Tater Tot Hot Dish
When I did the story about The Apple Dumplin', my thought was to make it the kickoff to a new series about typically Midwestern food and cooking. Sometimes it would be about eating out, as on that occasion, and sometimes I'd feature home cooking. I didn't grow up in the Midwest (though I've lived here for almost 30 years, so some stuff has rubbed off on me by now). Thus, I don't have childhood memories or a Midwestern family cooking heritage to draw on. But I know people who do; heck, my esteemed partner is Iowa born and bred. And research can be done. So I have a lot of ideas.
For my first post about cooking Midwestern-style at home, I present tater tot hot dish. In talking with friends, I'd heard about this homey dish. The standard ingredients include some kind of meat (usually ground beef); a can of cream soup (cream of celery, mushroom, asparagus, even tomato); often vegetables (frozen peas, or green beans); those delectable nuggets of shredded potato known as tater tots; and cheese.
This is a quick and easy dish to make for a weeknight din—er, supper. The only time you have to use your knife is to dice the onion. Tater Tot Hot Dish
From Susi Huls of Royal, IL
1 pound ground beef
1 small onion, diced
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
1 can cream of celery soup
1 32-ounce bag Ore-Ida brand tater tots
1 to 1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese or slices of Velveeta
Preheat the oven to 375 ° F.
In a large skillet, cook the ground beef and onion over medium heat, breaking the meat up with a fork or a spatula so you don't have large clumps. Season well with salt and pepper (I used maybe a half-teaspoon salt and the same amount of pepper). When the beef has just lost its pink color, remove the skillet from the heat. If there's excessive fat in the skillet, pour it off (I found that I didn't need to do this). Stir the can of soup (as-is; don't add any water) into the meat mixture until well blended.
Lightly oil a shallow baking dish or pan (I used an oval Corningware dish that's about 9 by 11 inches). Spread the meat mixture evenly in the pan, then top with frozen tater tots to form a solid layer. Top the tater tots with the shredded cheese.
Bake uncovered at 375 °F for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the tots are golden and the cheese is melted and bubbly.
This was a very tasty meal (I served it with steamed green beans, since Susi's version of the hot dish doesn't have veggies in it). Neither Keith nor I had ever had TTHD before; we decided it was very reminiscent of roast beef hash, and in fact I think diced leftover roast beef would be great in it.Did your mom (or grandma, or aunt) make tater tot hot dish for you in your formative years? If you grew up with this dish, was it made as in this recipe or differently? Do you have other Midwestern home-cooking secrets? If so, do tell.
Thanks very much to my friend and coworker Susi for sharing her recipe and allowing me to reprint it. Look for more Midwestern meals in the future!
Labels: beef, main dishes, Midwestern meals, recipes
posted by Lisa at 6:08 AM
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28 Comments:
You hit the recipe it on the nose, hmmm, tatertot casserole. Dah, now I'm going to have to go make it.
Nice post!
I too am a transplant to the Midwest and am also interested in the ways in which Midwesterners express their regional identity through food. While the tater tot hot dish is not as common here in Northwestern Ohio, there are similar dishes that use mass produced, industrial ingredients such as the cream soups and frozen veggies.
Through my research, I have been able to trace how traditional German recipes in Ohio have been updated with mass produced ingredients. For example, the Northwest Ohio chicken pot pie is a layer of chicken and noodles ladled onto a generous mound of mashed potatoes. One may observe how this is similar to what you are writing about: meat, gravy, potatoes in one dish. The variations are endless, only limited only by one’s imagination and access to ingredients.
NC
Awesome. Required midwestern eating. It's super easy to do a vegetarian version, as you can imagine.
I've live in the Midwest my entire life and had never heard of this dish until a friend from Minnesota mentioned it. I think my mother must have rebelled against traditional Midwestern cooking because I'm unfamiliar with most of the "staples".
this was one of my favorite childhood meals that i nearly forgot about until i read your post. my parents mixed a can of green beans with the cream of mushroom soup to sneak in some veggies. i think i may just have to make this one of these days!
This sounds like a fun series, Lisa, and I'm looking forward to future posts.
I must make this recipe for my husband, who is always eying the tater tots (I never buy the stuff). I'll replace soy crumbles in place of the beef.
Thanks, Amanda.
Nathan, thanks. The "chicken pot pie" you mention is put together just the way that chicken or beef and noodles is in these parts—that is, over mashed potatoes.
Kfan: I was thinking about what a vegetarian version would be and wasn't really getting any pictures, beyond replacing the beef with maybe TSP.
Erin: Ha! Your mom was a rebel. Regarding Minnesota: I wonder if this dish originated there. I've noticed that "tater tot hot dish" and "Minnesota" seem to appear in the same sentence often.
Lisa: I'd like to try it with green beans (but I think frozen, not canned, nothing against your parents) and with cream of mushroom soup...
Hi Nupur: Yes, give him some tater tots! Now that they don't contain the evil hydrogenated oil, I don't see any harm in them. :) Great idea about the soy crumbles; as noted above, I'd had a vague thought about using what I used to call TSP (texturized soy protein—same thing, I imagine) in a vegetarian version of this dish. How would you prepare the crumbles before putting them in the casserole?
My kids ate various versions of this dish all through childhood. My family is Midwest born and raised, go figure we are still here!
French style green beans are good and try mixing a few squits of ketchup into the soup. Also you can do the whole thing in the oven by using lean meat, patting it into a thin layer on the bottom of your baking dish. It will take a little longer to bake, but not much.
For some reason the tater tot dish was never circulated within my midwestern circle; I'd never even heard of it until my father died in 2001 and several women dropped it off to at the house.
I'll try to think up food that you could count on to be there at every holiday, reunion, funeral, or picnic, and send some ideas.
Serve me up a large portion please! :) Sounds fantastic.
Thanks for this post, Lisa.
Igrew up in southern Illinois and had never had tater tot hot dish until I met my husband in the late 90s. John’s mother is from South Dakota, where hot dish reigns supreme. During our six years in Minnesota, we were introduced to many wondrous hot casseroles (as well as the infinite possibilities of Jell-o).
My friend Kathy was from Wisconsin, and her brother the engineer made his tater tot hot dish with the tots upright for more tot per square inch.
I use a recipe from the cookbook Hot Dish Heaven that includes a layer of frozen mixed vegetables. I also sprinkle shredded cheddar on top and like cottage cheese or sour cream on the side. My South Dakotan mother-in-law leaves out the onion because it’s too “spicy.”
However you make it, tater tot hot dish is maximum comfort food.
Yep, I had it too (and still make it every now and again). Mine was -cheese -cream of celery +cream of mushroom. Same concept though!
I had never heard of tater tots. I'll ask Robert if he remembers eating this dish when growing up. Very interesting post.
Hi, Lisa,
Thank you for explaining TSP! Until today, TSP to me has always stood for trisodium phosphate, which used to be the main active ingredient in dishwasher and laundry detergents until somebody figured out that it the phosphate part (which is a fertilizer) was accelerating algae growth in our water supply.
- Stuart
i don't know where this meal originated but the reason you see it associated with Minnesota is because they (and maybe ND) call everything hotdishes where as other midwestern states refer to this and other similar dishes as casseroles. You may have come across this book in your research, but if not take a look at Hot Dish Heaven: Classic Casseroles from Midwest Kitchens. You may find some other great midwestern gems.
You might be interested in this exhibit at the McLean County Museum of History (http://www.mchistory.org/calendar/cal.php):
Come & Get It! The Way We Ate
In this new exhibit explore the eating habits, cooking equipment,methods and diverse food traditions of McLean County residents since the early 1800's. See how dramatically our eating habits have changed over time. Investigate four kitchens, each representing a different era and illustrating how the kitchen has changed in the last 180 years. This exhibit features hands-on interactives and interpretive panels that examine the social and economic changes that have shaped the way we ate from 1830 to 2008.
Guest Curator's lecture is tomorrow (March 28) at 1 pm. I hope to get to the exhibit at least between now and August!
Like others, I think this originated in the northern tier of the Midwest - I grew up near Springfield, IL, and never had it.
My dad didn't like food all mixed up together, so Mom didn't make many casseroles, except 'goulash' - spaghetti, ground beef, onion, and something tomatoey baked together. I need to get that recipe....
Vicki: Thanks for the ideas and suggestions. Ketchup in there sounds like a great addition, must try that.
Gnightgirl: Thanks! Any ideas/recipes will be appreciated.
Thanks, Cynthia! This stuff is rather difficult to stop eating.
Elbee: Thank you for all the info. I'll be looking into getting the cookbook you mention. Love "more tot per square inch" and the thing about the onion being too spicy!
Anon: Two kinds of soup in there?! You're out of control! ;)
Simona, thanks. I'm glad I could introduce you to a classic American food product (the tots)!
Stuart, in mulling over your comment, I realized that I meant TVP, not TSP! It was TVP that I fooled around with a couple times and had vegetarian friend who used it often as a meat sub. Stands for texturized vegetable protein. I'm not sure if the soy crumbles Nupur mentioned in her comment are the same thing.
Anon, thanks. That's interesting about hot dish vs. casserole naming. And I will definitely look into that book, which Elbee also mentioned above. I saw it online and it looks like a treasure trove!
Lisa, thank you so much for that info about the exhibit. I wish I could go today, but I can't. I'm going to make a plan to go soon, though. How fun and interesting!
Janna: The woman who gave me her hot dish recipe also said that in her family, foods were not mixed together. There was always some kind of meat, a veg, a starch, and fruit (usually Jell-O w/fruit in it), but they did NOT intermingle! And yes, you should get that recipe. :) There are so many things I wish I'd gotten from my mother, cooking- and recipe-wise.
This looks fantabulous. Gratuitiously, I wonder if you'd consider doing an entry (if you haven't already) on late night food options in Chambana (I seem to want to go out to eat right around 8:55pm, esp. on weeknights in this town). That probably means a bar food review, but...
I've lived in the midwest my whole life, and I've never seen anything like that. wow.
I've had tator tot casserole many times. We make something similar that has more flavor. It's shredded hash browns, cream soup, sour cream, shredded cheese (half in, half on top), and ranch dressing mix. Ham or hamburger is optional if serving as a main dish. It's fantastic! I recommend bread crumbs or crushed crackers with butter as a topping before baking.
From the Midwest (SW Ohio) and never had this... We were more influenced by German-style cooking though. roast beef (or turkey) hot shots are a yummy memory, leftover roast beef on white bread smothered in gravy. Also something called Cabbage Patch Stew - beef & cabbage soup served over mashed potatoes. Darn! Now my mouth is watering!
Surprisingly, my kids don't like tater tots? Not sure what is wrong with *them*!?
Count me as another mid-westerner who's never heard of this. When I saw this, I immediately thought it looked like some sort of country kitchen shepherd's pie. I love shepherd's pie, so I'm all over this.
In fact, I might just make my normal shepherd's pie recipe, and put tater tots on top. That would be awesome.
High Five Midwest Cooking! I'm a transplant like you, Lisa, and my mother never-ever-ever made casseroles. So I never did. Now I cook for my better half and if dinner has cream of 'shroom soup in it, he's so freaking happy. So now I'm a casserole queen.
When I moved to the Midwest there were two dishes that I was amazed at (and slightly scared of):
1. strawberry pretzel salad
2. deli ham slices rolled up with cream cheese and green olives.
I was 16 the first time I was in South Dakota and the family I stayed with ate meat three meals per day. That was new to me, too.
tmi? :)
GH: Thanks, it was a yummy casserole. And thanks for the suggestion on late-night eating options.
LD: Yeah, my husband never had this growing up in Iowa, either. His mom didn't make casseroles, period.
Aimee, sounds good, especially for the many lovers of Ranch dressing out there. :) I like the bread-crumbs-on-top idea.
Fern's Mom: Your kids have superior tastes, clearly! But seriously, :) that cabbage and beef soup over potatoes sounds fabulous. As does the sandwich smothered in gravy. If I hadn't just had tacos made with leftover BBQ from Black Dog, I'd be feeling hungry right now.
Trey, shepherd's pie w/tater tots would rock.
CS: Funny comments. I'm sure the Jell-O salad w/pretzels will be showing up here. I hadn't thought about the ham and cheese rollups, you've just reminded me.
Can I seriously come over for dinner soon? ...... your recipe sounds so yummy.....
Thanks, Dazy. Can't take credit, though—it's all Susi! :)
Cheese? On tater tot hot dish? ICK!
And as pointed out, this is a Minnesota/North Dakota thing, not a Midwest thing. Wiki agrees: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotdish Look at the number of "I am a Midwesterner and never heard of this" posts. Or worse someone called it Casserole! Come to the Winter Carnival in St Paul - we have a Hot Dish Tent to eat at even!
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