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?

"Frogleg" > wrote in message
...
> 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?

Drink time, Froggy, drink time.

Felice

In article >, Frogleg
> wrote:

> 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?

To heat it through and meld the delectable canned-goods flavors
together. I usually do my hotdishes for about 30 minutes at 350 deg F
for a 1-1/2 quart size casserole dish. Heating it through will take
longer is a large container. Shape of the container will affect the
time, too. Something baked in a 9" square dish will take less time to
heat through than the something in a container of the same volume but
deeper. My twenty cents worth.
--
-Barb, <www.jamlady.eboard.com> updated 1-31-04
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail;
a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "Damn,that was fun!"

In article <lF9Ub.174396$sv6.929256@attbi_s52>, "Felice Friese"
> wrote:

> "Frogleg" > wrote in message
> ...
> > 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?

> Drink time, Froggy, drink time.
>
> Felice

Felice, you rascal! I knew I could count on you!
--
-Barb, <www.jamlady.eboard.com> updated 1-31-04
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail;
a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "Damn,that was fun!"

Frogleg wrote:
>
> 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?

Why does it matter? You cook it till it's done -
which means hot through and nice and golden brown on
top. Even though the ingredients may not be raw they
are not usually already hot. They need time to heat
up and in the case of cheese, for example, to melt
and blend with the other ingredients. Casseroles
are pretty thick and dense so it's no wonder it takes
a while for them to get piping hot throughout.
Kate
--
Kate Connally
“If I were as old as I feel, I’d be dead already.”
Goldfish: “The wholesome snack that smiles back,
Until you bite their heads off.”
What if the hokey pokey really *is* what it's all about?

On Wed, 04 Feb 2004 15:37:37 -0500, Kate Connally >
wrote:

>Frogleg wrote:
>>
>> 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?
>
>Why does it matter? You cook it till it's done -
>which means hot through and nice and golden brown on
>top. Even though the ingredients may not be raw they
>are not usually already hot.

Thanks for all input. I'm still a little puzzled by how it'd take 30+
minutes at 350F to thoroughly heat cooked ingredients. I mean, if you
layer raw potato slices (with milk and s&p and maybe some cheese and
onion, and..., it's going to take a while for the potatoes and onions
to actually cook. But how long does it actually take to heat a
good-sized dish of tuna casserole?

I just looked up a number of Shepherd's Pie recipes on the web.
Cooking time ranged from 20 minutes to 1-1/2 hrs at temperatures
between 350 and 400F. All ingredients were pre-cooked (except in the
case of adding eggs to mashed potatoes and needing to cook for
'puff'),

Maybe this habit is the source of ads for dishwashing liquid designed
to "remove baked-on" foodstuffs. Oh, for an instant-read thermometer!
:-)

Frogleg wrote:
>
> On Wed, 04 Feb 2004 15:37:37 -0500, Kate Connally >
> wrote:
>
> >Frogleg wrote:
> >>
> >> 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?
> >
> >Why does it matter? You cook it till it's done -
> >which means hot through and nice and golden brown on
> >top. Even though the ingredients may not be raw they
> >are not usually already hot.
>
> Thanks for all input. I'm still a little puzzled by how it'd take 30+
> minutes at 350F to thoroughly heat cooked ingredients. I mean, if you
> layer raw potato slices (with milk and s&p and maybe some cheese and
> onion, and..., it's going to take a while for the potatoes and onions
> to actually cook. But how long does it actually take to heat a
> good-sized dish of tuna casserole?
>
> I just looked up a number of Shepherd's Pie recipes on the web.
> Cooking time ranged from 20 minutes to 1-1/2 hrs at temperatures
> between 350 and 400F. All ingredients were pre-cooked (except in the
> case of adding eggs to mashed potatoes and needing to cook for
> 'puff'),
>
> Maybe this habit is the source of ads for dishwashing liquid designed
> to "remove baked-on" foodstuffs. Oh, for an instant-read thermometer!
> :-)

Tee hee hee! You could be right, but I never thought
it odd. I just made my favorite grits casserole. I
made a recipe of grits in the microwave so they were
hot and I browned a pound of hot sausage, so that was
hot. Mixed it all up with 3 beaten eggs, a can of diced
green chiles, 2 cups shredded cheese, 1 tsp. cumin. Poured
into a large glass oval casserole and baked about 40 minutes -
recipe said 50 minutes - at 350F (except that my oven is a
little high so it was probably really 375F. The insides
were piping hot and well blended and it was just nicely
browned on the bottom and sides and the top was just barely
golden brown. The contents of the casserole were about
3 inches deep in the center. I think you really need
that amount of time to get everything hot and browned.

Now if I'd made it in my rectangular casserole it would
have been more spread out and only 1 1/2 to 2 inches deep
over all so it might have been done in 30 minutes. But
even with all the 2 major ingredients already being piping
hot I think it still needed that amount of time.

Why don't you experiment and try a casserole that you
think shouldn't take that long to cook and make several
of them and cook them for different lengths of time and
see which ones come out the best.

I agree that they Shepherd's Pie that calls for 1 1/2
hour of baking would probably be way overdone for my
taste (read "burnt") but I think anything between 30
minutes and 1 hour is reasonable for most casseroles.

Kate
the bottom
--
Kate Connally
“If I were as old as I feel, I’d be dead already.”
Goldfish: “The wholesome snack that smiles back,
Until you bite their heads off.”
What if the hokey pokey really *is* what it's all about?

On Thu, 05 Feb 2004 16:51:25 -0500, Kate Connally >
wrote:

>Frogleg wrote:
>>
>> On Wed, 04 Feb 2004 15:37:37 -0500, Kate Connally >
>> wrote:

>> Thanks for all input. I'm still a little puzzled by how it'd take 30+
>> minutes at 350F to thoroughly heat cooked ingredients.
>
<snip good-sounding recipe>

> I think you really need
>that amount of time to get everything hot and browned.
>

>Why don't you experiment and try a casserole that you
>think shouldn't take that long to cook and make several
>of them and cook them for different lengths of time and
>see which ones come out the best.

Good idea, except that I cook for 1 or 2, and the freezer's already
full. :-) I was sort of relaying someone else's query. I suppose it's
more practical to say "cook for 50 minutes" than "cook until the
interior is piping hot and the topping is browned, however long that
takes you in your oven and with your dishes/pans."

[That grits, chile, cheese, egg thing really *does* sound good. Will
save.]

Frogleg wrote:

> [That grits, chile, cheese, egg thing really *does* sound good. Will
> save.]

I use quick grits and use the proportions for the
stove top version for 3/4 c. grits and 3 c. milk
but I do it in the microwave in my large glass mixing
bowl. Remove when it starts to thicken. Then I can
add all the other ingredients and mix well before
pouring into the buttered casserole dish. The original
recipe calls for less sausage and regular breakfast
sausage but I use Bob Evans bulk hot sausage. I think
I gave the amounts of the other ingredients. I don't
add any salt as with the sausage and you don't really need
it. Also the recipe calls for 1 c. cheddar and 1 c.
jack. I just buy a 2-lb. bag of Mexican mix and use
that. The original recipe says to serve with salsa and
sour cream. I don't bother as I like it just fine plain.
The hot sausage gives it enough oomph that I don't need
the salsa, but you might want to try it that way.

Boy, I'm getting hungry just writing about it. Luckily
I have a lot left from last weekend in the fridge and
I'm going to have it for breakfast tomorrow. Hoo boy!

Kate
--
Kate Connally
“If I were as old as I feel, I’d be dead already.”
Goldfish: “The wholesome snack that smiles back,
Until you bite their heads off.”
What if the hokey pokey really *is* what it's all about?