What Ever Happened to Casseroles?
I sometimes miss casseroles. When I was growing up, these baked meals were the farm cook’s saving grace – a filling meal that could be assembled and baked in the oven to satisfy a hungry bunch of harvesting farmers. Besides protein, the ingredients often included canned or frozen vegetables, condensed soup, and often some kind of crunchy topping. And they tasted great.
These days, casseroles have largely fallen out of favor, mostly because they’re viewed as less healthy – too many calories; too much salt from the canned food. But during the Depression and the rationing of World War II, America’s version of the casserole became popular. The invention of oven-safe glass and canned convenience foods like Campbell’s soups allowed cooks to begin to create their own recipes. It was just a matter of dumping the ingredients together and baking them in a hot oven. Marketers from big packaged goods companies began printing recipes on the backs of labels: meals like tuna fish casserole on the back of Jay’s Potato Chips and green bean casserole on cans of Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup. In addition to condensed soup, shortcuts employed by Midwest cooks included canned meats, cans of Ro-Tel diced tomatoes, green chilies, “onion rings,” and “Chinese noodles,” not to mention Lipton’s onion soup mix.
By the 1970s, improved transportation and widespread globalization enabled cooks to acquire a wider variety of fresh fruits and vegetables through all seasons. And the promotion of the farm-to-table movement encouraged cooks to include and incorporate these ingredients into healthier family fare. Furthermore, cooks are becoming more creative in putting together fusion recipes that create meals that meld a host of different food traditions.
Still, casseroles populate tables, especially in the South and Midwest. Minnesota has its hot tots casseroles and Southern Living distributes recipes for winter family fare such as funeral potatoes, buffalo chicken, pasta chicken, and broccoli and French onion soup casserole. Most of the old casserole recipes can be fixed. We can make our own sauces these days with better kitchen appliances and ingredients. We can also cut down on the amount of starches and gooey cheeses. And If I’m really nostalgic, I have a cookbook from my grandmother’s church with local recipes from her and her friends – with several dozen casserole recipes. I’ll make healthy substitutions for some ingredients, but I could still satisfy my nostalgia cravings. There’s not just beef stroganoff. My grandmother’s neighbor Alice King put forth her Reuben casserole; there’s a beef and pork casserole, Carrol Dewey’s chili meatloaf, and potato casserole. There’s also my grandmother’s scalloped chicken which included layers of cooked chicken, rice and her own chicken gravy with spicy pimentos sprinkled over each layer and topped with a cup of sliced mushrooms. Just top with buttered breadcrumbs and bake for 45 minutes. Yum.
