Hotdish, casserole, goulash or chop suey? Settle this debate

Earlier this year, I stirred up hamburger noodle hotdish in an 18-quart roaster for our local church’s weekly youth group supper. I snapped a picture and asked on my Facebook page, is this a hotdish or a casserole?

Hundreds weighed in on the noodles, hamburger and tomato sauce mixture.

Some gave guidelines on whether it was a casserole, based on being baked in a dish or stirred together in a roaster. Others agreed with me. Regardless of its preparation, it’s hotdish.

Funeral hotdish. Grandma’s hotdish. Grandpa’s hotdish. However, the answers on hotdish held a definite regional line in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota that faded somewhere in Nebraska.

For many, the answer was goulash. Goulash is stirred together on a stove, not baked, I was told. Comments and feedback on goulash included stewed tomatoes versus tomato sauce.

Folks weighed in on seasonings. Some consider goulash more of a stew than a casserole or hotdish, and it needs paprika.

Another hotdish, casserole or goulash debate swirled around whether corn was allowed to be stirred into this coveted mixture of goodness.

Then a comment arrived from the northeast part of the U.S. and said this is “chop suey.” That was a new one to me, but others shared the same answer, which led me to Google the term, and indeed, we all were referring to the similar dish.

Hamburger noodle hotdish or casserole, chop suey or goulash — regional differences vary in what we call this meal. But all of us agreed it’s comfort food. How comfort food evokes emotion and memories matter.

When you grow up in and around farm and rural culture, hotdishes and casseroles are a staple of what we eat and share with others.

We serve our families, bring a hotdish to a neighbor to celebrate a life event, or show up with a hotdish when there is a loss or difficult time for families. When guests arrive, a proud rural home cook may serve you the best family recipe of hotdish.

In my 20s and early in our marriage, my husband called and said his out-of-state colleague in his corporate sales job was in town and asked if he could invite him over for supper. I said sure, I had Tater Tot hotdish in the oven. That particular guest chuckled about hotdish.

I learned then that many city folks didn’t hold the same appreciation for my simple love of a home-cooked hotdish. He was a city food snob to me … and I was a simpleton cook, probably, to him. Or maybe it was a flash to his past or a new Midwest American food experience for him. Either way, I defined myself as an unwavering hotdish home cook that night.

In your community — casserole, hotdish, goulash, chop suey — show up with a pan, or roaster. Some defining hotdish moments in my life were shared with me from people outside of my immediate family.

Food in rural areas shows support and love. We aren’t always the best in rural culture and farm circles in showing love with words of affirmation or physically giving a hug, and not everyone wants that support.

And not everyone wants a hotdish either; I know this, but again many of us do. Most of us, isolated in rural areas, crave that connection and appreciate the sharing of another’s best home-cooked hotdish.

I learned from my grandma and mom. Protein, starch and vegetable — we can make a hotdish out of anything.

With a hotdish, casserole, goulash or chop suey, stir it up, bake it, tomato sauce or stewed tomatoes, corn or no corn, paprika or not. Serve others, share and enjoy a family meal or give to friends. Comfort food brings connection to our communities.

Let me know what you call it, and how you serve it. This is not a food column but I happily accept your best recipes to try for my family cooking.

Pinke is the publisher and general manager of Agweek. She can be reached at kpinke@agweek.com, or connect with her on Twitter @katpinke.

Katie Pinke serves as Agweek and AgweekTV’s publisher and general manager and since 2015 has written a weekly column. Pinke resides in rural North Dakota with her husband and children where she is a 4-H leader, active community volunteer, and a proud fifth-generation farmers’ daughter.