Al Franken’s Hotdish Competition Brings a Taste of Minnesota to DC
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BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — Nothing brings lawmakers together like a Minnesota hotdish.
Sen. Al Franken hosted the fifth annual Minnesota Hotdish Competition on Capitol Hill Wednesday, where Minnesota lawmakers had the chance to put their best fork forward.
A hotdish is the Minnesota term for casserole, and consists of a starch, a protein and a liquid.
This was the second year that all 10 lawmakers in the Minnesota congressional delegation competed in the event, and the competition was as hot as the Crock-Pots their dishes were stored in.
Trash talk, cheese and laughter flowed generously though the committee room as the lawmakers-turned-culinary competitors openly heckled one another. The main target? Past winner Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minnesota, who was trying to establish the Walz hotdish dynasty.
“He’s going for a three-peat here…and it’s kind of obnoxious,” quipped Franken, D-Minn.
Walz responded with a Breakfast Club-style fist pump in the air. Walz had high expectations for his hotdish, which he noted was a team effort by his staff. He told ABC News that when someone asked him what he would do if he lost, he said, “I did not prepare a concession speech.”
Steam rose through the committee room as the 10 hotdishes lay before the judges. They made their rulings based on three criteria: taste, originality and Minnesota components. The cleverly assigned names of the dishes ranged from the “Dröp It Like It’s Hötdish” to “Not Your Congressional Pork Barrel Biscuit Hotdish.”
The contestants also were able to sample the hotdishes. Franken, the first to dig in, noted with a smile, “The first one is awful good, and it ain’t mine.”
“This really is good,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, said as she dug her spoon in for seconds of the Cordon Blue Earth Hotdish. The cook responsible for the dish — Walz — nudged and whispered that she was complimenting his dish, which was technically a violation of the anonymity rules of the contest.
In the end, the three finalists were Klobuchar, Rep. Collin Peterson and Rep. Betty McCollum. McCollum’s straightforwardly named “Turkey, Sweet Potato and Wild Rice Hotdish” took home top honors, giving her both bragging rights and the hotdish trophy (a glass baking dish with a golden plate on it) for the next year.
All of the recipes for this year’s competition can be found here.
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