Help needed to make casserole. 31 March 2016 at 11:13PM in MoneySaving mums 10 replies 4.8K views

scotsbob

I hope this may be the place to get an answer to a question on cooking that I can't get an answer to on the Internet.


Many years ago my old mum gave me a war time cook book that had a recipe for casserole that I want to make again.


One pound of lean stewing steak cut into bits. Potato and carrots sliced into bits.


Stick it all in a pyrex dish, add a pint of water, sprinkle on an oxo cube and shove it in the oven.


Now the bit I can't remember. How long in the oven and what gas mark?


I have searched umpteen stew/casserole recipes on the Internet but they are all far more complicated than my basic one.


I just need to know time and gas mark please.

Savvy_Sue

This is a bit trial and error: you could either do gas 6 for maybe 90 minutes, or lower for longer. If you bring it to the boil in a saucepan before using the pyrex and / or preheat the oven, that will reduce time.

I'd go lower for longer if I possibly could. Slow cooker for up to six hours would be ideal!

When looking at the complicated recipes, consider what the complicated stuff is doing. I'm guessing a lot will be browning the meat first: personally I don't think that will reduce the cooking time significantly.

Also consider that casseroles are likely to be even better reheated the next day! So if in doubt, cook ahead ...

AnotherJoe

I'd brown the meat first. Better flavour. After that, 90 min in an oven at 180 would do it (after bringing it all up to boiling on stovetop first in a pan), but as said above, a slow cooker would be even better, and yes something like an hour on high and then 6 hours on medium.

SailorSam

I do it in the slowcooker overnight, so never bother about the time it's on.

scotsbob

Gas 6, 90 mins, perfect, thank you.

torbrex

My mum used pretty much the same recipe and her cook time was 2.5 hours.
She would prepare it the night before and set the timer on the oven to come on at 2:30pm so that it was ready to serve at 5pm when dad got in from work.

AnotherJoe

torbrex wrote: »

My mum used pretty much the same recipe and her cook time was 2.5 hours.
She would prepare it the night before and set the timer on the oven to come on at 2:30pm so that it was ready to serve at 5pm when dad got in from work.

That's the great thing about casseroles, very difficult to overcook. And that 2.5 hours probably equates to my 90 minutes, mine was from boiling, your mums was from a standing start in the oven so it would take around 45 min to get up to boiling.

Savvy_Sue

AnotherJoe wrote: »

That's the great thing about casseroles, very difficult to overcook. And that 2.5 hours probably equates to my 90 minutes, mine was from boiling, your mums was from a standing start in the oven so it would take around 45 min to get up to boiling.

Yup, that's my feeling: very difficult to overcook. Especially in a slow cooker!

Hope this has given the OP confidence to give it a go, and that we'll get a report back!

SailorSam

I've emptied the SC of the curry from last night, there were only 9 portions, 8 for the freezer. Sc been filled up again to to make soup. Start with a base of Broth mix and Pearly Barley then frozen veg, tin tomatoes, onions and whatever other bits of veg are left in the fridge. So there isn't anything expensive and you've got a SC full of soup.
I didn't even wash the SC 'cos the bit of curry left in there adds to the flavour.

PasturesNew

My mum used to make that. Minging it was, quite often.... thin gravy and the spuds on top were either hard or black.

Craftingmama01

I am a stick it in till it bubbles kind of girl! x