Why does "casserole" = "cheese?"

[MKSquared]

I'm so frustrated.

I admit it, I like casseroles. They're homey, they're nice for winter, good for leftovers, and let me clean the kitchen while they bake. I've got 6 pounds of gound beef in my freezer, courtesy of DBF who gave me a good share of a slaughtered cow. (I started with 10, but used 4 pounds to do cornish pasties and chili.)

Is there a casserole that uses beef, but not a roux, cheese, or cream-of-something soup? Maybe it's time to look into stuffed cabbage or zucchini ... are those cheesey?

[tbb113]

I'll look at my Jewish Holiday Cookbook at home and see if I can find anything. Check out kosher sites since you can't mix meat and dairy if you keep kosher :)

[dorothyntototoo]

MOO! I bet if you look in Webster's for the word "casserole" it will say "made with cheese and Campbell's Cream of *** soup..." ;)

Why not make a meatloaf, spaghetti or stuffed peppers instead?

[rosen]

CL Superfast Salisbury Steaks! We have this is regular rotation. The recipe calls for part ground turkey & part ground beef. I have made it w/ all GT & I suppose it would work w/ all GB. It's the sauce that is so great about this! The technique makes the ground meat sooooo tender.

Here is how I have altered the original recipe (found on the CL recipe finder):
Sub 1 can low sodium (like Swanson) beef broth for the french onion soup.
Brown sliced onions/garlic & add to the sauce mixture. The extra liquid of the larger can of broth does not alter the end result if you let it boil & thicken a little longer.
Sub all turkey if I don't have any Ground beef (only DH eats GB--so I don't always have it on hand)

These are fantactic leftovers even if there isn't enough sauce. They zap so tender & juicy!

[bobmark226]

I'd probably first take about half of that and make a basic taco mix out of it to be used for tacos, enchiladas, or even Tex-Mex Sloppy Joes, then take another pound or two and make a good ground beef spaghetti sauce for a couple more meals. Whatever is left over, a batch of CL's mini-meatloave would be great, and would totally cure my ground beef craving for at least a month. :)

Bob

[Clover]

You could make chili. And this isn't really a casserole, but these meatballs that lsdesign posted once are good:

BRAISED MEATBALLS IN RED-WINE GRAVY

1 6-ounce piece day-old French bread (generous 1/3 of 16-ounce loaf), crust left on, bread cut into 8 pieces
1 cup whole milk
1 3/4 pounds ground beef (7% to 15% fat)
2 large eggs
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried summer savory

All purpose flour

2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
2 cups dry red wine
1/4 cup tomato paste
3 cups canned beef broth

Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine bread pieces and whole milk in medium bowl, pressing on bread to submerge; let stand until milk is absorbed, about 10 minutes. Squeeze out most of milk from bread; discard milk. Place bread in large bowl. Add ground beef, eggs, finely chopped onion, 1/2 cup chopped Italian parsley, salt, pepper, and dried summer savory and mix well. Transfer meat mixture to processor. Process until well blended and mixture looks pasty. Form mixture into 1 3/4-inch-diameter meatballs (about 30). Divide meatballs between two 13x9x2-inch glass baking dishes. Bake meatballs 30 minutes. Set meatballs aside.

Dust meatballs with flour; shake off excess. Melt butter with oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Working in batches, add meatballs to skillet and sauté until brown on all sides, about 3 minutes. Return all meatballs to skillet. Whisk wine and tomato paste in small bowl to blend. Add wine mixture to meatballs and bring to boil. Continue boiling until wine thickens slightly, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes. Add broth, reduce heat to medium and simmer until flavors blend and gravy thickens, stirring frequently, about 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer meatballs and gravy to bowl. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon parsley and serve.

Makes 6 servings.

Bon Appétit
February 2001

CLBB-posted by lsdesign

[badunnin]

Casserole = cheese because *normal* people believe cheese to be a gift from the gods. ;)

[fci5767]

Casserole = cheese because *normal* people believe cheese to be a gift from the gods. ;)

This would be a good BB quote for the magazine :D.

[mbrogier]

I think Casserole is another English bastardation of the French language. Casserole is actually Cassoulet. Beans, meat, cheese. You know the French, they're the ones that mainstreamed cheese with lots of help from the Italians. :D Then these dishes came to America where the fell into the hands of the Southerners, AKA Paula Deen's ancestors, who added lots of fats, more cheese and rejoiced in the day that Campbells opened their doors. I'm surprised that isn't a Southern Holiday. :D

I've seen cookbooks for one pot dishes. I think that's what you may be looking for.

[CompassRose]

Shepherd's pie? That's a casserole, it's got beef, and no cheese (unless you sprinkle some on top of the potatoes). (Yeah, I know with beef it's technically not a "shepherd's" pie. Dairydude's pie.)

I didn't remember cassoulets having cheese in them. I thought they were just beans and sausage or something. But I've never had (or made) cassoulet, though I've been tempted by the vegan one in Crescent Dragonwagon.

[Canice]

Thanks, M, for "A Brief History of the Casserole"! :p That was very funny!

I think CompassRose is right about the cookbooks; I've got to run in a minute but will haul out "Cover and Bake" and "The Big Book of Casseroles" and see what we get. Oh, and the reason cheese=casserole is because cheese also = "glue"!

[MKSquared]

Oh, and the reason cheese=casserole is because cheese also = "glue"!

And yet, you all eat it. :D

Thanks, everyone, for the suggestions. I'm chili-ed out, but I tend to forget about meatloaf and would have never thought of Salisbury steak. So, shepherd/dairydude's pie can be made with ground meat? I thought it had chunks, instead. I think that the (English) DBF would be content noshing on some of that. :)

Can a Catholic keep kosher? ;) That's an awfully good idea, though, since it's the milk and stuff I'd like to avoid.

[MKSquared]

You could make chili. And this isn't really a casserole, but these meatballs that lsdesign posted once are good:

BRAISED MEATBALLS IN RED-WINE GRAVY
...Transfer meat mixture to processor. Process until well blended and mixture looks pasty. ...
...Makes 6 servings.


This is looking yummy, but two questions.
1) I don't have a food processor, but I do have a KA mixer, an immersion blender, a regular blender, and two hands that aren't afraid to get messy. Which would you use instead?
2) Freezeable, you think?

[MKSquared]

Tacos. Duh. Thanks, Bob. Sometimes, even the easiest things escape me. That sounds pretty good, actually.

[Aubergine]

I think Casserole is another English bastardation of the French language. Casserole is actually Cassoulet. Beans, meat, cheese. You know the French, they're the ones that mainstreamed cheese with lots of help from the Italians. :D Then these dishes came to America where the fell into the hands of the Southerners, AKA Paula Deen's ancestors, who added lots of fats, more cheese and rejoiced in the day that Campbells opened their doors. I'm surprised that isn't a Southern Holiday. :D

sorry to differ, but this is so off the mark that it actually offends me totally. wrong, wrong, and wrong. moreover, why would you have an axe to grind w/ Paula Deen and also Campbell's -- two more disparate partners i have never seen paired. she is hardly a shill for them.

i know something about the etymology of "casserole." more to the point, clearly you've never eaten cassoulet, esp. in france. fwiw, the word, which also has, reasonably enough, germanic influence, as does the dish to whiich you refer, applies to the to the particular configuration of the cooking vessel itself, which included a lid, regardless of what is cooked within it. i have this on some good authority, or else i would not have posted this.

i'm more than willing to be wrong, so please correct me. moreover, i'd like to hear your explication of the italian/french cheese thing you cite.

always eager to learn something,
suz

[tbb113]

Here are the recipe titles. If any if the strike your fancy, I can type them up for you

Baked kibbeh (bulgur loaf stuffed with spiced meat and pine nuts)
Mittei (grilled ground meat kebabs)
Keftas de prassa y carne (Leek and meat patties)
K'tzitzot basar b'afvaniyot (Israeli-Style Meatballs in Tomato Sauce)
Klops (meatballs with hard-boiled eggs)
Kubbah sineeya (Spicy meatloaf with sesame topping)
Spiced ground beef in pita bread
Picadillo (spicy ground beef with fruit and almonds)
Papas Rellenas (ground beef stuffed mashed potato croquettes)
Holishkes(sweet and sour stuffed cabbage)
Mahshi (stuffed vegetables- like dolmas)
Mafroum (Libyan-style stuffed vegetables)

[Clover]

This is looking yummy, but two questions.
1) I don't have a food processor, but I do have a KA mixer, an immersion blender, a regular blender, and two hands that aren't afraid to get messy. Which would you use instead?
2) Freezeable, you think?
I'd use hands. I did freeze part of this when I made it, and it reheated very nicely.

[newtricks]

sorry to differ, but this is so off the mark that it actually offends me totally. wrong, wrong, and wrong. moreover, why would you have an axe to grind w/ Paula Deen and also Campbell's -- two more disparate partners i have never seen paired. she is hardly a shill for them.

i know something about the etymology of "casserole." more to the point, clearly you've never eaten cassoulet, esp. in france. fwiw, the word, which also has, reasonably enough, germanic influence, as does the dish to whiich you refer, applies to the to the particular configuration of the cooking vessel itself, which included a lid, regardless of what is cooked within it. i have this on some good authority, or else i would not have posted this.

i'm more than willing to be wrong, so please correct me. moreover, i'd like to hear your explication of the italian/french cheese thing you cite.

always eager to learn something,
suz

umm, she's just joking around? I think you might be overanalyzing things here. :)

[newtricks]

But fwiw I just saw Paula make this yesterday. Quite appropos!:

Cheesy Broccoli Bake
Paula Deen

2 pounds fresh broccoli, trimmed and cut up
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the casserole
1/4 cup chopped celery
1/4 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 (8-ounce) can sliced water chestnuts
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/2 pound cheese product, softened
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 cup grated Cheddar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9 by 13-inch casserole.
Steam the broccoli until tender, about 10 minutes. In the meantime, melt the butter in a medium skillet over medium heat and saute the celery, mushrooms, and onion until softened, about 10 minutes; drain. Combine the broccoli and the cooked vegetables in a bowl.

Heat the soup and softened cheese product in a saucepan over low heat until the cheese melts. Pour it over the broccoli mixture. Add the garlic salt and pepper and combine.

Put it into the buttered casserole dish and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Sprinkle the top with the grated Cheddar the last 5 minutes of baking.

[NMG]

I say go with stuffed cabbage - leftovers always freeze well. I make mine with a sweet-in-sour sauce consisting of ketchup, vinegar and water - very good with mashed potatoes!!!! Yum - I think I'll have to make some this weekend!

[swquilts]

*sniff**sniff* Casserole bashing......

Lasagna?



;) ;) ;) :cool: :D

[Terri_A]

Although I usually make them with a combination of beef and pork - Cabbage rolls are good with all beef as well!

[McSix]

I just returned from the midwest and my mother-in-law's funeral. Her wonderful neighbors and friends showered the house with casseroles of many types and sizes--but all with cheese. I think it's a law.

[SusanMac]

I couldn't tell whether or not Aubergine was joking, too. Sounded way too much like a Tom Cruise/Matt Lauer moment to me!

I agree that cheese is a gift from the gods.

But, I absolutely refuse to make anything calling for cream-of-anything soup. My body is still processing that stuff from the first 16 years of my life, when my mom was obsessed with it! (no, we're not related to Paw-la, but I did grow up in the South!)

[Aubergine]

I couldn't tell whether or not Aubergine was joking, too. Sounded way too much like a Tom Cruise/Matt Lauer moment to me!

point well made and taken. it was late, i was tired, and words have been a fascination for me since i was able to read. i now know that there is a relationship between 'casserole' and 'cassoulet,' altho' i've yet to get to the bottom of it. however, i was somewhat misinformed (by a knowledgable friend) when i posted last night. sorry for being so cantankerous. and yes, barbara, i do sometimes over-analyze even simple things. mea culpa.

suz