The Big Book of Casseroles: 250 Recipes for Serious Comfort Food [Paperback]

Maryana Vollstedt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1999 | Series: The Big Book of

Bubbling cheese, golden bread crumbs, tender vegetables, and succulent meats - what's not to like about casseroles? Comfort food just doesn't get any cozier, or more convenient. Now, thanks to Maryana Vollstedt, busy cooks don't have to call up Mom in order to make delicious one-dish meals for family and friends. The Big Book of Casseroles boasts over 250 recipes (including low-fat and vegetarian dishes), plus handy planning, freezing, and storage tips. For hot-from-the-oven dinners equally at home in the dining room or on the kitchen table, cooks need look no further than The Big Book of Casseroles, because serious comfort food never goes out of style.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books; First Edition edition (October 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811822605
• ISBN-13: 978-0811822602
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 1 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #450,667 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

You will find no canned soups in Maryana Vollstedt's The Big Book of Casseroles. You will find 250 ways to simplify your weekly meal planning. The properly deployed casserole is economical of both time and money. Anyone living on a family budget--with a family--but eating according to a take-out lifestyle is going to love this book.

Jambalaya is a casserole. So is Coq au Vin. So is classic Hungarian Goulash. But let us not forget Turkey Tetrazzine. Or maybe we should forget. Maybe it's the Turkey Tetrazzines of the world made with leftover dried-out Thanksgiving turkey coming at us after the days of turkey soups and turkey sandwiches and turkey salads that have given the word casserole the kind of odor we look for behind the refrigerator. While Vollstedt's version of Turkey Tetrazzine doesn't ask for a can of cream of mushroom soup, and while it is made from fresh ingredients, the result is still going to be the same.

And that's one of the problems with The Big Book of Casseroles. It's so big, the demands of coming in with 250 recipes are so great, that classics of the genre that would be better off left to foggy memory are rejuvenated for another generation of unfortunate diners. The other problem is how the definition of casserole gets stretched by the author. Any substance covered with another and baked in an oven appears to be a casserole. When is baked fish a casserole and when is it simply baked fish? Such are the questions raised by Vollstedt's choices.

The book covers a lot of ground. Chapters include those on "Basics" (as in white sauce), "Seafood Casseroles," "Poultry Casseroles," "Meat Casseroles," "Vegetable Casseroles," "Baked Pastas," "Grain and Legume Casseroles," "Gratins," and "Low-Fat Casseroles." There are no dessert casseroles.

Vollstedt shows you where the casserole has been, and where it is. Use The Big Book of Casseroles as a launching pad for your own creative endeavors. --Schuyler Ingle

From Publishers Weekly

Vollstedt's (What's for Dinner?) reliable collection of robust food encompasses many ethnicities (Seafood Lasagna, Baked Tandoori Chicken on Lentils, Spicy Beef Enchilada Casserole). Recipes are clearly written and carefully worded, and chapters are divided easily by ingredients (seafood, poultry, etc.). Many dishes rely heavily on cheese and other dairy products (California Casserole uses 2 cups of sour cream and 4 cups of Monterey Jack; Italian Potato Casserole incorporates 2 cups of mozzarella and 1/3 cup grated Parmesan), but Vollstedt compensates with a chapter on low-fat casseroles that includes Spinach, Parmesan Cheese, and Rotini with Pine Nuts, Brown Rice and Broccoli, and Greek Meatballs in Tomato-Yogurt-Mint Sauce made with ground lamb. Vollstedt stretches the definition of casserole to incorporate Tangy Baked Shrimp, Turkey Loaf and Baked Sweet Potatoes (the latter two are cooked separately but served together) and a whole chapter of gratin recipes. An introduction with instructions for making the basic components, freezing casseroles at different stages and reducing fat and calories rounds out this solid effort.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books; First Edition edition (October 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811822605
• ISBN-13: 978-0811822602
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 1 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #450,667 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Maryana Vollstedt has written several Chronicle cookbooks in the Big Book series. She lives in Eugene, Oregon.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

76 of 80 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for busy people November 30, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

These recipes are great because most of them are very easy and can be prepared ahead of time then popped in the oven a 1/2 hour or so before you eat. As a stay-at-home mom - I can put the dish together while the kids are napping, then am free to play with them during that cranky time before dinner. And every recipe we've tried is delicious!

77 of 82 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars simply delicious January 13, 2000

By Christa Martin

Format:Paperback

I love this cookbook. The recipes are very easy to make with ingredients most of us have in the pantry. The only tools you need are a knife and casserole dish or dutch oven. While the book features comfort food for home or a friendly potluck, many of the recipes are fancy enough for special company. Very east to read -- each recipe gets its own page. One warning, though -- a number of the recipes feature cheese/sour cream, so it isn't exactly a low-calorie cookbook. For a recent potluck, I used the reduced fat cheese and sour cream, and no one who ate it could tell the difference.

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Cookbook February 3, 2002

By A Customer

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I was interested in casseroles because I wanted recipes for dishes I can make ahead and freeze. This book exceeded my expectations. It has all the old favorites like tuna noodle and new ones like Osso Bucco. It even has a section on lower fat casseroles and a section on making recipes healthier. Every recipe I've tried has been a winner and have received lots of compliments. Some of the recipes are one dish suppers like Salmon and Peas, very tasty and easy to prepare. What it lacks in photos it makes up for in creativity.

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Jackpot of Tasty Comfort Meals to Be Mined January 23, 2002

By rodboomboom HALL OF FAMEVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

You'll strike exciting, easy one dish meals with this book loaded with various ingredients and styles.

They're all here--from chicken pot pies to seafood to Mexican to Pizza casseroles to Moroccan influenced. This is broad in its scope and rich in its diversity, from entrees to side dishes such as the nice section of rich gratins.

I'm especially fond of the Orange-Hazelnut Chicken and the Beer Beef Stew with Parslied Buttermilk Dumplings, Greek Chicken and Rice.

This is a prime candidate to get the kids in the cooking mode. Good place to have them join the fun and experience of cooking.

42 of 46 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Casseroles, huh? September 13, 2003

By D.N.

Format:Paperback

I thought I would be getting a cookbook that included easy recipes. You know the kind, where you put all the ingredients in the casserole and turn on the heat! Not so here, for many of the recipes. Many require you to cook various ingredients before you put them in the casserole to be baked. Extra work for busy people. I must say, though, that many of the recipes are tasty.....just not timely.

Additionally, several just did not work out, eventhough I followed the directions to a "T". Did they test all these recipes first? They tended to be short on moisture and long on dryness. That being said, there is enough good stuff in this book to recommend it.....just use your head. If it sounds like it will be dry, add more moisture to begin with!

Not a cookbook for beginners.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars An unexpected find of a cookbook!!! March 15, 2003

By cg

Format:Paperback

I must admit that I was not expecting much from this book. However, I have been pleasantly suprised to say the least (these are not the boring 1975 style casseroles that our mothers served to us). The recipes I have made so far were so good, they could be served to company! Many of the recipes call for wine - which really brings the dish up to a whole new level. The recipes are easy, and for the most part uncomplicated. I have made both the Country Chicken Stew and the Chicken Italian - both FABULOUS! One note about the Country Chicken Stew- I suggest using the brown "crimini" style mushrooms, as they are so much better than the boring white generic supermarket mushrooms. (I made the stew both ways - and the brown muchrooms made it classier and soooo much better)

One comment on the Tuna Casserole - I have made it twice...very quick and easy. However, it is dry - so I recommend making it with twice the amount called for of the basic white sauce.

Overall - a verrrrrry nice book. It is an unexpected find!

59 of 67 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars When They're Good, They're Good, But When They're Bad... February 4, 2003

By TheConsumer

Format:Paperback

I have mixed feelings about this book ... some of the recipes are really great, like sweet and sour pork chops, and tangy baked shrimp. But there are some big-time duds in this book, which makes me wonder if all the recipes were really tested before the book went to press.

The directions give it away: in Gourmet Meatballs, you're supposed to make one-inch meatballs, put on a baking sheet and brown for ten minutes at 400 degrees. Then you're supposed to move the meatballs to a casserole, along with any drippings.

Drippings? On a baking sheet? Were they paying attention when they typed this one up? Why not put the meatballs in a casserole to begin with?

Anyway, after 10 minutes at 400 degrees, the meatballs, baking sheet or not, are done. Then why put them in a casserole and bake for another 40 minutes, along with a little beef broth?

This particular one gets the Martha Stewart Award For Recipes That Don't Work. This book is worth buying, but choose your dinner carefully.

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Too flawed to be trustworthy September 13, 2010

By D Darkman

Format:Paperback

You want a cookbook to be well-tested, so that most recipes work or "nearly" work. This cookbook, simply isn't it.

Too many of the recipes have big or small flaws in them (e.g. a recipe says to add two cloves of garlic to a pot, does it mean whole cloves or minced? A different recipe said to cut garlic cloves in half & add to the stew; I get that. But this recipe looks like it was just a typo, dropping the word "chopped") The book is riddled with problems of this sort.

Too many of the recipes are rather similar. Having tried one, I don't see a need to try the next three. I happen to like red wine slow-cooked with beef, but I just kept coming across one after another... without enough variation it seemed.

Many recipes don't really count as casseroles (baked fish... not a casserole...)

Some casseroles have no rice or noodles at all in them... is that a casserole or just a side dish of artichokes and broccoli in a mushroom sauce?

The collection of recipes looks arbitrarily culled from various sources, e.g. one recipe calls for broccoli florets which must be steamed... another recipe asks for a package of frozen broccoli. Hunh? Why was one used here, the other there? No idea. They both end up heavily cooked anyway. One recipe calls for an onion, chopped... another recipe calls for 1/2 cup chopped onion -- hey, wait, why not make your recipes consistent? Because they were just gathered from different sources and the author didn't take the few minutes to standardize how she wrote out these recipes. You'd do better just pulling recipes off the internet at random, I think.

Many recipes aren't casseroles, but stews.

Who would write a casserole book that doesn't include a single "cholent" recipe?... Any way you define casserole, a cholent is one; very long and slow baked in an oven.

The thing you've probably got in your mind as mom's standard "casserole" is fairly scarce in this book. And the ones that are casseroles, seem very heavy on the cream, sour cream, or yogurt. At one point she writes that she hates the typical "can of condensed soup" added to a "tuna" casserole, but rather than give us a huge variety, her casseroles just strike a different single note.

What's more, too many of the recipes I tried simply didn't work well. E.g. I found her french-style stews objectionable (cook something 2 hours, put in onions, cook for 1/2 hour, add mushrooms, cook another 1/2 hour... thicken with flour/water in last 5 minutes... wait, that's pretty horrible. How about making a roux, or flour-coating the beef before browning so it'll thicken on its own as it slow-cooks, that tends to work better than dumping flour/water in 5 minutes before serving it... That was a bad corner to cut.) Sorry, but tossing a can of artichoke hearts into a stew is NOT a great innovation in my book. And if I see one more stew that uses the same 14-1/2 oz can of tomatoes, chopped up and added with the juices ... sigh. She eschews cans of condensed soup, okay, but then she adds other canned goods in much the same manner.

The cassoulet recipe simply didn't cut it; too many substitutions to make it easier but it lost its authenticity. The Moussaka recipe didn't have any sort of bechamel in it -- that's not moussaka!!!

How's this for silliness: fry onions in veg oil, then add butter to the pot, then stir in flour (recipe describes making a roux). Think about it and you'll see the sort of NON-thinking that went into this book. Oil? Then butter? You couldn't fry the onions in butter then immediately make the roux? Or make the roux using the oil already in the pot? There's no brain behind this book.

In other words, my summary is: (1) not a good representative mix or variety of casseroles (2) recipes are troublesome, or cut corners poorly (3) poor writing and errors means the book wasn't edited well. Read more ›