Hot Dishes from the Minnesota Centennial Cook Book

When you think of hot dishes, you think of Minnesota, as is only right since the hot dish is the unofficial state cuisine.

The term “hot dish,” called a casserole in other parts of the country, was first used in a 1930 Mankato Lutheran church cookbook which included a recipe titled Hot Dish submitted by Mrs. C.W. Anderson. (It was comprised of hamburger, onions, elbow macaroni, celery, canned peas, condensed tomato soup and tomatoes.) Hot dishes rose to popularity during the Depression and the two world wars as they were an excellent way to make less go farther.

There is no consensus on the proper spelling, hotdish or hot dish. Merriam-Webster uses “hot dish.” Popular culture uses “hotdish.” For purposes of this blog post, we going with what the cookbook authors used.

When Minnesota celebrated its centennial year in 1958, the Women’s Commission of the Minnesota Statehood Centennial Commission produced a cookbook titled 100 Years of Good Cooking. Organized by county, it elegantly showcased recipes that told the history of how Minnesotans ate. After the centennial year, the copyright was transferred to the Minnesota Historical Society and they have kept the cookbook in print. This vintage 1989 ninth printing is a pure pleasure to browse. I could have used up an entire pad of post-it flags marking interesting recipes and still needed more flags. It offers up some interesting and mouthwatering hot dishes.

A normal recipe post on Vintage Unscripted would have a couple of recipes, but quite honestly, it was impossible to decide which recipes to cut. You’re welcome.

We’ll start with a classic: ground beef, kidney beans, rice AND potatoes, and tomato soup to make a sauce. Very economical, makes a lot, lasts a while, tastes even better as leftovers.

Two things stand out about this next recipe. Although “mushroom” is a top billed ingredient, the mushroom involved is condensed soup, with the note that a can of button mushrooms can be added. Also, the crumb topping is graham crackers, which is unexpected but also intriguing.

It would be hard to find a heartier or easier dinner than Steak Hot Dish. Aside from a few minutes slicing and browning, once it hits the oven you have an hour to spend reading, doomscrolling or exercising.

It’s considered malpractice to write a post on casseroles and not include a tuna casserole recipe. Tuna casserole is as polarizing as candy corn–either you’re in for seconds or you’re eating cereal for dinner instead.

The use of nuts in main dishes is always appreciated. And you have to applaud anything topped with crushed potato chips. The ingredients are interesting. This could be absolutely smashing or abjectly horrifying. But since this is the 8th printing of the cookbook, we’re betting on smashing.

There is so much to love about hot dishes. The ease, the way they scent the whole house while they’re in the oven, the leftovers to take for lunch the next day and the single casserole dish to wash. Let us know which of these sounds the tastiest to you in the comments.

If you’re interested in ordering current edition of the 100 Years of  Good Cooking cook book, it’s available here.