Wow, so that's actually a "thing"?

When the girls were small they loved something similar. I browned burger, onion and mushrooms, added some flour and made gravy with some beef broth, then added in whatever vegetables I had on hand. I always used a cast iron skillet, so when it was bubbling, I added the tater tots and stuck it all into the oven. I did the same thing when I made shepherd's pie, except I used leftover mashed potatoes for the topping

That makes it extremely similar to yours, other than I didn't use cream of mushroom soup. And here I thought I made it up, we called it "Tater Tot Glop".

I used to make it whenever I had a pound of ground beef to make for supper and the girls would bring home surprise "guests", I could stretch that pound of burger a long way. All their friends loved the stuff too.

Annie

Well I hate to burst the bubble, I don't live in Minnesota, but Iowa is pretty close and we also bring a hot dish to things....and my mother in law was a bona fide 100% Swedish Minnesota girl don't ya know....before she married an Iowan.
But, a hot dish isn't a "recipe"...what you posted is tater tot hotdish. But a tuna casserole is also a hot dish and goulash put into a casserole is a hot dish, and there's a chicken, broccoli and wild rice thing that is also a hot dish ( wild rice and Minnesota go together!)
I think people who are not native midwesterners ( and I am one...but have lived here a long time) think there is only this hamburger/canned soup/ frozenvegetable hotdish, when in reality any complete meal in a baking dish is a hotdish. It's synonymous with what others call a casserole...but Minnesotans say you use a casserole to cook a hotdish. I know it's complicated....it's taken me 30 years to figure it out.
And a hotdish is very often something taken...like "Well you bring jell-o salad, and Mildred, you bring the hotdish....."
Or.."Old Mr Hanson died and I took over a hotdish".

I'd never heard the term 'hot dish' until my (then) new SIL used the term. Was confused until I figured out that 'hot dish' is Upper Midwest speak for 'casserole', or, more specifically, a one-dish meal cooked in a casserole. (To exclude things like individually rolled up enchiladas. But you can have a layered enchilada 'hot dish'.) She is from far eastern Montana so probably it's spillover from N. Dakota.

I started making it after DSI mentioned that he liked it--he would get it at a small local grocery store lunch counter. Didn't have a recipe so just made it up as I went along. Make it like Annie does...ground beef, onion, garlic, thyme browned in a skillet and then add some flour, cook and, where she uses beef broth, I use milk. A shot of Worcestershire, some Marmite or Vegemite and frozen mixed vegetables. Turn out into a casserole, top w/ tater tops and into the oven til it's all bubbly and the potatoes are browned. I don't use cast iron; prefer using a chef's pan, but using a skillet that can go into the oven is a good idea. (I use a countertop oven where a large skillet with a handle won't fit.)

Haven't made it in a while so thank you for the memory jog. Gotta' add tater tots to the grocery list. DSI has changed jobs and works in a different town now so I'm thinking that he hasn't eaten it lately. He usually stops over on Monday & Tuesday for dinner so will plan it for one of those nights.

Tater tots and cream of mushroom soup? Sorry, I'll pass.

Oh, I'm from the midwest and "hot dish" was never part of our vocabulary until DD moved to Minnesota. And yes, hot dish is Minnesotan (or upper midwest) speak for casserole! According to DD, this is the most popular hot dish (at least in her part of Minnesota) but Linda, you are right -- anything baked in a 9 x 13 casserole is a hot dish! Minnesota women must have a plethora of 9 x 13 casseroles for they do bars more often than cookies (requiring a 9 x 13 pan) and jello salads (also in a 9 x 13) and the "joke" about church potlucks is that the jello salads are in the proper liturgical colors! But this is a tasty dish. Frozen hash browns is not something I usually stock but I can see where this would be a kid friendly dish. What kid wouldn't eat a dish topped with tater tots!

Now Now, Martha....don't jump to conclusions...I have the prerequisite stack of glass casserole dishes....but they are not ALL 9 by 13,,,,2 are smaller 7 by 11 and one is much larger 10 by 15....good for any recipe for hotdish...doubled!
And coffee....lots of coffee....

Surely a 'plethora' is less than a dozen.

Saying that because I live in Wisconsin. Confessing. Counted. I have only nine. That includes an oval 9 x 13-ish and an oval deep dish covered Corning Ware. Oops, just remembered that I have two of the Corning Ware but the second one is one that I bought for DSI and he didn't want it so that one doesn't count. Doesn't include the two quarter sheet jelly roll pans that I'm planning to buy.

I hope this doesn't mean that I gotta' move. :-)

laceyvail, I'd never use canned soup in anything, it just tastes like salt to me. Even when my daughter was young and would eat the cream of mushroom soup undiluted, straight out of the can, I didn't care for it. Now with my oldest daughter having been diagnosed as celiac, the red and white can is gone.

I'm not a fan of tater tots, but the grandkids love them and my girls did too. So, as you may have noticed, my version and Cilantro's don't call for canned soup. Mine mostly had leftover mashed potatoes, because they were a lot cheaper than the commercially available tater tots.

I'm also a Midwestern girl, born and raised in this county. My Dad was born here, I was, my girls were, my grandkids were. Right here in Northern/Western Michigan. And I'll confess that I have far too many baking pans, mostly because I bake a LOT of cakes. I have three metal 9X13 pans and 3 more glass/pyrex ones. I have ten half sheet pans, aluminum and made in America, the heavy duty ones. I have two 8 inch metal squares, two 9 inch metal squares, one 9 inch glass square, two 7X11 "brownie" pans, one metal with a lid, and a whole cabinet full of vintage Pyrex/Fireking/Hazel Atlas/Anchor casserole dishes in all shapes, sizes and patterns. Most come courtesy of the on-line auction, LOL, but I had to stop buying them when they numbered into the twenties, even if they were only a couple of dollars each.

And then, of course, there are the "specialty" pans, LOL, those are in the back storage room.

However, I've always heard those "one dish" meals called casseroles, they were never a "hot dish" here.

Annie

Linda, yes, in the Lutheran Church, coffee is one of the sacraments (BIG GRIN)!

Grew up in north central Iowa. Mom, who detested cooking, made what she called 'hot dish' … nothing more than macaroni noodles, a can of cream of … something (usually mushroom) soup and some ground up burger, all mixed together. It was served hot ...

Spanish Rice was her other go to recipe. Burger, rice, peppers and onion and some tomato sauce with a touch of chili powder and italian seasoning. If she was really ambitious, it was stuffed peppers (spanish rice in a stuffed pepper).

sorry linda

This thread reminded me of a book I just read called, "Kitchens of the Great Midwest." It's fiction and includes sections about just what you all are posting here...a really fun read, including a few recipes. The first part includes some coarse language, and I wasn't sure I was going to even like the story, but it comes together about 1/3 of the way in. I ended up thoroughly enjoying it. Never lived in the Midwest, but grew up in Seattle which was (at the time) populated by many Scandinavians, lots of Midwest transplants, too, so much influence there. Then I lived in a rural WA town without many Midwest transplants, but Scandinavian and Dutch roots. I found the small town culture around food was very similar to what is in the book.

I'm pretty much a foodie and found it really appealed to me but also made me laugh out loud at the foodie culture depicted. Highly recommend the book.

I always knew them as pot luck casseroles. There were a million variations but when served together at an event it always seemed like scoops of " stuff " on a plate.

I have always preferred semi organized pot lucks

DH calls this "Tater Tot Casserole" and when I go out of town, he makes a big 9 x 13 pyrex baking dish of this and will proceed to eat it over a period of 2 or 3 days--and he doesn't have to share ha ha. He'll often add shredded cheese on top.

Olychick, thanks for the recommendation, I'm going to look for that book.

Bragu, that Spanish Rice recipe sounds just like Grandma's, came straight out of the 1969 Betty Crocker cookbook I got as a wedding present in 1974. I just made it a couple of weeks ago and I still like it, it's my way to use up the last bit of rice, or some peppers that are getting a bit "flexible".

Annie