[Fr. = It. casserola, Sp. cacerola; the radical form is app. seen in Sp. cazo, F. casse ‘an open-mouthed pan fit to boil things in’ (Cotgr.); but its actual history is obscure; cf. F. cassole, It. cazzuola, Sp. cazuela, mentioned under CASSOLETTE.]
1. A kind of stew-pan.
1725. Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Roach, Roaches may … be dress’d in a Casserole.
1849. Curzon, Visits Monast., 342. Not a scrap of furniture, not even a pipkin or a Casserole.
2. The edging or outer portion of certain dressed dishes.
1706. Phillips, Casserole,… a Loaf stuff’d with a Hash of roasted Pullets, Chickens, &c., and dress’d in a Stew-Pan of the same Bigness with the Loaf; also a kind of Soop or Potage of Rice, &c. with a Ragoo.
1730–6. in Bailey.
1852. New Syst. Cookery, 126. Casserol or Rice Edging for a Currie or Fricassee.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Casserolle … a bordering of rice to a dish. Mod. Dicts. have A mould (in the shape of a hollow vessel) of boiled rice, or of mashed potato, baked, in which meats are served at table. Such meats are said to be served ‘en casserole.’
