A casserole is one of those American concoctions where you essentially mush a bunch of stuff, cover it in some form of dairy byproduct that can legally be called cheese for some reason, and stick it in the oven, right?
Pretty much. My grandmother made something called tater tot casserole: a mix of ground beef, frozen tater tots, canned beans, and mystery spices that went stale sometime in the last ice age. This was covered with about half a kilo of cheese and baked until a point she couldn’t quite articulate but “just knew”.
Mostly it’s a vegetable (tomato sauce), starch (noodles), and meat. Dairy is not required but I’ve seen plenty of hot dishes containing celery, potato chips, apples, whatever.
A casserole is one of those American concoctions where you essentially mush a bunch of stuff, cover it in some form of dairy byproduct that can legally be called cheese for some reason, and stick it in the oven, right?
Pretty much. My grandmother made something called tater tot casserole: a mix of ground beef, frozen tater tots, canned beans, and mystery spices that went stale sometime in the last ice age. This was covered with about half a kilo of cheese and baked until a point she couldn’t quite articulate but “just knew”.
Mostly it’s a vegetable (tomato sauce), starch (noodles), and meat. Dairy is not required but I’ve seen plenty of hot dishes containing celery, potato chips, apples, whatever.