Casseroles

Casseroles usually consist of pieces of meat (such as chicken) or fish (such as tuna), various chopped vegetables, a starchy binder such as flour, potato or pasta, and, often, a crunchy topping. Liquids are released from the meat and vegetables during cooking, and further liquid in the form of stock, wine, beer (for example lapin à la Gueuze), gin, cider, or vegetable juice may be added when the dish is assembled. Casseroles are usually cooked slowly in the oven, often uncovered. They may be served as a main course or a side dish, and may be served in the vessel in which they were cooked.

Types of casserole include ragout, hotpot, cassoulet, tajine, moussaka, lasagne, shepherd's pie, gratin, and carbonnade. A distinction can be made between casseroles and stews: stewing is a cooking process whereby heat is applied to the bottom of the cooking vessel (typically over a fire or on a stove), whereas casserole cooking is generally done in an oven to bake where heat circulates all around the cooking vessel. Casseroles may be cooked covered or uncovered, while braises are typically covered to prevent evaporation.

History

Ancient Greek casserole and brazier, 6th/4th century BC, exhibited in the Ancient Agora Museum in Athens, housed in the Stoa of Attalus

The casseroles we know today are a relatively modern invention. Early 18th century casserole recipes consisted of rice that was pounded, pressed, and filled with a savoury mixture of meats such as chicken or sweetbreads. Some time around the 1870s this sense of casserole seems to have slipped into its current sense. Cooking in earthenware containers has always been common in most nations, but the idea of casserole cooking as a one-dish meal became popular in America in the twentieth century, especially in the 1950s when new forms of lightweight metal and glassware appeared on the market. By the 1970s casseroles took on a less-than sophisticated image.

Use of term in the US and Canada

A characteristic method of preparing casserole in the United States, particularly in the midwest and the south, and in parts of Canada, is to use condensed soup, especially cream of mushroom soup. Examples of casseroles prepared in this manner are tuna casserole (with canned tuna, cooked pasta, sometimes peas, and cream-of-mushroom soup) and green bean casserole (green beans with cream of mushroom soup, topped with french fried onions). A similar staple food, macaroni and cheese, can also be prepared as a casserole.

Casseroles are a staple at potlucks and family gatherings.

In Minnesota and the Dakotas, where they are one of the quintessential foods of the region, casseroles are called hotdish. The potato casserole Janssonsfrestelse is a legacy of the Scandinavian immigrants of the area.

Comfort food is food prepared traditionally that may have a nostalgic or sentimental appeal. Comfort foods may be foods that have a nostalgic element either to an individual or a specific culture. Many comfort foods are flavorful and easily eaten, having soft consistencies.

One recent development, as chefs have explored the roots of American cuisine and tried to define it as a unique style, is the advent of fine dining comfort food restaurants that feature more careful cooking and presentation, higher quality and fresh organic ingredients, along with consequently higher prices.

American comfort foods

In a reader's opinion poll by About.com, the following are the top 25 foods stated as comfort foods by respondents:

  • Apple pie
  • Baked beans
  • Banana pudding
  • Beef stew
  • Brisket pot roast
  • Chicken and dumplings
  • Chicken pot pie
  • Chicken soup
  • Chili
  • Chocolate chip cookies
  • Corn on the cob
  • Fried Chicken
  • Gelatin dessert
  • Green bean casserole
  • Hot dogs
  • Ice cream
  • Macaroni & cheese
  • Mashed potatoes
  • Meatloaf
  • Potato salad
  • Pumpkin pie
  • Shepherd's pie
  • Spaghetti
  • Tomato soup
  • Tuna Casserole

Australian comfort foods

While some of these comfort foods have different names regionally, they tend to be available in all states. This list also demonstrates the ethnic influences on Australian cuisine.

  • vegemite
  • meat pies, sausage rollspasty
  • fish and chips, chiko rolls, dim sims, potato cakes
  • gyros or souvlakis
  • chocolate crackles
  • roast lamb
  • Tim Tams
  • cappuccinos
  • pizza
  • curry

Chinese comfort foods

the comfort foods might differ between each households. Nevertheless the common theme is usually invoked nostalgic sentiments of home and family. Chinese comfort foods usually served warm, have soft texture and it might be soupy. Some of common Chinese comfort foods are:

  • Baozi
  • Rice congee
  • Chinese noodles
  • Dim sum

Filipino comfort foods

In Filipino cultures, comforts are those that are common in Filipino society. Comfort foods, especially home-cooked meals, usually invoke a sense of feeling of being in the comforts of home. It makes feels of the life in the hometown (for Filipino immigrants). Some common Filipino comfort foods include:

  • Adobo
  • Tapa (Filipino cuisine)
  • Kare-kare
  • Pancit
  • Champorado
  • Binignit
  • Puto
  • Bibingka

French comfort foods

  • Croissant
  • Baguette
  • Bouillabaisse

German comfort foods

  • Bratwurst
  • Kartoffelsalat (potato salad)

Indonesian comfort foods

Some of popular Indonesian food are considered as comfort food, usually served hot or warm, soupy and have soft texture. Some Indonesian comfort food are traditional Indonesian food and some are derived from Chinese influences. For some Indonesians, especially those whom are abroad, comfort food might also be a certain brand or type of Indonesian instant noodle, such as Indomie Mi goreng. Indonesian comfort foods include:

  • Bakmi or Mie Ayam
  • Bakso
  • Buburayam (chicken congee)
  • Indomie Mi goreng
  • Mie goreng
  • Mie rebus
  • Nasigoreng
  • Nasitim
  • Sayur sop (vegetables and chicken soup)
  • Soto ayam (chicken soto)
  • Tempeh and Tahugoreng

Japanese comfort foods

  • Agedashi tofu
  • Kareraisu
  • Miso soup
  • Okayu
  • Okonomiyaki
  • Omurice
  • Onigiri
  • Oyakodon
  • Ramen
  • Takoyaki
  • Udon

Korean comfort foods

  • Bibimbab
  • Bulgogi
  • Kimchi
  • Tteokbokki

Malaysian comfort foods

  • Laksa
  • Nasilemak

Thai comfort foods

  • Pad Thai
  • Tom yum

Psychological studies

Comfort foods may be consumed to positively pique emotions, to relieve negative psychological affects or to increase positive feelings. The term was first used, according to Webster's Dictionary, in 1977.

One study divided college-students' comfort-food identifications into four categories (nostalgic foods, indulgence foods, convenience foods, and physical comfort foods) with a special emphasis on the deliberate selection of particular foods to modify mood or affect, and indications that the medical-therapeutic use of particular foods may ultimately be a matter of mood-alteration.

The identification of particular items as comfort food may be idiosyncratic, though patterns are detectable. In one study of American preferences, "males preferred warm, hearty, meal-related comfort foods (such as steak, casseroles, and soup), while females instead preferred comfort foods that were more snack related (such as chocolate and ice cream). In addition, younger people preferred more snack-related comfort foods compared to those over 55 years of age." The study also revealed strong connections between consumption of comfort foods and feelings of guilt.

Comfort food consumption has been seen as a response to emotional stress, and consequently, as a key contributor to the epidemic of obesity in the United States. The provocation of specific hormonal responses leading selectively to increases in abdominal fat is seen as a form of self-medication.

Further studies suggest that consumption of comfort food is triggered in men by positive emotions, and by negative ones in women. The stress effect is particularly pronounced among college-aged women, with only 33% reporting healthy eating choices during times of emotional stress. For women specifically, these psychological patterns may be maladaptive.

A therapeutic use of these findings includes offering comfort foods or "happy hour" beverages to anorectic geriatric patients whose health and quality of life otherwise decreases with reduced oral intake

A casserole, from the French for "saucepan", is a large, deep dish used both in the oven and as a serving vessel. The word casserole is also used for the food cooked and served in such a vessel, with the cookware itself called a casserole dish or casserole pan. In British English, this type of dish is frequently also called a bake, coinciding with the cooking technique used to cook casseroles.

A Dutch oven is a thick-walled (usually cast iron) cooking pot with a tight-fitting lid. Dutch ovens have been used as cooking vessels for hundreds of years.

Dutch ovens are commonly referred to as cocottes in French, and as “casserole dishes” in British English. They are similar to both the Japanesetetsunabe and the Sač, a traditional Balkan cast-iron oven, and are related to the South AfricanPotjie and the AustralianBedourie oven.

History

Early European history

During the late 17th century, the Dutch system of producing these cast metal cooking vessels was more advanced than the English system. The Dutch used dry sand to make their molds, giving their pots a smoother surface. Consequently, metal cooking vessels produced in the Netherlands were imported into Britain. In 1704, an Englishman named Abraham Darby decided to go to The Netherlands to observe the Dutch system for making these cooking vessels. Four years later, back in England, Darby patented a casting procedure similar to the Dutch process and began to produce cast-metal cooking vessels for Britain and her new American colonies. It is possible that because Darby’s patent was based upon his research into the Dutch foundry system that the cooking vessels he produced came to be referred to as “Dutch” ovens. Other researchers believe that this term may have come from the itinerant Dutch traders who sold cooking vessels out of their wagons as they traveled from town to town and door to door. In any event, the term “Dutch oven” has endured for over 300 years, since at least 1710.

American history

Over time, the Dutch oven used in the American colonies began to change. The pot became shallower and legs were added to hold the oven above the coals. A flange was added to the lid to keep the coals on the lid and out of the food.

The cast-iron cookware was loved by colonists and settlers because of its versatility and durability. It could be used for boiling, baking, stews, frying, roasting, and just about any other use. The ovens were so valuable that wills in the 18th and 19th centuries frequently spelled out the desired inheritor of the cast iron cookware. For example, Mary Ball Washington (mother of President George Washington) specified in her will, dated 20 May 1788, that one-half of her "iron kitchen furniture" should go to her grandson, Fielding Lewis, and the other half to Betty Carter, a granddaughter. Several Dutch ovens were among Mary’s “iron kitchen furniture.”

When the young American country began to spread westward across the North American continent, so did the Dutch oven. A Dutch oven was among the gear Lewis and Clark carried when they explored the great American Northwest in 1804–1806. The pioneers who settled the American West also took along their Dutch ovens. In fact, a statue raised to honor the Mormon handcart companies who entered Utah’s Salt Lake Valley in the 1850s proudly displays a Dutch oven hanging from the front of the handcart. The Dutch oven is also the official state cooking pot of Utah.

Mountain men exploring the great American frontier used Dutch ovens into the late 19th century. Dutch oven cooking was also prominent among those who took part in the western cattle drives that lasted from the mid-19th century into the early 20th century.

Types of Dutch ovens

Camping

A camping, cowboy, or chuckwagon Dutch oven has three legs, a wire bail handle, and a slightly concave, rimmed lid so that coals from the cookingfire can be placed on top as well as below. This provides more uniform internal heat and lets the inside act as an oven. These ovens are typically made of bare cast iron, although some are aluminum. Dutch ovens are often used in Scouting outdoor activities.

Modern Dutch ovens

Modern Dutch ovens designed for use on the cooktop or in the oven are typically smooth-bottomed. Two French manufacturers of enameled Dutch ovens, Le Creuset and Le Chasseur, refer to their ovens as "French ovens", or in the UK as "casserole dishes". Some older styles, such as the unglazed ovens by Lodge, Griswold, CampChef, and Wagner, retain the bale handle, while others, such as the enameled versions by Staub, Sante, and Le Creuset, have two loop handles. Modern ovens may also be made of thick cast aluminum or ceramic.

Cookware descended from Dutch ovens

Bedourie oven

In Australia, a bedourie camp oven is a steel cookpot shaped and used like a dutch oven. Named after Bedourie, Queensland, the Bedourie ovens were developed as a more robust (non-breakable) alternative to the more fragile cast irondutch ovens.

Potjie

In South Africa, a potjie directly translated "lesser pot" from Afrikaans or Dutch, is traditionaly, a round, cast iron, three-legged (tripod) pot. It is similar in appearance to a cauldron and is usually black. It has a cast iron lid with a special design too allow for hot coals to rest on top, so that the pot may also be heated from above. Care must be taken when cleaning a potjie for storage to avoid rust forming. "Potjie" can also refer to the technique of cooking potjiekos. Among the recipes which require a potjie, there is one for a type of bread called "potbrood", which literally means "pot bread".

Among the South African indigenous tribes these pots also became known as phutu pots, after a popular food prepared in it.

This tradition originated in the Netherlands during the Siege of Leiden and was brought to South Africa by Dutch immigrants. It persisted over the years with the Voortrekkers and survives today as a traditional Afrikaner method of cooking. It is still in common use by south african campers.

Use in cooking

Dutch ovens are well suited for long, slow cooking, such as in making roasts, stews, and casseroles.

When cooking over a campfire, it is possible to use old-style lipped cast iron Dutch ovens as true baking ovens, to prepare biscuits, cakes, breads, pizzas, and even pies. A smaller baking pan can be placed inside the ovens, used and replaced with another as the first batch is completed. It is also possible to stack Dutch ovens on top of each other, conserving the heat that would normally rise from the hot coals on the top. These stacks can be as high as 5 or 6 pots.

Seasoning and care

Bare cast iron

Americans traditionally season their iron Dutch ovens like other cast-iron cookware.

After use Dutch ovens are typically cleaned like other cast iron cookware: with boiling water and a brush, and no or minimal soap. After the oven has been dried, it should be given a thin coating of cooking oil to prevent rusting. Again, whether that should be a vegetable fat or an animal fat (such as lard) is hotly contested. Saturated fats are more stable than polyunsaturated fats, which tend to go rancid more quickly.

Where possible, a cleaned and freshly oiled Dutch oven should be stored in a clean, dry location with the lid ajar or off to promote air circulation and to avoid the smell and taste of rancid oil. If the Dutch oven must be stored with the lid on, a paper towel or piece of newspaper should be placed inside the oven to absorb any moisture.

With care, after much use the surfaces of the Dutch oven will become dark black, very smooth and shiny, and as non-stick as the best Teflon or other non-stick cookware available. With proper care, a Dutch oven will render decades or centuries of service.

Enameled ovens

Enameled ovens do not need to be seasoned before use. However, they lose some of the other advantages of bare cast iron. For example, deep frying is usually not recommended in enameled ovens; the enamel coating is not able to withstand high heat, and is best suited for water-based cooking.

Enameled ovens can usually be cleaned like ordinary cookware, and some brands can even be put in the dishwasher.