Tater Tot Casserole/Hotdish
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JoAnn L.
Master Chef
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.
Love the links. Thanks
CWS4322
Chef Extraordinaire
Orange Jell-o (in a 9 x 13 " pyrex glass dish) with bananas, topped with a layer of real whipped cream. That was one my grandma's standbys. The one I never liked was lime Jell-o with grated carrot and celery, topped with a dollop of mayo. Other than plain gelatin, I don't keep Jell-o in the house.
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jennyema
Chef Extraordinaire
OMG! The lime jello with carrots and celery with mayo was always served at Grandma's special celebrations. Along with a dish of bread and butter pickles and canned black olives. Festive!!
Steve Kroll
Wine Guy
This is the one that gives me nightmares.
purple.alien.giraffe
Executive Chef
Is that the lime jello with cream cheese and/or cottage cheese, pinapple, and walnuts? If so, both my grandmothers had a variation of it and both were a favorite at every Thanksgiving dinner.
CWS4322
Chef Extraordinaire
Is that the one that is made with cottage cheese and pineapple and put in the freezer? I have a memory (bad) of that from when I was maybe 5 or 6. My grandma was visiting and for some reason, that was taken out of the freezer. I don't think I have encountered it since, but it is definitely not on my list of things to prepare...ever.This is the one that gives me nightmares.
CWS4322
Chef Extraordinaire
Ah-ha! I'm sure you're just suffering a memory lapse of the accompanying hotdishes.
And surely, the public school lunches in Fargo included hotdishes (and probably Spam Pizza burgers...).
Steve Kroll
Wine Guy
That's the one. I'm not sure who first thought of combining jello with cottage cheese, but it gave it a weird texture and flavor. It also suffered from an identity crisis of sorts. Was it a salad? Was it a dessert? Who knows.
CWS4322
Chef Extraordinaire
It was the texture that got me. I think it was supposed to be a dessert. I remember that it must have been mid-late August, so still warm weather in Bloomington, MN. Funny how a bad texture/taste experience some 50 years' ago is as vivid in my mind as if I'd experienced it last week. But then, my one and only experience with lutefisk is not one I've forgotten either--another texture thing.That's the one. I'm not sure who first thought of combining jello with cottage cheese, but it gave it a weird texture and flavor. It also suffered from an identity crisis of sorts. Was it a salad? Was it a dessert? Who knows.
Dawgluver
Chef Extraordinaire
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That's the one. I'm not sure who first thought of combining jello with cottage cheese, but it gave it a weird texture and flavor. It also suffered from an identity crisis of sorts. Was it a salad? Was it a dessert? Who knows.
Anything with jello was considered a salad.
Don't get me started on lutefisk. The stench is permanently burned into my nosebuds.
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Steve Kroll
Wine Guy
CWS4322
Chef Extraordinaire
It was Christmas the first year after my grandma died. The first Christmas in a long time that we didn't venture North to be with the clan. For some reason, although my grandma didn't serve it, my mother decided we needed to have lutefisk on the table Christmas Eve. I remember she cooked it in the pressure cooker (?) with milk. The house smelt of lutefisk (a very distinct odour for those who have never experienced it) for four days (even though, in the dead of a MN deep freeze, we opened the windows). Fortunately, my mother had Anne, the cook at the restaurant, also make a rare-medium rare prime rib. My first (and only taste) of lutefisk was to bite into this gelatinous goo (which I spit out in my napkin). My brothers got the firm part for their first bite, but followed my lead when they took their second bites. I don't think either has gone within 10 ft of lutefisk since. My closest encounter since been has been to walk by it (quickly) in the grocery store in MN when visiting my folks. The prime rib, on the other hand, was cooked to perfection (and a welcomed addition to the table--otherwise, we might have gone hungry). You know s/thing is not right when the dog won't eat it (the dog would not eat the lutefisk).
My poor mother ate 4 servings of lutefisk and burped lutefisk for a week. Never again. After that, we made Torsk (cod) for our fish course on Christmas Eve (and always had prime rib or roast beef on the table as well). You would've thought we were feeding a family and extended family of at least 20. No, just the five of us.
I will never forget the smell or texture of lutefisk. Despite that my ancestors made a very good living processing and exporting cod in the Lofloten Islands, I must say, I will never develop a taste for lutefisk. I am sure it is an acquired taste. Or, one has to be very, very drunk to the point that one's taste buds and sense of smell are completely numbed.
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Dawgluver
Chef Extraordinaire
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Thankfully, I didn't taste it, the smell was bad enough!
CWS4322
Chef Extraordinaire
One of the church cookbooks I have from the 1960s has no fewer than FIVE versions of this. It is considered a salad. Some contain horseradish, walnuts or pecans, or no nuts. Gawd.That's the one. I'm not sure who first thought of combining jello with cottage cheese, but it gave it a weird texture and flavor. It also suffered from an identity crisis of sorts. Was it a salad? Was it a dessert? Who knows.
jennyema
Chef Extraordinaire
Ok. Now I have to ask ... Speaking of 50 year old memories of Bloomington, MN... Do you remember the donut-making machine in the first-ever Target store in Bloomington? In the early 1960's?
The birds and the fish at Southdale?
CWS4322
Chef Extraordinaire
I don't remember ever going to Target when we lived there. My mom usually didn't take us shopping, she had an arrangement with our next door neighbour where they babysat each other's kids so shopping could be done sans children. However, I do remember the birds and fish at Southdale. We'd go to Dayton's for the annual picture with Santa. Until we moved when I was 7 we were not conisdered old enough to be taken out to public places--no restaurants, no shopping, once in awhile, we did get taken to a children's Saturday matinee. I think my parents would have liked to have had a nanny--we also ate separated from our parents and were in bed before they ate. We did a lot of things like skate on the backyard rink, walks in the woods, foraging with our parents, but not public activities.
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Steve Kroll
Wine Guy
I'll have to ask my wife and in-laws about this. She grew up in Bloomington (went to Lincoln HS) and her parents have lived there since the mid-1950s.
jennyema
Chef Extraordinaire
We made something sort of like that lime jello one in home ec. The teacher called it "under the sea salad". I was really looking forward to eating it. I was very disappointed.
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