Julie Bove > wrote:

: "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.

When I think of casaroles I remember the fabulous toundge and green oodles
(with home made tomatoe sauce) tht my mother used to make, as wel as the
home made Boston baked beans(with frankfurters, not salt pork) or even
what we as kids called Jewish spaghetti(all my aunts made tis one) which
was spaghetti and tomato sauce with sliced cheese(often american, a tht
was what was availalbe) on top and baked until bubbly. This was a
favorite with the little kids.

Sometimes they were leftovers put together in a delicious way,
particularly after turkey dinners as a variety dish insstead of the same
old sliced turkey. As a kosher family we didn't make those creamed soup
and meat ghastlies. Once we made the tuna hot dish but didn't much like
it.

Wendy