Makes me feel hungry, Mary. I've never made a casserole, but I know what you mean - throw it all in together. If there was cheese involved, my three-ledged 17 year-old dog would have to have a bit too! Thanks. Margaret

Hi, Mary, If you are going to 'throw it all in one pot', the result is a stew. A casserole tends to be dedicated to a particular flavour while a stew is truly whatever flavour the ingredients produce. One of my earliest lessons in cooking was to use a little of lots of ingredients and stop adding when the flavour was 'right'. Regards

Hi Margaret, Thanks for visiting. Can't believe you have never made a casserole but then my mother never did in her younger years. It was meat, potatoes, and vegetables all seperate so you saw what you wsere eating. I think my father would not have had it any other way. With the production of Corning ware type casserole dishes with lids and the slow cooker casseroles became very popular. The first casserole posted is a popular cheesy dish but as I warned you, there will be no left overs adlandpro.com/forumShowPost.aspx?PostID=363212 Mary

Hi Arthur, From the above definition, a casserole is a dish to cook in and to serve from. Many have lids for taking meals to another location. They are decorative and beautiful shaped with the "show off cook" in mind. The other definition which I created is that there is some type of sauce, gravy, or soup to hold it all together. Casseroles can have fish, fowl, meat, or eggs as the protein. Method of cooking is quite fast compared to a slow cooking stew. In our culture, stew is meat, vegetables, broth which is simmered for a long time. Thus we say "Joyce became angry. She simmered about issues at hand. Joyce can just stew about that !!" Bearing in mind that all culturers are different, I accept your definition too. At any rate a casserole or stew is yummy. See we agree, right???

Hi Mary In my country - Germany - the casserole dish is called Eintopf, which means everything goes in one pot. I am sure that every region or state has their own word for it. I am from Bremen, the very north of Germany. My mother used to add something like matzo balls. German word for that is Griess Kloesse. For us kids it was a very special meal. Hope that helps. Your friend Helga