This post focuses on a Mormon dish known as “funeral potatoes.”
Good ole Wikipedia defines funeral potatoes as “a traditional Latter-day Saint (Mormon) casserole dish that originated in Utah. Funeral potatoes get their name from commonly being served as a side dish during traditional after-funeral dinners. Funeral potatoes are often served at social gatherings, such as potlucks, in Utah and other areas with a large Latter-day Saint population. The dish usually consists of hash browns or cubed potatoes, cheese (cheddar or parmesan), onions, cream soup (chicken, mushroom, or celery) or a cream sauce, sour cream, and is topped with butter and corn flakes or crushed potato chips. During the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, one of the souvenirs included a pin featuring an image of funeral potatoes.”
I was lucky enough to attend these games but I didn’t see this pin. Here is an image of the pin from a Utah State History website.
My friend and neighbor is Mormon, graduated from BYU, and has 4 sons also at BYU (well, one is there currently, the other 3 have graduated — one is in grad school at the Univ of Utah). She corroborated Jello as a Utah food but doesn’t like what they put in it… carrots, etc. She suggested “funeral potatoes” because “any one from Utah would certainly know what they are.” Thanks for the suggestion! They look quite tasty. So, we are incorporating these into our tailgate lunch on Saturday.. with a similar tried and true, scalloped potato casserole that one of the group members will bring. I don’t have the recipe she will use, but below is a photo of these potatoes from a recipe post I found online at: http://www.food.com/recipe/Funeral-Potatoes-55389
Another recipe at another site…http://saltlakecity.about.com/od/lifestyles/a/FuneralPotatoes.htm indicates that these potatoes are basically comfort food. “The funeral potatoes are generally served with ham, rolls, salad, cake, and of course, Jell-O! And they eat them at events other than funerals — parties, Christmas Eve.”
And I guess… the losing team for this game will need some comfort food…right? (However, we will be eating these pre-game!) Fight On!
Touchdowns & Togas 