Alright Montana: Hot Dish vs. Casserole, What's the Difference?

Lunch or dinner? Dinner or Supper? Remember when we threw that question your way a few days ago? It all started after Jim in Great Falls was complaining about the lamb prices. After hearing a "Beef, It's What's for Dinner" ad, Jim said- well, then lamb is what's for supper.

I was out for dinner (it was fancy since it was at The Marble Table in Billings) with some friends before a country concert, and we started talking about the dinner versus supper question when another GREAT question came up. OK, we all grew up in Montana or Minnesota- what's the difference between a hot dish and a casserole?

Now that's a genius question. Maybe it was a Hi Liner thing, but I recall us having both a hamburger hot dish AND a tuna casserole. But what's the difference between the two?

I threw that question to a few of our radio friends and added: don't use Google. Initial reactions only.

Lacey: I always think casseroles have a pasta in it?

That sounds like a good answer.

Rachel: Casseroles always have some kind of starch like pasta or tater tots.

Sounds like she is in agreement with Lacey.

Michael: Aren't the term's interchangeable?

That's what I thought too.

Kristina: I don't know, when my parents said hot dish it was a casserole.

Mikhail was obviously deprived as a child, and asked, "what's a casserole?" Ha...

Karen is obviously married to a Nort Dakotan. (Yes I left off the H)

Karen: Don't even get me started on North Dakota hot dish, which is actually a cold macaroni type salad.

Alright, so what does Google actually tell us the difference is? Here's a couple, unscientific results.

According to TasteOfHome.com:

The term hot dish is typically utilized in the upper parts of Minnesota and North Dakota because people up there like to coin their own verbiage, much like “uff da” or “you betcha.”

MidWesternHomeLife.com has this: