Tater Tot Casserole/Hotdish

[Mad Cook]

This is how it rocks and rolls in MN:

Minnesota Hot Dish Recipes - Tater Tot Hotdish and More

https://www.google.ca/search?q=Minn...SsIeXLsASzj4LADQ&ved=0CFMQsAQ&biw=865&bih=380

I haven't made this in years...I don't do canned soup. But I did grow up eating this...

The only "condensed" soup we get here is Campbell's. Vile to eat as soup but I have to confess a secret passion for it in a sort of chicken, pasta and broccoli bake that a friend makes which combines condensed mushroom soup and mayonnaise mixed together (weird!). I daren't ask for the recipe as my reputation as a cook would bomb.

 

[Mad Cook]

All hot dishes are casseroles.

Are all casseroles hotdishes????

Can't resist throwing a cat among the pigeons just for the hell of it. Here goes.

A casserole is a dish of meat (usually), veg and stock (and sometimes wine) cooked slowly in the oven. Examples thereof being boeuf bourguignon, coq au vin, jugged hare, Lancashire hotpot and Irish stew. The covered dish they are cooked in is called a casserole too. So there.

A hot dish is anything that isn't cold.



(I can run very fast when DC-ers are chasing me)

 

[Steve Kroll]

All hot dishes are casseroles.

Are all casseroles hotdishes????

I would have to say no. It could be argued that oven mac & cheese is a casserole, especially if it contained frankfurters and vegetables, but no Minnesotan would ever call it hotdish.

I don't care anymore. Now I'm just hungry.

 

[taxlady]

CWS and I were talking (emailing?) about this. The term probably comes from the Scandinavian tradition of often having a few hot dishes at a smørrebrødsbord (smörgåsbord in Swedish).

 

[Andy M.]

...Examples thereof being boeuf bourguignon, coq au vin...

Actually, Boeuf Bourguignon and Coq au vin are more accurately described as a stew or braise.

 

[Josie1945]

Mad Cook,
Love your description of a Hot Dish. LOL

Josie

Can't resist throwing a cat among the pigeons just for the hell of it. Here goes.

A casserole is a dish of meat (usually), veg and stock (and sometimes wine) cooked slowly in the oven. Examples thereof being boeuf bourguignon, coq au vin, jugged hare, Lancashire hotpot and Irish stew. The covered dish they are cooked in is called a casserole too. So there.

A hot dish is anything that isn't cold.



(I can run very fast when DC-ers are chasing me)

 

[CWS4322]

We ran a thread a few years ago re: casserole vs. hotdish. The word casserole to mean the contents of the dish (the dish was called a casserole dish) first appeared in a dictionary in either 1954 or 1958. I would have to dig up the notes I made. My grandma's handwritten recipes (pre-1950s) do not include the word casserole to mean the contents of the dish, but do include instructions for putting the hotdish in the casserole dish. My grandma was 1st generation Swedish-American. Her parents spoke Swedish and English, and lived in an area settled by mostly Norwegians and Swedes. Minnesota required pharmacists who could speak Swedish to serve the immigrants. Sometime around 1865, Swedish pharmacists were recruited to come to MN. Both my Swedish great grandfathers immigrated to northern Minnesota to work as pharmacists. Growing up, a hotdish was what you made out of inexpensive meat, starch, and cream of something soup. A casserole had more expensive ingredients (wild rice, water chestnuts, ham/shrimp, broccoli) and was something you could serve company. Tuna hotdish, wild rice casserole, macaroni hotdish.

 

[CWS4322]

Can't resist throwing a cat among the pigeons just for the hell of it. Here goes.

A casserole is a dish of meat (usually), veg and stock (and sometimes wine) cooked slowly in the oven. Examples thereof being boeuf bourguignon, coq au vin, jugged hare, Lancashire hotpot and Irish stew. The covered dish they are cooked in is called a casserole too. So there.

A hot dish is anything that isn't cold.



(I can run very fast when DC-ers are chasing me)

It is an innate thing--growing up in MN, you just know what a hotdish is vs. a casserole. Like Steve said, some things are called casserole and would never to a hotdish, and vice versa.

 

[Addie]

So other than being a comfort food, where does mac and cheese fit in? I just want to know what I made tonight.

 

[jennyema]

I'm Swedish and was born in Minneapolis and lived in Fargo! My grandparents immigrated from Sweden. They spoke Swedish a lot and called me Yenny.

Never had a "hot dish" in either place.

Had plenty of weird Nordic food, though... ����

 

[Addie]

I'm Swedish and was born in Minneapolis and lived in Fargo! My grandparents immigrated from Sweden. They spoke Swedish a lot and called me Yenny.

Never had a "hot dish" in either place.

Had plenty of weird Nordic food, though... ����

When I lived in Tacoma, our mail lady was Swedish and she had the most lovely lilt to her accent. I could sit and listen to her talk all day.

We also had the Pacific Lutheran University just up the street from my home. Every graduation the King of Sweden would alternate with the King of Norway or Denmark (I forget which one) and would give the speech in their native tongue. One year the daughter of the woman I used to run for her dialysis was graduating and asked me to go with her. I didn't understand one word he said, but I loved listening to him. They did have a large screen up showing the translation. It was tradition that the welcoming speech be given in a Scandinavian tongue. The University was owned by two countries.

 

[jennyema]

I could barely understand my grandparents' English.

Swedish to me then was best described as "neerna neerna neerna ??"

But today I wish I had picked up on at least some of it!!

 

[Addie]

I could barely understand my grandparents' English.

Swedish to me then was best described as "neerna neerna neerna ??"

But today I wish I had picked up on at least some of it!!

How many times have I heard, "I wish I had paid attention when my grandparents were speaking Italian." My generation was the first American born generation here in this city.

 

[taxlady]

The government of Quebec, in its efforts to protect the French language, has rules about who can go to English school. If your parents went to English school in Quebec, you can go.

This had the unexpected result that most kids with Italian parents, speak really good Italian. See, the kids learn French in school and the parents tend to speak English when they aren't speaking Italian. So, the kids learn Italian. The percentage of Italian speaking 1st gens went up after those rules kicked in. It seems to be carrying over to the 2nd gens.

 

[Addie]

The government of Quebec, in its efforts to protect the French language, has rules about who can go to English school. If your parents went to English school in Quebec, you can go.

This had the unexpected result that most kids with Italian parents, speak really good Italian. See, the kids learn French in school and the parents tend to speak English when they aren't speaking Italian. So, the kids learn Italian. The percentage of Italian speaking 1st gens went up after those rules kicked in. It seems to be carrying over to the 2nd gens.

It never hurts to have a second language. I can only speak English and Childrenese.

 

[buckytom]

jenny, i don't know why but i've pictured you as small (petite); raven haired, straight and silky; big, almond eyes of dark brown; grey business suit, and a giant club.

for work.

ya know.

 

[jennyema]

jenny, i don't know why but i've pictured you as small (petite); raven haired, straight and silky; big, almond eyes of dark brown; grey business suit, and a giant club.

for work.

ya know.

LOL!!

Not quite!! Although I do have grey business suits and a club!!

 

[CWS4322]

I'm Swedish and was born in Minneapolis and lived in Fargo! My grandparents immigrated from Sweden. They spoke Swedish a lot and called me Yenny.

Never had a "hot dish" in either place.

Had plenty of weird Nordic food, though... ����

That is surprising, I grew up 20 minutes from Fargo, and hotdishes were popular at Lutheran Church suppers, potlucks, etc.

“Hot Dish Club” making meals for families in-need | FargoSchoolTalk

thatssewnina: Make Ahead Mondays: North Dakota Hotdish

Try the Hotdish! | Becoming Midwestern Try the Hotdish! | Follow me as I attempt to become truly Midwestern.

The term "hotdish" is alive and well in North Dakota as well.

 

[Dawgluver]

Good stuff, CWS! Read the third link, in the comments is a link to a Dave Barry article on ND, hilarious!

 

[CWS4322]

Good stuff, CWS! Read the third link, in the comments is a link to a Dave Barry article on ND, hilarious!

I loved Garrison Kellior's Prairehome Companion when he'd talk about Lutheran Church suppers...