Casseroles.

[Ayrton]

Originally Posted by velochic

I'm American and grew up in America.

I think that the overwhelming difference between Europe/Australia/N.Zeal. and the US is that in the US, casseroles are all about using processed foods. In Europe, the casseroles are all about using up fresh ingredients that you have left over from other meals. I rarely purchase ingredients to make a casserole. Sauces are freshly made from a simple roux plus herbs, spices and other fresh ingredients.

We don't eat processed foods, but we love casseroles. I get frustrated at the ingredient list that always begins with "a can of cream of mushroom soup". To me, that's not cooking. And when I post recipe requests and say, "Only fresh ingredients", I never get replies. It's frustrating.

I don't mean to be snarky or anything... just voicing my frustration at the lack of truly "scratch" casserole recipes that are out there.

Oh goody, let's nit-pick!

I'm American and grew up in America too, and I too have moved to Europe. My frustrations and prejudices are similar to yours. However, interestingly enough, while I'll immediately buy Ishbel's oven=casserole, stove-top=stew rule of thumb, you've complicated things by saying that casseroles are all about using up ingredients left over from other meals. Gee Velo, that's HASH!

In all fairness, I have to admit a certain nostalgic fondness for things like my grandmother's goulash (egg noodles, ground beef, canned tomatoes in essence) and my mum's "tuna noodle" (again with the noodles yet, plus tuna obviously, plus traditionally, a can of cream of mushroom soup!). The latter I tried on my family here recently and my children just loved it. Mind you, not having such a thing as a can of cream of mushroom soup available (or if I could find it at the supermarket chances are good it would be dusty and expired) I made a nice mushroom-y mix of my own from the very pure, real ingredients you and I can find so easily and prefer.

My point? The casserole recipes themselves are worth holding on to, even if they're expressed in convenience-food terms for some of the ingredients. Make logical substitutions for those ingredients and chances are good you'll end up with a meal that's simple and straightforward and yummy and economical. All good things, no?

[velochic]

Originally Posted by Ayrton

Oh goody, let's nit-pick!

My point? The casserole recipes themselves are worth holding on to, even if they're expressed in convenience-food terms for some of the ingredients. Make logical substitutions for those ingredients and chances are good you'll end up with a meal that's simple and straightforward and yummy and economical. All good things, no?

No. We do not eat processed foods. It's not all good. That's why I'm frustrated... too many recipes, too little time to figure out how to make them from non-processed foods.

I do make logical substitutions. I was just pointing out, per the nature of the thread, the differences between what I see as casseroles in the US and OUS. I don't nit-pick about the terminology. If you want to call it a hash, I'm all for it. :)

[Constance]

If you don't want to use "cream of" canned soups, make your own sauce.

For cream of mushroom, cream of celery or cream of onion, simply saute vegies in butter, add flour, and proceed as you would for white sauce.
For cream of chicken, use half chicken broth and half milk for liquid.

[velochic]

Originally Posted by Constance

If you don't want to use "cream of" canned soups, make your own sauce.

For cream of mushroom, cream of celery or cream of onion, simply saute vegies in butter, add flour, and proceed as you would for white sauce.
For cream of chicken, use half chicken broth and half milk for liquid.

I do make my own sauce. It's usually pretty easy. Spice mixes are hard to come by, sometimes. But even Lipton's Onion Soup Mix has a "copy cat" recipe. It's just sometimes frustrating. Not here at DC, but elsewhere.

[Ayrton]

Originally Posted by velochic

No. We do not eat processed foods. It's not all good. That's why I'm frustrated... too many recipes, too little time to figure out how to make them from non-processed foods.

I do make logical substitutions. I was just pointing out, per the nature of the thread, the differences between what I see as casseroles in the US and OUS. I don't nit-pick about the terminology. If you want to call it a hash, I'm all for it. :)

Oh dear Velo, you've misunderstood so my writing must not have been clear. I'm sorry. I meant that I was about to nit-pick, something I'm fond of! No criticism of you intended at all. Nor did I mean to suggest that processed food ("convenience food") was good. I also avoid it where ever possible as I consider it far from good. As for the terminology, I think we have some overlaps here. One could have a "hash casserole" I suppose, i.e. something made with leftovers ... but tucked in the oven?! Anyhow, no harm meant. Hope I haven't offended you.

[velochic]

Originally Posted by Ayrton

Oh dear Velo, you've misunderstood so my writing must not have been clear. I'm sorry. I meant that I was about to nit-pick, something I'm fond of! No criticism of you intended at all. Nor did I mean to suggest that processed food ("convenience food") was good. I also avoid it where ever possible as I consider it far from good. As for the terminology, I think we have some overlaps here. One could have a "hash casserole" I suppose, i.e. something made with leftovers ... but tucked in the oven?! Anyhow, no harm meant. Hope I haven't offended you.

Of course you haven't offended me. I'm sorry my post implied that. I think I was the one that misunderstood.

[shpj4]

It would be great if you would post some of your Casseroles for us to look at. I am sure that are very different and that is why I would love to see some receipes.

[PBear42]

Hey ya'll. New here, though have been cooking for a long time. Dropping in to mention something that occurred to me years ago when developing a scratch version of tuna noodle casserole. If you think about it, it's just a variation on chicken tetrazzini. From there, it was pretty straighforward how to deconstruct the old convenience food version and build out a new scratch one. Did the same thing with the (in)famous green bean casserole, scratch versions of which seem to have become quite fashionable recently.

[Half Baked]

Welcome to DC, PBear! Nice to have you here.

[Constance]

You know, when my grandma taught me how to make what we call a white sauce (bechamel sauce, cream sauce), she told me once I'd learned that skill, I could make all kinds of sauces and gravies.
She sure was right. Thank you, grandma.