A Man’s Casserole
The name? Cringey and dated. The casserole? Delicious.
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A retro noodle casserole is the kind of comfort food that stays the test of time. Nostalgic? Yeah. But still just as delicious and comforting as it was decades ago.
This one, called A Man’s Casserole, hails from the Good Housekeeping Casserole Book from 1958. And while that name might be a little, well, dated, the casserole isn’t. It’s hearty, it’s a crowd-pleaser, and it makes excellent leftovers.
What Ingredients Do You Need for A Man’s Casserole?
You’ll need:
- “Medium” noodles. (I used egg noodles.)
- Onions. 3 or 4! It’s a lot of onions.
- Butter.
- Ground chuck. 2 whole pounds.
- Dried thyme, and some salt and pepper.
- A trusty can of cream of celery soup.
- Evaporated milk.
- American cheese.
- 3 eggs.
The original recipe calls for “process cheese,” which we now refer to as American cheese. You can use cheddar interchangeably here if you’d rather! The recipe also calls for “fluid, liquefied nonfat dry milk or diluted evaporated milk.” You can use regular evaporated milk or regular refrigerated milk of whatever fat content you choose for this recipe.
How Do You Make A Man’s Casserole?
It’s pretty simple, all in all. While your noodles are boiling, you start by melting down some butter and sautéing the onions until they’re tender. This is A LOT of onions. Like a full skillet. When I was making this, I was worried it would be too much, but it all comes together really nicely in the end.
Next, you’ll remove the onions from the skillet and brown the ground beef, seasoned with that thyme and some salt and pepper. The recipe calls for you to cook the beef until it “loses color but isn’t browned,” which isn’t really something I’d advocate. Go ahead and brown that beef. It adds flavor.
Then, you assemble. Layer a third of the noodles in a baking dish, followed by half of the beef and onions, followed by half of that condensed soup mixed with the milk. You repeat those layers, top it with noodles and cheese, pour beaten eggs over the top, and then bake.
The cookbook mentions that you can do this all in the morning and cover it with foil until you’re ready to bake, so this makes for a great make-ahead dinner. Just prep ahead of time and pop it in the oven when you’re ready to bake.
And they want you to really bake this. For a full hour. In that time, the noodles on top get very crisp and the eggs bind everything together. You get a crunchy top even if there’s no breadcrumbs or crackers involved.
The end result is a very hearty casserole. I was worried it would be too onion heavy, but with the two pounds of beef it balances out really well. I liked that it wasn’t as noodle-heavy as some other vintage casseroles.
That means it’s maybe not as economical, but it certainly is filling and a great thing to make when you have a lot of hungry people to feed. (Not just men!)
A Man’s Casserole
Yield(s): Serves 8-10
10m prep time
1h 20m cook time
you're making mealtime meaningful.
Ingredients
- 4 cups medium noodles (1/2 lb)
- 3 or 4 medium onions, chopped
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 lbs ground chuck
- 1 tablespoon salad or olive oil
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 can condensed cream of celery soup, undiluted
- 1/2 cup evaporated milk
- 1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, grated
- 3 eggs, beaten
Preparation
- In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook noodles according to package instructions until barely tender. Drain and rinse.
- In a large skillet, melt butter and saute onions until tender. Remove from skillet and set aside.
- Add oil to skillet, then cook beef with thyme, salt, and pepper, until meat loses color but isn’t browned, about 10 minutes. Break meat apart as it cooks, then stir in cooked onion.
- Arrange 1/3 of the noodles in a 3 qt casserole, followed by half of the meat, then half of the soup mixed with milk. Repeat layers and arrange remaining noodles on top. Chill until ready to bake.
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°F.
- Top casserole with cheese, then pour beaten eggs over the top. Bake, uncovered, until hot and bubbly and top is very crisp, about 1 hour.
From Good Housekeeping’s Casserole Book.