"Alan S" > wrote in message
...
> On Fri, 2 Jan 2009 13:41:17 -0800, "Julie Bove"
> > wrote:
>
>>> LOL - Julie, NONE of Alan's recipes, or mine, for a casserole would
>>> call for pasta, or rice, or "cream of something or other" - you
>>> Americans have done something completely your own with the concept;
>>> the original version is a combo of whatever meat, beans, grains, and
>>> veggies you have around, flavoured with whatever spices you have
>>> handy, and cooked in whatever liquid you like. So perfectly suited to
>>> crockpot cooking, where you just reduce the liquid volumes. Experiment
>>> away...
>>
>>Huh. That's not what a casserole is here!
>
> Possibly. But then "here" is your small section of the USA
> for you and casserole is a French word, so what matters to
> the rest of the world is what a casserole is wherever they
> happen to be. And for the rest of the world it appears to
> differ from your version.

It's not just my small section of the USA. It seems to be all of the USA
and probably Canada as well. However I do think casseroles are more popular
in the Midwest, but I could be wrong about that.

When I look up recipes for casseroles, I get recipes that I am familiar
with. Some kind of pasta, rice, potatoes, sometimes crushed crackers or
potato chips, mixed with some meat or fish and cream soup or cheese,
sometimes veggies added and often topped with bread crumbs, potato chips or
crushed crackers.