Chicken Pot Tot Hotdish

The battle of Most Iconic Hotdish would probably come down to Tater Tot versus wild rice, which is kind of like arguing over which Matthew McConaughey role is the most definitive, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days? Or Dallas Buyers Club? Tater Tot hotdish is typically ground beef, creamed soup (often mushroom), some sort of vegetable (probably peas or green beans, maybe some corn), and then, in the words of Sam Sifton, "You cover the bitch with Tater Tots." But you don’t just throw them on like an abstract topping, you have to let your OCD hang out a little and organize them in rows and columns, as neatly as possible. This organizing of the tots might be one of the most sacred food rituals in the Midwest, second only to making lefse. My Tater Tot hotdish has the body of a chicken pot pie, a dish that I loved growing up, long before I knew the existence of Tater Tot hotdish. But a close examination reveals that the only real differences are the subbing of chicken for ground beef and the use of a homemade cream of chicken soup instead of mushroom soup. I don’t think this will offend a hotdish purist.