To be a cassarole:
Hah. I was going to say that casserole is when you dump leftover stuff in a casserole dish and pour cream of mushroom soup all over it. You can try to hide it under a blanket of cheese if you have some handy. Oftentimes referred to as some kind of surprise. “Tuna Surprise.” “Chicken Surprise.”
This is a completely non informed answer. Assuming you want these otherwise you’d just ask wiki.
I think of a casserole as a big pyrex dish of pasta made of ziti (tube pasta) instead of lasagna.
More culturally I think of Chumscrubber
Casserole to me means “stew cooked in the oven in a casserole dish”. It’s the oven cooking that makes it a casserole (in fact, it’s the pot it’s cooked in), not the content. Although usually it’s like what you describe, I could imagine, say, a thinner sauce and still call it a casserole. My classic casseroles are cassoulet and tagine.
Any kind of stew as long as it’s cooked in the oven in a casserole dish.
Anything really think cooked in a Casserole dish that has no free liquid, “It can be piled” is a great description for it.
Noted that the casserole dish should really be the root of the term, but still (in my parlance, anyway), not all things baked in a casserole dish are casserole (anything with pasta in it is going to be ‘pasta bake’ or some such, unless it already has a common name like Lasagne or Macaroni Cheese).
Likewise, anything that resembles a stew that has been baked in a casserole dish (for example, a stew cooked in an electric slow-cooker) is a casserole.
As a Brit, essentially the same as a stew. A mixed - normally with meat but could be just veg - dish cooked in a liquid in the oven in a lidded container (the casserole) and served from the same container. Lasangne is definitely not a casserole in my mind - too solid and no lid on the dish while cooking.
To me, a stew is just less posh term for a beef casserole.
A hotpot is a sub-set of casserole containing sliced potatoes (normally in layers) to make it a single dish meal. I always thought the name came from the whole meal being carried out wrapped in hay or blankets to be eaten still hot at lunchtime. Ah! Found it: I got this from the fount of all cookery knowledge Delia Smith many years ago!
ETA: An extra thought! A casserole has to have “chunks” of the main ingredient in it. Dishes with minced beef etc are not casseroles - God knows why:D
Obviously huge differences UK/US are present here.
The idea of tuna casserole without noodles is… well, it’s beyond wrong, it’s an abomination (to this USer).
I also agree with other American posters, that a casserole’s density/wetness can be described as “it can be piled”; that it almost definitionally includes white starch (usually noodles); and that lasagna is a form of casserole.
Stew is not a casserole. It’s too wet, and you can make it on the stovetop if you want. A casserole requires baking. ETA after seeing MarcusF post: “casserole” in the American parlance is not more posh than anything. It’s roughly the least posh food a middle-class ordinary family can put on the table. The idea of “posh” and “casserole” in the same sentence is pretty funny.
I agree with the other Americans, that a stew is not a casserole - it’s too liquid. To me a casserole is a mixture of ingredients, including a sauce or “glop” of some sort to bind it together, that is baked in a dish in the oven and can be served in a pile on the plate. I would include layered dishes such as lasagna. Another example that comes to mind is Shepherd’s pie - a layer of thick, stew-like meat mixture, covered with a layer of mashed potatoes, and possibly cheese.
One dish I’m not sure about is scalloped potatoes or potatoes au gratin. By my definition they would be casseroles, but I’ve never thought of them as such. I suppose they are.
A casserole is a type of baking dish and perhaps to some greater extent in common English vernacular consists of a usually layered and baked dish involving fresh and/or leftover ingredients. The ingredients are secondary to the “baking” of the dish… could be just about anything, but if you throw them together and use cream/milk, egg, and/or cheese as an thickener/enhancer you might be on the right track. American Casseroles are usually Augratin.
Cassoulet might be the Grandad.
I agree–I would put Shepherd’s pie and scalloped potatoes in the general “casserole” category. However, I don’t agree that stew needs to be very liquid at all. My usual beef stew is more of this consistency.
I think that substantiality and basic “thickning” in the American Casserole Ideal can come from any added starch beyond dairy and eggs, A casserole is usually an “extended” dish. Served family style and more than the sum of its parts.
Phew! I’m glad some other people posted with the British definition - I was starting to feel like I was being told you’re wrong wrong wrong! by the Americans.
I guess it’s not so odd that the casserole dish is the main commonality. After tandoori is only tandoori because it’s cooked in a tandoori oven- it doesn’t actually tell you much about what’s being cooked.
Casserole: Any of a number of oven-baked deep dishes, containing a starch (pasta & potatoes are common) that is not an unprocessed grain, and other ingredients incuding vegitables, meats, dairy products (cheese, cream), broths, and maybe shredded or crumbled bread of some sort (usually as a either a binder, or part of the crust).
The boundaries are stew on one side, and pot pies on the other.
Something baked in the oven in a deep dish. Probably with a wide variety of ingredients, maybe almost lasagna-like though probably not organized into layers. It’s not something I’ve ever actually had or seen so my idea of what a casserole is is pretty vague.
I agree with most of the Brits (jjimm just said it so succinctly).
It must include pasta, preferably noodles, cheese, and some sort of animal flesh. And it’s baked. Decidedly unlike a stew given we wouldn’t bake a stew, or put a thick layer of cheese on it to form the crust that holds it all together in a borg-like square as it stares balefully at you from the middle of you plate and Mom says exasperatedly “There’s nothing in there you don’t like!”
Quoth MarcusF:
While a casserole dish might have a lid, and the food itself might be cooked covered, neither is actually necessary, and most things Americans would call casseroles are usually cooked uncovered (you want the top surface to brown a bit).
As for starches, I would agree that they’re common in casseroles, and usually a good idea, but I wouldn’t say the presence of starch is actually a necessity for defining casserole. Vegetable casseroles (usually served as a side dish, not a main course) often don’t have a starch.
Spectralist, what culture are you from, that you’ve never had or seen a casserole? Even if you happen not to make them at home, surely you’ve been to potlucks?
I’m from western Canada, specifically the Okanagan Valley. I’ve not been to a potluck. I don’t think casseroles are uncommon here I think it’s just something I’ve managed to unintentionally avoid by pure happenstance throughout my life.