A friend mentioned this dish. And it brought back a flood of memories. I am absolutely certain that anyone brought up in the 1950s or early 60s was served a Hamburger Casserole at one time or an-other. Or many times… It was a post-World War II ‘standard’ for Moms of my Mom’s generation…
The fact is, here are as many ‘Hamburger and Noodle’ casseroles as there were grandmas who made them. They all use the same key ingredients. But they vary infinitely in appearance and flavour. Just take a gander at the 92 photos sent in by AllRecipes fans who tried the source recipe for today’s family supper delight…
Human nature
The reason they differ so dramatically is… Human nature. Most home cooks with any significant ex-perience and a certain amount of confidence in their own judgment will go through a recipe and add ‘a little more of this’, and ‘a little less of that’… They know what they and their family likes. With the classic Hamburger casserole, it’s most often ‘a little more cheese’ than called for. Or a lot.
And I want to make it clear, before we get started on the details of this one: That’s perfectly alright! This is one dish you can customize right off the page. There’s virtually no way you can blow it. Unless you go too far in one direction or another. Preserving relative proportions of the key ingredients (within reasonable limits) will always ensure success!
General guideline: Just don’t let the overall consistency get too dry or too wet…
The secret to its success…
Everyone loves a Hamburger casserole. That’s because the combination of scrambled ground beef and tomato sauce produces an unparalleled umami experience you won’t find in other pairings. And that – simple as it is – is akin to magic.
A secondary ‘secret’ to this particular dish is the sour cream, cream cheese and cheddar blend called for. It ensures a great, creamy, noodle-sticking texture and a mild flavour that doesn’t overwhelm the main event – the meat and tomatoes – but does smooth off any rough edges…
But… it’s BEEF!
Not as big a problem as you might think. For a start, ground beef is about the cheapest red meat you can still get. It’s true – lean ground beef sounds pricey at $11.00 per lb / $2.44 per 100 g. But ground beef is one of the most price-flexible ‘cuts’ on the cooler. I’ve recently seen it on sale (probably as a loss-leader) for as little $5.99 lb. Or you can play the price game based on ‘lean vs medium vs regu-lar’ fat content.
And keep in mind that casseroles have always been a considered a vehicle to stretch the expensive ingredients. Today’s featured recipe feeds 6 on just 1 lb / 454 g of ground beef!
The fat content makes no difference in this recipe. And the health concerns of all that fat and cheese are well-compensated for by the fact that you might reasonably expect to serve this dish two or three times a month, at most…
My take
I run across Hamburger and Noodle casseroles all the time, scanning the recipe sites online. But this one caught my eye for those ingredients I spotlighted under the ‘Secrets’ subheading, above.
If you want a fresh, new H&N casserole experience, try this one!
~ Maggie J.