Casseroles are baked dishes that combine ingredients like meat, vegetables, pasta or rice in a sauce. They are cooked and served in a large, deep pan known as a casserole dish. Casseroles are popular home cooked meals in many cultures around the world. But when and where did the casserole originate? Let’s explore the history and origins of the casserole dish and some of the oldest known casserole recipes.
What is a Casserole?
A casserole is a baked main dish that combines ingredients like meat, vegetables, pasta or rice in a creamy sauce or gravy. The ingredients are assembled in a deep baking dish known as a casserole dish and baked in the oven. Casseroles are easy to prepare, budget friendly one-dish meals. They often utilize leftovers and pantry staples in creative ways, making them a versatile and convenient dinner option for home cooks.
Some key features of a classic casserole dish and recipe:
- Oven safe baking dish, usually made from glass, ceramic or other heatproof material
- Combination of protein, vegetables and starch
- Binding sauce or gravy, often made with a creamy base like cheese, condensed soup or white sauce
- Toppings like breadcrumbs, crackers or cheese
- Baked in the oven until hot and bubbly
- Served directly from baking dish in family-style portions
Popular modern casserole recipes include dishes like tuna noodle casserole, chicken divan, king ranch chicken and green bean casserole. However, the origins of casseroles stretch back centuries.
History of Casseroles
The earliest casseroles likely originated in France in the 17th century, with the development of dishes baked and served in a casserole dish. The word casserole comes from the French term “casserolle” meaning saucepan. In France, stews and ragouts were slowly simmered on the stovetop in a covered casserole dish. Later recipes adapted these one-pot meals to be baked in the oven, developing the casserole format we know today.
Casseroles became popular in American cuisine in the 20th century, rising to prominence during the Great Depression and World War II eras. They were an economical way to stretch food and utilize rationed items. Post-war suburban culture also popularized casseroles as an easy, one-dish meal for new homemakers. Casseroles and covered baking dishes expanded from French earthenware to glass and corningware dishes mass produced in the U.S.
While French casserole dishes were in use as early as the 1600s, the oldest published casserole recipes emerged in the late 19th century. Let’s explore some of the earliest known casserole recipes.
Oldest Known Casserole Recipes
Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management, 1861
The earliest known published casserole recipes appeared in Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management in 1861. This extensively researched English cookbook contained over 900 recipes documenting British cooking of the Victorian era. Some casserole style recipes featured in the book include:
- Beef Olive – minced beef and vegetables baked in a casserole dish.
- Haricot Mutton – mutton stew baked with beans.
- Stewed rump of beef – beef stew baked with vegetables.
These early casseroles resemble French ragouts and daubes adapted to be baked in the oven. Mrs Beeton’s book shows that casserole-style cooking was already practiced in Britain by the mid-19th century.
The Boston Cooking School Cookbook, 1896
Fannie Farmer’s Boston Cooking School Cookbook, first published in 1896, contained some of the earliest American casserole recipes including:
- Rice and Meat Casserole – rice baked with tomato sauce, meat, onion and peppers.
- Casserole of Fish – layers of potatoes, fish, and breadcrumbs baked with white sauce.
- Casserole of Rice and Meat – rice and lamb baked in tomatoes.
These simple American casseroles were designed for practical home cooking. Farmer’s cookbook shows casseroles were adopted in American kitchens by the late 1800s.
The Joy of Cooking, 1931
When The Joy of Cooking was first published in 1931, it featured popular casserole recipes like tuna noodle casserole. Some original casseroles in this cookbook included:
- Noodle Ring – noodles and cheese baked in a ring mold
- Rice Italienne – rice casserole with tomatoes, cheese, and sausage
- Baked Macaroni with Chicken Livers – macaroni, chicken livers, vegetables and white sauce.
By the 1930s, American home cooks were making all kinds of creative baked pasta casseroles. The Joy of Cooking cemented casseroles as staples of 20th century cooking.
Early French Casserole Recipes
While American cookbooks in the late 1800s-early 1900s recorded modern casserole recipes, the casserole concept originated in France much earlier. Some of the oldest French cookbooks documenting early casseroles include:
- Le Viandier circa 1300s – A medieval cookbook with Egoutees casseroles baked in pastry shells.
- Le Cuisinier François circa 1600s -Documented regional French cooking including daubes and ragouts to be cooked and served from casserole dishes.
- La Varenne circa 1600s – Influential cookbook that advanced French cuisine, contained early casserole recipes for meat stews.
These early French recipes reveal that casserole style cooking was present hundreds of years before casseroles were popularized in Britain and America. The casserole format evolved from French stewing traditions, adapted into the baked casserole dishes we still enjoy today.
Oldest Cooked Casserole Remains
Beyond recipes, actual archaeological evidence confirms ancient origins for casserole cooking. Excavations have revealed some of the earliest casserole dishes used to cook stews and porridge-like foods over 9,000 years ago:
| Culture | Location | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jōmon | Japan | 10,500 BCE | Pottery steamers used to cook shellfish, beans, nuts. |
| Cucuteni-Trypillian | Romania | 6000 BCE | Fired clay pots with traces of grains, meat and honey residue. |
| Yangshao | China | 5000 BCE | Deep earthenware basins used for cooking cereals and vegetables. |
These vessels from ancient Asia and Eastern Europe were early prototypical casserole dishes. Contents show they were used to simmer and bake combinations of grains, vegetables and meat – the basis for modern casserole recipes.
Archaeologists have also identified ancient remains of casserole-like dishes across the world:
- Ancient Greece and Rome: Fragments of Greek and Roman casseroles (300 BCE – 500 CE). Evidence of baked dishes combining meat, grains, vegetables and sauce.
- Ancient Egypt: Remains of molded steamed puddings (2000 BCE) and round pottery baking dishes.
- Etruscan civilization: Casserole-style pans called aelo were used for baking pastries and breads.
- Ancient China: Early evidence of rice and meat casseroles cooked in ornate covered bronze vessels during the Shang Dynasty (1600 BCE – 1046 BCE).
From the ancient world to the Middle Ages, clay pottery, stoneware, bronze and iron vessels were used as casserole pans to bake hearty one-pot meals across many cultures worldwide.
Oldest Modern Casserole Dishes
While the casserole concept is ancient, specialized baking dishes and recipes became popular in modern Europe and America from the 17th-20th centuries. Some of the oldest cookware confirming casserole dishes of recent centuries include:
1500s – 1600s
- French Daubieres – Heavy cast iron or earthenware pots with handles used for stovetop cooking and baking.
- Dutch oven – Heavy cast iron pot with legs and tight fitting lid ideal for slow cooking stews and casseroles.
- Earthenware Cassole – French baking dish similar to a dutch oven designed for the oven.
1700s – 1800s
- Terrine dish – Earthenware, porcelain or cast iron oven-safe baking dish with straight sides used for pâtés and casseroles.
- Soufflé dish – Porcelain ramekins and larger oven-safe dishes designed for baking soufflés, also used for individual casseroles.
- Gratin dish – Shallow earthenware or porcelain baking dish used for gratins, casseroles, crumbles.
1900s
- Glass casserole – Heat proof glass casserole and pie dishes invented in the early 1900s by Corning Glass Works, later Pyrex.
- CorningWare – Glass ceramic casserole dishes patented in the 1950s, designed for stovetop and oven use.
While ancient cultures used primitive clay pots and bronze vessels, specialized oven-to-table ware for casseroles emerged in the modern era as baking technology advanced. These innovative dishes made casseroles even more convenient.
Oldest Known Casserole Recipes
Examining some of the oldest casserole recipes provides insight into the evolution of casserole dishes through history:
Ancient Roman – Patina
The ancient Roman dish known as patina was an early form of baked casserole:
- Ingredients – Meat, fish or vegetables baked in a combination of eggs, herbs and spices thickened with flour or crumbs.
- Cooking method – Baked in a round terra cotta or bronze dish called a patina from which the dish takes its name.
- History – Variations of patina were cooked as early as the 5th century BCE according to Roman records.
The patina is one of the oldest baked d
Medieval English – Tartes
Medieval English tarts were savory distant ancestors of modern casseroles:
- Ingredients – Meat, seafood or vegetables baked in a pastry shell, often with nuts, fruits, herbs and spices.
- Cooking method – Baked in an open pastry tart or enclosed in a sealed pastry casing.
- History – Recipes for meat tarts appear in The Forme of Cury medieval cookbook circa 14th century.
These early English tarts deployed casserole ingredients baked in pastry. Similar recipes evolved into cottage pie and shepherd’s pie.
Medieval French – Egoutees
Medieval French casserole forerunners known as egoutees date to the early 1300s:
- Ingredients – Meat or fish cooked with onion, wine and broth baked under a pastry crust lid.
- Cooking method – Baked in small ramekins known as egoutees.
- History – Oldest recipe documented Le Viandier circa 1300s-1400s.
The egoutees demonstrate early French casseroles were baked with a pastry top into the medieval period.
Native American – Tia-Molly
The Zuni Native American dish tia-molly was an early casserole adaptation using local ingredients:
- Ingredients – Cornmeal dumplings or kneel down bread baked on top of rabbit or venison stew.
- Cooking method – Baked in heavy stew pot or stone lidded clay pot.
- History – Stews like tia-molly baked under corn breads were common dishes in Southwestern Native American tribes.
Tia-molly exemplifies how casserole concepts were adapted into traditional cooking across many cultures.
Conclusion
While the casserole format became wildly popular in America in the 1950s, its origins trace back thousands of years in culinary traditions across the globe. Ancient cultures used creative cooking vessels to simmer and bake one-pot meals that can be considered early prototypes of casseroles. Specialized casserole cookware emerged in medieval Europe, producing dishes that directly led to modern casseroles. Published recipes for baked meat, vegetable and grain combinations appeared as early as the 14th century. However, the layered casserole recipes we recognize today developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Next time you enjoy a hearty casserole, consider the millennia of cooking traditions that went into crafting the perfect baked dish.