Perhaps you are thinking about sweet potatoes with marshmallows? Totally different things, they are.
Haggis? We really need the puking smiley here.
Haggis is a lovely dish, once you put what you’re eating out of your mind. It tastes like spicy liverwurst and is very, very rich.
Don’t know what country Gracer is in, but you can certainly get it in Toronto, Canada.
I’ve never cooked or eaten such things, apart from the kinds, like lasagna, that have their own names and traditions.
Is there a tradition (not just some invented recipes) of “layered casseroles” in America, otherwise? Whose, and where?
I think gracer is in the Netherlands currently.
Haggis isn’t a dish; it’s a dare.
I agree, haggis is tasty. I wouldn’t eat a slab of it like meatloaf, but spread it on some bread with raw onions and mustard, and it’s great.
But what does a category of food preparation, like “casserole,” really tell you? Isn’t it the specifics of what goes into it and what comes out that makes the difference?
Matter of “turnips – neeps”: thanks ! Brings all the threads together – it all goes originally back to the Latin “napus” (even the parsnip gets in on the act, in a “glancing” sort of way).
Couldn’t resist looking in my German dictionary: for “turnip”, gives “Kohlrube” or “Stockrube”. Ah, well, dratted Krauts, what can you expect – never had the Romans to civilise them…
No, clue, but I’ve definitely come across a few of them in the Midwest. Layered cabbage casseroles, potato casseroles, Mexican burrito/enchilada-type casseroles. That sort of thing. Even the aforementioned “tater tot casserole,” appears to be layered in a fashion, although the layers don’t alternate. Even Pillsbury has a layered casserole recipe on their website.
I suspect the ultimate derivation of these casseroles are similar dishes in the Old Country, but I always have lopped them in the general category of “casserole.” And I’m not sure what you mean by “invented recipes.” They’re all invented recipes.
Well, yes, that’s what a casserole is, after all.
Well I guess my family improved on it then.
The “chicken enchildas” I grew up with in Central Wisconsin was the layered casserole version. I hated it then, and actually remembering the smell of it still turns my stomach, I’m perfectly ok with “real” enchiladas.
Tater-tot casserole is a personal favorite and it’s something I ask my Mom to cook when I go home for visits. The tater-tots go on top of the beef/green bean/mushroom soup/onions mixture in my house.
For what it’s worth, a couple years ago Bon Appetit had a feature that took a few of the standard American throw-together casseroles, and made them from scratch with high-quality ingredients. You can see the recipes here.
I’ve made the tuna one, and it’s delicious. I also make tuna-noodle casserole from soup as a quick dinner sometimes. It’s nowhere near as good as the Bon Appetit one, but it takes 20 minutes to throw together from pantry ingredients. The BA one takes a couple hours and I usually have to shop for a couple things first.
The others look good as well. This thread has reminded me of them; I want to try them all.
I don’t get all the Casserole hatred. I can see not liking specific casseroles, but the genre as a whole? There’s nothing wrong with it, and, as others have pointed out, they’re not at all just American things, most countries have some version or another of casseroles.
Totally agree with this! I love my casseroles - more often than not, it’s comfort food.
Isn’t Mac and Cheese basically just a casserole??
I don’t think it’s “casserole hatred” so mush as it is “BAD casserole hatred.” People have only been exposed to bad casseroles and so have a warped perception of what heights they are capable of achieving.
I’m American and wouldn’t eat either one. I’ve had those sweet potato and marshmallow dishes and found them pretty revoltingly sweet. More like a dessert, really.
No kidding. I have refused to eat any since I left home 40 years ago. Glazed sweet potatoes are yummy. Mashed and marshmallowed ones are not.
My family does not have a tradition of sweet potatoes with marshmallow at Thanksgiving, so the first time I encountered, at someone else’s house in college, I found it revolting. I might have felt differently about it if I’d grown up with it, but my family seemed to think sweet potatoes were sweet enough on their own. I love savory sweet potato preparations, but not sweetened ones.
Yes…unless it comes from a box.
It’s a little of column a and a little of column b, for me, depending on your definition of a casserole. I’m not against taking care while cooking things and then placing them in a casserole dish for the final prep, but Americans rarely do that and call it a casserole. Even then, there are things you can prepare properly like (apparently) lasagna and certainly home made mac 'n cheese that I think are awful.
I love home made Mac and Cheese (as long as they don’t use that cheese like product that comes in a box and isn’t refrigerated). Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
Poor scabpicker is really getting raked over the coals over this casserole business 
and it’s partly my fault. :o
Nothing personal, we all have our likes and dislikes. 