twelfth largest state by area in the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with just over five million residents....
n) term for a casserole; it is one of the quintessential foods of that region. That is legacy of the Scandinavia

Scandinavia

Scandinavia is a historical and geographical subregion in northern Europe that includes the Scandinavian Peninsula. It consists of the kingdoms of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark; some authorities also include Finland and some might even include Iceland....
n immigrants of the area; the potato casserole Janssons frestelse

Janssons frestelse

Janssons frestelse is a traditional Sweden casserole made of potatoes, onion, pickled sprats, bread crumbs and cream.The potatoes are grated and layered in a roasting tin, alternating with the sprats and chopped onions in between....
and Flying Jacob

Flying Jacob

Flying Jacob is a Swedish casserole based on chicken with bananas, peanuts and bacon and cooked in the oven. The dish was invented by Ove Jacobsson who worked in the air freight industry, hence the name....
being a popular dish in some Nordic countries like Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic countries on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden has land borders with Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, and it is connected to Denmark by the ?resund Bridge in the south....
and Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland , is a Nordic countries situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland....
.

Casserole

Use of term in the US and Canada

See also

External links