what's the difference between a stew and a casserole?

[westlake]

As the title says, what's the difference??

Not a great deal, although my mum always said if you cook it on the hob its a stew but in the oven its a casserole.

Properly speaking, it's a stew if you cook it on the hob, and a casserole if you put it in the oven. But personally, I find it hard to call beef, carrots and swede anything except "stew", wherever it's been cooked.

That's what I was always told as well JemimaMop!

so what is it if it is in a slow cooker?

A casserole is really the name of the crockpot type of dish which is used to cook it in. So the hob=stew, oven=casserole (dish) sounds right.

Hmmm.... I don't know how slow cookers come into the equation.... does the heat all come up from underneath the dish like on a hob, or is it all round? Or maybe because you can ignore it all day and leave it on while you're out, it would count as an oven? Tricky one

I have always thought

stew = British
casserole = French

theres an episode of only fools where mike sells denzil some 'beef stew' for a pound or 'Beef bourguignon' to the yuppies for two fifty

A "t" and a "w"

Ohh, Hully, that's clever!

Not sure it's true, but it's clever!

eh? @ hullygully

I think Ms Gully is intimating that a STEW that becomes S E is a casserole: southeasterners being as we all know poncey, Frenchified types who eat quiche instead of flan, have duvets not quilts, etc.

Or maybe I've just made a hideous twat of myself and she doesn't mean that at all!

haha @ TINC, Thanks

I thought they were even more initials that i didn't know the meaning of!

I just meant that s and e are in casserole but not the other two letters..it was just a bit of silliness.

TINC you have an over analytical brain

silliness is good

you boil a stew for days yet a casserole only an hour and a half, it's the law

Hideous twat it is, then...

Its Stew in our house no matter how its made unless it contains chicken, then its casserole. Dont ask me why it just is. :)

According to the chef on This Morning today, (the gobby lady who runs a cookery school, can't recall her name, Rosemary something), it's about the cooking time, a stew is cooked longer.

ahhhhh. Well in that case we are having sausage stew for tea (slow cooker)

In our house its stew if the potatoes are cooked in with it (Irish dh!)

In reality as far as I recall - it was served up as 'badger casserole ' so I guess the accompanying flavours were mushrooms, tomatoes herbs and spices.. what herbs and spices one would choose for such a dish however - that's the conundrum...

Apologies. Wrong thread.

Zombie.