Well, yeh, that gives it just the right sort of seasoning.
Ahem, shaken from a seasonally appropriate, thematically matching, salt and pepper shaker set that’s been sitting on the stove for an indeterminate amount of time.
(Small holes are the pepper 'cause that stuff is potent and you don’t want to use too much!)
In our family, those were only on the dining table, but we were fancy.
Also, I feel obligated to point out that while traditionally Minnesotans don’t use much capsaicin based spices, we are fans of horseradish. Its a different form of heat, but it will clear your sinuses.
A couple of errors here:
The themed shakers are on the table, not the stove. And not “for an indeterminate amount of time” – they are seasonal, so they change every few weeks. *
And sitting on the stove is a set of ‘cooking shakers’ – large (8 ounces or so), non-breakable, easily grasped shapes.
- Possibly the contents have been there for an indeterminate amount of time, because they are usually put back in the cupboard still filled, and probably go several years between re-fillings.
And a new culinary question triggered by Mr Walz: what are whoopie pies and apple cider doughnuts, please?
(Who knew I would be learning so much about US culinary trends by following a political campaign?)
I do like tots. They also make fine hash browns.
Defrost them.
Melt some butter in a frying pan. Add the tots.
Mush them up with a spatula, flip them a couple of times to crisp them.
A whoopie pie is sort of like an Oreo cookie writ large or a moon pie, if you’re familiar with either of those. Two small pieces of usually chocolate cake sandwiching some cream.
I’ve not run across apple cider donuts (wtf is a “doughnut”? 
), but I would guess they are donuts made with apple cider. Apple cider itself is more popular/common up north, which I would also guess is why I have not run across donuts made with it.
Our neighbors have a big apple orchard. Their cider is sold at the farm store and a few local grocery stores.
This year’s cider will be released soon. It’s a little different each year because the blend of apples varies. Rainfall, temperatures, etc affect the flavor of the apple varieties and there is an art to deciding which varieties are used and the percentage of each type.
So does any of that cider accidently get left in a cool, dark place for 5-14 days?
Oreos yes, moon pie no, but that helps. Thank you.
The King’s English, of course.
A cider doughnut is an apple flavored cake doughnut, usually dusted with cinnamon and sugar. They are popular in the fall and if you get one while it is still warm, they are amazing. Cider is used in the dough to make the .
It should probably also be noted, for our friends across the pond, that in the U.S., apple cider is non-alcoholic. It’s essentially unfiltered apple juice. What folks in the UK call “cider,” we would call “hard cider.”
And yes, apple cider donuts are delicious.
Thus my question about the cool dark place.
Like the ice house . . . not that we’re doing that so that later we can strain all that useless ice out of our apple jack, err juice, I mean.
There’s a place down the street from me that sells Dirty Tots and they are yummy. It’s just tots topped with pulled pork and scallions and other goodies. Cheese too I think.
I make them at home all the time topped with whatever I’ve got in the fridge. Sautéed shallots are a great topper.
Ugh. My mom made both of those varieties, and I hated them.
Doesn’t help.
Oh, and I always think of Napoleon Dynamite when people mention tater tots.
New Ulm was also the home town of the children’s author, Wanda Gag. I read a bio of her a few years back, and I thought the name was familiar.
I only do when I put them in my pocket for later.
Not really all that surprising, considering that “tater tots” seems to be a mostly American appellation. It seems that they’re available in Canada, but under different names, and I don’t recall ever seeing them, though I don’t spend a lot of time browsing the frozen fries section. And “hotdish” is mostly known only in the American midwest. Before this thread, I had heard of “tater tots” but would not have been able to tell you what they were, and had never heard the term “hotdish” at all.
And, in fact, the term “Tater Tots” is a registered trademark of Ore-Ida (see the circle-R next to the name on the package below), though it’s very commonly used by people as a generic term.
To wit, it’s been kleenexed and bandaided – heck, even telepromptered.
ETA: Here’s a handy list.