lol bucky!
Cara, here's what a tater tot looks like: (this is MUCH bigger than it really is)
They're cylindrical, and about 2" long.
Or, you could dress like one and parade around the city.....
Here's a great read regarding the tots:
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A TRUE CLASSIC: Stands on its own[/FONT]
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It appears most people prefer Tater Tots in their purest form[/FONT]
By JOAN WHITELY
REVIEW-JOURNAL [FONT=Verdana, Arial]
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Some things in life are meant to be enjoyed as is. No tampering. No diluting. No fancifying.
Perhaps the Tater Tot is one such entity. To celebrate the potato treat's 50th anniversary, Taste decided to have a contest for readers to submit recipes incorporating Tater Tots.
We got a whopping two entries.
Both from the same person.
Both from a person who lives in California, reads the newspaper online, and persuaded a friend who lives here to cook and deliver her two Tater Tot recipes piping hot.
Way to go, Sue Elliott of Yorba Linda, Calif. You are the proud winner of $100, for your remote-controlled finger food.
Elliott calls her entry a Tater Tot Tasty. We liken it to a rumaki, which is an hors d'oeuvre of bacon wrapped around a water chestnut. Elliott wrapped her bacon, instead, around a Tater Tot with American cheese.
"You can't beat the time-honored combo of hash brown, cheese and bacon," one contest judge rhapsodized about the Tasty's flavor.
"This is a real comfort food dish," another judge said enthusiastically.
Back to the shortage of entries in our Tater Tot tourney. Taste chose the most positive interpretation of this circumstantial evidence.
We discarded the theory that all Las Vegans are avoiding potatoes because they're on low-carb diets. We also discarded the theory that everyone in town is too rich to desire an extra hundred bucks.
We concluded, rather, that most folks never use the Tater Tot as a mere recipe ingredient.
They like their Tater Tot straight up.
Because ... the Tot is a work complete within itself. The Tot is a simple statement that needs no enhancing. The Tot towers.
Oops. Almost got carried away with the euphoric tone of the press release the Ore-Ida folks sent to publicize the Tot's birthday.
Stripping down the hype from Ore-Ida, the truth is the Tater Tot is an edible -- nay, delectable -- potato counterpart to particle board.
Particle board is composed of compressed sawdust or wood fiber. Tater Tots are puffs composed of potato slivers that are left over from producing french fries.
Brothers Nephi and Golden Grigg came up with Tater Tots in 1954, three years after they had founded their french fry operation, the Idaho Frozen Foods Co., in Ontario, Ore., which is on the border with Idaho. Their company eventually became Ore-Ida.
A recent consumer survey commissioned by Ore-Ida found that Americans love Tater Tots as side dish, main dish and snack. Favorite ways to serve the Tot include with eggs for breakfast or dipped in ketchup as a side.
"We're thrilled that after 50 years, Tater Tots is still going strong and has become such a staple," said Michael Smith, a senior brand manager at Ore-Ida.
Through the decades, the Tater Tot has diversified. Along with the original version, the company also makes Crispy Crowns, Extra Crispy Tater Tots, Mini Tater Tots and Onion Tater Tots.