"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.
