Casserole-The Pot Itself

Vessels and Jars found at the excavation site of the Dead Sea Scrolls

Casseroles-The Pot

As many that have grown to know me or follow the inevitable CheffyBabbles knows that I have a deep passion for both Asian and Spanish foods. When Andrea started asking questions about casseroles it brought me to asking questions about casseroles in a deeper sense because after all, I am an information junkie when it comes to food and the Asian and  European cultures are two of the oldest cultures known to man.

My first thought was about the origination of casseroles, cazuelas, terra cotta and a million other ancient cooking vessels that have withstood the test of time. Last night when I wrote the ‘Casserole History’ article I really got around to thinking more about the vessel instead of the food itself. When you think about the origination of pottery, whether it was the Asians, the Sumerians or any of the other tribes in Mesopotamian civilization, it really triggers a lot of thought into what our ancestors were actually using to cook with…

So a googling I went…Knowing that the Sumerians and Assyrians principally were the forefathers of much of the worlds history I found this article that I thought was very cool, which stated that covered clay cooking vessels were documented in 1700 BCE…a very cool and thought provoking article.

Mesopotamian Menus

Other google searches brought up a bunch of other stuff and I read all afternoon about ancient cooking techniques, vessels, periods etc., the brain is in definite overload and can perhaps be a reason for a separate CheffyBabble. I think I have made my point and hopefully piqued someones curiousity…

So anyway, back to my point about casseroles and vessels. The invention of a fire-safe earthenware pot is perhaps several millennia old and logically it is hard to fathom that the ‘casserole’, as a dish,  is a culinary invention that recently came to pass within the past couple centuries.


Some further reading that I found pretty interesting