The principal use of a casserole is in the preparation of articles that require slow cooking for either a short or a long time. Birds, chicken, fowl, game, chops and steak are the viands usually selected for such cookery. The cooked article is usually sent to the table in the casserole. To intensify the natural flavor, the article is often browned in hot fat in a frying pan before being set to cook in the casserole. The casserole is supplied with a cover, which keeps in the flavor and aroma during the cooking. Small onions, potatoes and carrots, cut in fancy shapes, and blanched, fresh mushrooms and wine are added in time to be cooked, when the main article is ready. Usually the mushrooms and other vegetables are browned in butter, after blanching, but this is not essential. Salt and pepper with flour and water for thickening may be added at this time. Then a strip of cloth, spread with a paste of flour and water, or any dough rolled to a long pencil shape under the fingers, is pressed over the joining of dish and cover, and the heat of the oven finishes the sealing of the dish. When ready to serve the dish, the strip of cloth or dough is removed, but the cover should not be lifted until the dish is set upon the table. As earthen dishes hold the heat, an article cooked in a casserole may always be served "piping hot."

The above is the common and accepted style of cooking, when a casserole is used; at hotels or other public places, when casserole of chicken or pigeons is called for, the dish will be cooked after the above manner, which is in reality a stew. But a casserole may also be used for a modified form of roasting, to which the name poeling is given. See also Chapter II. For poeling, a chicken, fowl, a piece of veal or lamb will be in one compact shape as for roasting, and the viand will not be served from the casserole.

Care Of Casserole

A good casserole, properly used, improves with use. Before using a new one, set it, on several folds of cloth or paper, into a large saucepan and add cold water to cover the dish completely. Heat the water gradually to the boiling point and keep boiling gently six or eight hours, then wipe the utensil and set it aside for future use. When ready to use let heat gradually. Never pour cold liquid into a hot dish.

Use Of Individual Casseroles

Individual casseroles are often used to serve a bird or chop, with the accompanying vegetables. The dish will be much more satisfactory, if all the articles be cooked together in a large casserole. At time of serving have the small casseroles made hot by setting in water gradually heated to the boiling point. Dispose the cooked articles in the dishes, cover, and let stand in the oven a few minutes to become very hot. Serve on plates covered with a folded napkin or a doily. Both the large and the individual casseroles are of value in serving a dinner in courses, as, the heat of the oven being lowered, the article will not deteriorate if left to stand while an appetizer or soup be eaten.