Gosh, @BippityBoppityBoo , that sounds and looks great. Now you’ve got me hungry!
ETA: @CairoCarol , once again I’m curious: what are “funeral potatoes”?
(Starting to think I’m living in a culinary wasteland.)
This Iowa girl/Nebraska mother and grandmother would answer that ‘funeral potatoes’ are yet another hearty, homey, crowd pleasing comfort food casserole. In my experience they are made with frozen hash browns instead of tater tots, but the rest of the ingredients are much the same, including the last layer being melted cheese, gooey and indulgent.
I think they get called ‘funeral potatoes’ because they work well to go with the sliced ham or roast beef that the church women’s circles serve at after funeral luncheons. Funeral potatoes are hot, tasty, filling, easy to serve. Often the family of the deceased pays for the meat, whether roast beef or ham (in Iowa growing up it was usually ham, given that Iowa is the top producer of pork in the US. In Nebraska beef reigns supreme so it is marginally more likely), which the church ladies heat and serve, alongside a buffet of a wide variety of salads (yes, some jello ones!), many iterations of funeral potatoes or mac and cheese, as well as a proud plethora of cakes, pies and cookies donated by circle members. The tater tot casserole ot hot dish has ground beef (or ground turkey) in it making it more expensive for people to fix and donate and also not necessary because the meat is provided as ham or roast beef paid for by the family.
As to which is more authentic, casserole or hot dish? That may be decided more by zip code or latitude-hot dish in Minnesota, Wisconsin, the Dakotas, casserole in Nebraska and Iowa.
I last enjoyed ‘funeral potatoes’ at my dearly beloved brother-in-law’s memorial luncheon in Glenwood, Iowa in May. Can’t remember if they came with roast beef or ham but I sure enjoyed those potatoes (and cakes, brownies and pies brought in by church members for whom he had been their family doctor).
In my considerable experience eating at those luncheons honoring home health clients who died over my 42 year nursing career, Lutherans do the best potluck luncheon spread, followed closely by Methodists or Czech or Polish Catholics.
Thanks, Boo. Now, you’ve made me hungrier. 
Here’s one recipe for ‘funeral potatoes’, from my regional grocery store. Many recipes add that crispy topping of buttered, crushed corn flakes but in all truthfulness I don’t see that last topping all that often. The cheese and sour cream proportions make it indulgent enough.
There are crockpot ‘funeral potatoes’ recipes~even easier to make and transport.
Thank you, Boo! I’ll have to give those a try.
Thank you! Your post makes me happy.
As a second language speaker of English and not immersed in the relevant subculture my first thought was: now Democrats go in for cannibalistic infanticide?
Da nada. Just making thrifty use of that liberal arts BA in sociology and cultural anthropology.
Try one of those funeral potatoes recipes first~that’ll make it easier to mosey into the tater tot casserole.
You could always make the potatoes distinctly Hawaiian and mix in some diced Spam™️. They are recipes of freedom and opportunity.
You made me happy to know a fellow Doper enjoys church cookbooks as much as I do~they really are cultural icons, besides just plain fun. I’d be interested in hearing what you think about Lutheran cookbooks vs Methodist, etc.
Lovely question - alas, I’m not qualified to answer. My community cookbooks are (or were - I did try to reduce my collection significantly a few years ago and now many are gone) too non-religious and wide-ranging for that. I have (had) a Firemen’s cookbook (from somewhere in the midwest but I don’t recall where); a Pohnpei Library cookbook; a Montana rhubarb cookbook; several Amish, Mennonite, and Pennsylvania cookbooks; quite a few Hawai’i community and one Guam community cookbooks; and - this is my prize community cookbook that I will never give away, “Recipes from the Jewish Kitchens of Curaçao.”
But I think research into the finer points of community cookbooks by religion is a wonderful idea. If anyone ever does that, count me in as a willing purchaser of a book about that exploration.
No infants are hurt in the making of tater tots!
Looking at that recipe I’d make some changes. I’d steam the brats in water. Then slice thin and saute with onions celery garlic and some beer. Add the soups but I’d might want to try cream of shrimp instead of shroom, mix well. Pour into casserole dish top with cheese then tots and more cheese. Then bake. Feed to hungry minions.
I’m kinda the same way. When I make stir fry, I go to the store and buy what’s gonna work.
I kinda ‘wing it’. It’s the best way to learn how to cook.
The last one, finished last night was great.
I would just fry them up. Poaching brats in beer is a waste of flavor and good beer, in my opinion. You leech the flavor out into the poaching liquid and the beer and onions doesn’t really add to it. It’s one of the ways Wisconsinites make brats, though, so may be a nod to that state: either poach in beer and onions, then grill; or grill and hold warm in a bath of beer and onions (which I find a much preferable method); or just grill the sucks as God intended and don’t waste the beer and onions on them.
There’s absolutely no need to precook them by parboiling. You’ll get far better flavor by pan frying them (or even grilling them, but that would be silly for a hot dish) first.
These little tykes are safe, too.
Well, not the fishies. They’re consumed in the process. But the tiny Nordic dancers are ok.
Nice. It does seem like adding the onion and garlic powder to the pot of water is a waste. Your method retains the flavor better.
Oooh, that does sound very comforting and yummy. I think I’d substitute Ortega green chiles (they’re very mild) in place of the green beans for my taste.
At my work, we put one together as a fundraiser for our annual charitable contributions event. It was fun, and people included funny family stories. Since I worked with a very culturally diverse population, there was a ton of variety, too.
I believe they are what we in the mitten call, “cheesy potatos.”
Oops shades of another vp potatoes.
While we’re talking about Walz family recipes, has anyone got Gwen’s Gingersnap recipe?