Till I step on the brakes to get out of her clutches

[venta]

The more I read recipes online, the more I become convinced that Americans have a different word for almost everything. Lots of my cookery books have "translations" in them, and I'm down with the eggplant, the zucchini, the capsicum, the scallions... For years I thought I was pretty much sorted, yet still things keep catching me out. After loads of mentions on Just Bento, I finally got round to trying to work out whether I could buy arugula in the UK. Oh. It's rocket.

Today, I was reading a recipe for bolognese sauce. "In a Dutch oven," it began "over medium heat, heat the oil. Add the onion and cook for 2 minutes." In a what now?

Back in the days when I did a lot of Scouting (and learned a lot of verses of You'll Never Get To Heaven) we used to build what we called Dutch ovens from oil drums when camping. Find a steep hillside, dig a hole into it so you can lay your oil drum flat, scoop out small depression in bottom of hole, add oil drum, cover over again with earth. There are details, like leaving a gap at the back to make a chimney out of tin cans, but the basic principle is: light fire under drum, drum gets hot, hey presto, oven.

You can make a mean pizza in a Dutch oven.

Except... the internet suggests that this is not what a Dutch oven is at all. In fact, the internet doesn't seem to have much to say (on a very quick google) on re-purposing oil drums as camping ovens. I guess whoever taught us to make them called them Dutch ovens and we followed suit. Anyway, they're pretty much unsuitable for heating oil and browning onions in.

From Wikipedia it seems an American person talking about a Dutch oven basically means a flame-proof casserole dish.

I've learned something already today.

Comments

[ailbhe]

I think if I don't cook it with the lid on, it's not a casserole.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Wikipedia, he say:

"Casseroles are usually cooked slowly in the oven, often uncovered"

But I agree with you.

[lnr]

For me I tend to think stew-on-the-hob = stew, and stew-in-the-oven = casserole. Normally I tend to do them with the lid on until pretty much cooked, then take the lid off for the last bit of cooking to let it thicken a bit (or a lot if I forget).

And I wouldn't call a tagine or moussaka or similar a casserole (though a hotpot or cassoulet might just count).

Tonight's tea is a beef stew/casserole anyway - I started it on the hob last night to give it a head start, and Mike will shove it in the oven to finish off when he gets in after work.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think we all seem fairly broadly agreed here - maybe we should add a British sub-section to the Wikipedia page :) Sadly, I'm guessing LJ doesn't count as a valid thing for a citation :)