Hotdish
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hotdish is any of a variety of casserole dishes popular in the Midwest of the United States and especially in Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
It consists of a starch and a protein (meat and/or a vegetable) mixed together with a binding ingredient (most often canned soup or a sauce) and a topping.
In practice, typical ingredients are potatoes, ground beef and corn, with canned soup added for flavor and as a sauce, and seasoned with salt, pepper or tabasco sauce. Another popular hotdish is made with Kraft macaroni and cheese or plain noodles, canned tuna and peas, with canned soup - usually cream of mushroom - for binding. Cream of mushroom soup is so ubiquitous in hotdish that it is often referred to in such recipes as "Lutheran Binder," referring to hotdish's position as a staple of Lutheran-church cookbooks, although also made and enjoyed by all faiths in the region. Hotdish even made its way into books; Hotdish to Die For, a collection of six culinary mystery short stories in which the weapon of choice is hotdish, is a upper regional bestseller in Minnesota. Panko (Japanese bread crumbs) have in recent years become a popular topping, replacing the traditional (and higher in fat) potato chips.
Hotdishes are generally filling, convenient and easy to make, and well-suited for potlucks; they can be eaten either on a plate or in a bowl and may be considered comfort food.
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[edit] Etymology
Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Dakotas have a lot of Scandinavian heritage; hotdish may be a calque of the Norwegian "varmrett," which is a compound word that translates literally to "warm dish." In Norwegian, however, a "varmrett" is used more generally to mean a heated dish, like a casserole, without the starch/meat/vegetable requirement.
[edit] Disambiguation
While hotdish typically refers to the Minnesotan, Wisconsinite, or North or South Dakotan casserole described in this article, hot dish (written as two separate words) generally refers to any meal or item of cuisine that has been heated. This usage, needless to say, is sharply deprecated in Minnesota and the Dakotas.
While there has been a large controversy over which terms to use, the term hotdish is expected if prepared in Minnesota, Wisconsin, or the Dakotas. The term casserole may be used more frequently in other areas.
