This was touched on peripherally in another thread, but I'm still
wondering. How come so many casserole recipes include mostly cooked
ingredients, and then specify a 45-minute to 1-1/2-hr cooking time?
I mean, you got y'r condensed mushroom soup and y'r cooked, diced
chicken, and y'r cooked noodles and y'r bread-crumb topping -- why
does this take an hour in the oven? To evapotate the water in wet
ingredients and make everything sort of glom together? To make the
water soak up the starch ingredient and produce a thick 'sauce'? To
keep the kitchen warm on cold winter evenings?