casserole Archives - Clay Coyote

Hot Dish vs Casserole Debate

January 3, 2019 By Kylie Lawson

Now, before you change your mind about us, both Morgan and I are not originally from Minnesota, so it’s not our fault we don’t call it hot dish. Because we don’t call it that, it got me wondering what the origin of hot dish is, considering Minnesota is the only state that refers to casseroles as hot dishes. Like, isn’t that what they called a good looking lady back in the day? A hot dish? Yeah… I thought so. So how did we get from a term of endearment to a term used for practically any food you can throw in a dish and put in the oven? Well, here’s where my mission for answers led me …

If you recently watched WCCO News, you would’ve seen on their Good Question segment that the question asked was, “Why do Minnesotans call casserole hot dish?”

So that’s where I started digging. What I learned was that casseroles first appeared in the 1920s when canned goods and self-regulating ovens became a thing. Casseroles were used as a means to stretch a leftover meal, which was especially important during the Great Depression and World War II. The term “hot dish” first appeared in a cookbook in 1930 by a Mankato, Minnesota church group called Grace Lutheran Ladies Aid.

Also, a fun fact, in the 1950s, Ore-Ida needed a way to use leftover potato scraps, and thus behold came the tator tot. They marketed them as a topping for casseroles and they really took off.

So now I knew the origin, but what’s the difference between a hot dish and a casserole? My hunt for answers continued …

I found a hot dish blog series from Ramshackle Pantry and low and behold! I got just the answers.

According to the Ramshackle Pantry, there are three main differences between the two: definition, ingredients, and purpose.

Definition: Casserole is the name of the dish used to cook with, whereas hot dish is the meal itself.

Ingredients: Casseroles can contain any ingredients under the sun practically, where hot dishes have set ingredients they have to have. A hot dish has to have a “cream of something” soup, or a less commonly used tomato base, a protein, vegetables, a starch (potato or pasta), a crispy topping (chips, breadcrumbs, tater tots, etc.), and optionally, cheese. Which if you’re from Wisconsin, you know there’s going to be cheese in it.

Purpose: A casserole can serve any function, for example, a main dish, side dish, breakfast, or even dessert. A hot dish is a main meal only, as it (purportedly) contains all the nutrients one needs in a hearty meal.

Well, there you have it folks. You have the answers to the ever-mysterious question of why is it called hot dish and how is it different from a casserole. If you take anything away from this article, let it be this: All hot dishes are casseroles, but not all casseroles are hot dishes. Don’t tell anyone I said this, but I might just be convinced to start calling it hot dish.

If you’re interested in making your own hot dish recipes, try making it in a Clay Coyote Flameware skillet, a multi-purpose bread baker, or individual casserole dishes. The skillet comes in a small and large size, so they’re perfect for any number of guests. And because the skillets are made with our Clay Coyote Flameware you can start them on the stove top and finish them in the oven. Or, you can make your own personal sized hot dish in our new individual bakers. Perfect when you’re having a relaxing night in by yourself and don’t feel like sharing.

My favorite hot dish recipe is the classic Tater Tot Hotdish. My mother uses the Campbell’s recipe, which I’ve shared here:

1 pound ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1 can Campbell’s® Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup or Campbell’s® Condensed 98% Fat Free Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
3 cups frozen fried potato nuggets

Step 1 – Cook the beef and onion in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until the beef is well browned, stirring to separate meat. Pour off any fat.

Step 2 – Stir the soup, ketchup and Worcestershire in the skillet. Spoon the beef mixture into a 2-quart shallow baking dish. Arrange the potatoes around the inside edge of the baking dish.

Step 3 – Bake at 425°F. for 25 minutes or until the potatoes are golden brown.

Stop by the Clay Coyote Gallery and Pottery to pick up your own skillet or casserole dish to start cooking up that iconic Minnesotan dish. We’re open on Mondays to Saturdays 10-5pm and Sunday’s 12-4pm. Be sure to share your photos and hot dish recipes with us, we’d love to see what you’re cooking!

Carved masterpieces from Clay & Paper

September 22, 2016 By Morgan

We first introduced Ira Burhans’ work in the Gallery this summer, it was such a hit that we brought in even more for the holidays. His carved pots are the perfect addition to your table.

Ira received his degree in 1980 from St. Cloud State University just 45 minutes north of the Clay Coyote. Ira still has a family home just minutes from The Gallery, but he resides in Palm Harbor, Florida, where he and his wife run a business called Clay & Paper.

Many of Ira’s pots come with recipes ideas (shown here: cheddar cheese potato bake, or as we call it here hotdish).

Click here to see a video of Ira throwing.

Call, email, or visit the Gallery and anyone of our team members can help you bring home one of these masterpieces.

TWO MID-WINTER IDEAS

January 5, 2009 By Vivid Image

So far it’s been a cold and snowy winter here in ‘ da Nort ‘ …so what better time to warm things up with a fantastic dinner with your friends …and a non-intensive project that will pay dividends all year.The first is one we wrote about last January at length, a cassoulet based dinner, and the second, making your own homemade vinegar.

The cassoulet (the pot you make it in is called a cassole) can be as complicated or simple as you wish. This is a traditional French bean “stew” which would have been made, over a series of days, as ingredients were acquired as parts of other meals.

There is ongoing argument over what is the most authentic, and we won’t get into that one. See an article in “Departures Magazine” where Sylvie Bigar has done her best to walk the middle ground. We have made Paula Wolfert’s recipe twice, once with simplifications, and then the full recipe including homemade sausage and duck confit. Doing it the full way made a big difference.

Paula swears the angle sided bowl that we make, also makes a big difference. Others use a pot more like our standard casserole. For other recipes. just Google “Cassoulet” and you’ll get a bunch. Once you get the basic idea, make up your own with what you have. Then invite some friends over, open a bottle of wine, some french bread and maybe a bit of salad and you’ll have an evening to remember.

WINE VINEGAR

The second project is even easier, but takes some time and patience. Make your own wine vinegar. A pottery crock, like the Clay Coyote Vinegar Crock is perfect, but you can do it in other containers if you want. First check out this Sunset Magazine article and this PDF file too.

I’d suggest starting with at least one bottle and then topping it off later with more. You can get a mother from Beer-Wine.com. Once you have one, that’s all you’ll need as you can keep a bit in a jar for your next batch. We’ve experimented with freezing it and that appears to work, just as it does for sourdough.

It’ll take about 10 weeks for your first batch of red wine vinegar and 16 to 20 for a white wine batch. You’ll never find a commercial product that comes close. Use it in making sauces, a bit in almost anything to enhance flavors. Pasturize it and you can store it forever and make herbal vinegars, too.

Your Clay Coyote crock comes with instructions and there are websites all over the ‘net if you search for “homemade vinegar”.

FLAMEWARE!

November 25, 2008 By Vivid Image

Here it is: new CERAMIC FLAMEWARE from Clay Coyote Pottery. It’s ceramic cookware for stovetop cooking! We’ve spent nearly 2 years working on this to get it right…

It started a couple of years ago as Paula Wolfert was looking for a source for pots to emulate some of the indigenous cookware traditionally used over open fires and charcoal. trouble is, our modern stoves have much higher heat.

A few potters have made stoneware flameware over the years, but conventional wisdom was that it was risky and devilishly difficult.

Well, we can attest that it’s difficult, but after cooking with a number of pieces over the last 6 months, and recruiting a number of our friends to do the same, it’s ready for you.

The first piece is this skillet…

About 10 inches in diameter and 2 inches deep. Fry, saute, bake, roast…do just about anything. Good in the microwave, cleanup easily in the sink or dishwasher. Tom’s used it for eggs almost every morning for 5 months and finds it has much less of a tendency to burn food, and the eggs are more tender that in metal cookware.

Betsy’s been doing the same with oatmeal every morning in a small saucepan and with the same result.

Paula’s been doing a lot of work on cooking in clay, as she has for years, and has decided that it’s the way to go. “These are absolutely fabulous” she says.

Next was a cazuela, about 11 inches in diameter that Paula needed for gratins and some other dishes started on the stovetop, and finished in the oven. This one’s got a smaller ‘trumpet’ handle with a small ‘hot-pad tab’ on the other side for easy handling in and out of the oven. Betsy just used one to make an apple tarte tatin.

We’ve done a couple of saucepans but are just finalizing sizes and shapes. Finally, we did a 3 qt. casserole for Paula, and she found it made the best daube ever and that it cooked simmered dishes better on the stovetop than any crockpot does.

We aren’t sure why these ceramic pots cook so well (and clean up even better). After a lot of testing, we think that it’s because the ceramic is an insulator, heat comes through more gently, so food has much less tendency to burn, even slightly. The secret, though, is to slow down, put the heat where you’ll need it eventually, and then wait for the pot to warm up. If you punch in high heat initially, the heat keeps coming through and can overcook the food. You also have to learn to either turn the heat down or off earlier, or remove the food as soon as it’s done. But these pots go from stove to table so beautifully that the turn down early is the way to go.

Right now glazes are limited to the one blue-gray shown. We’ll have more later, but never the same as our regular glazes. The clay that makes these pots possible limits the glaze possibilities.

As we get them ready, we’ll post them on the website.