I am now charging fearlessly back in time 70 years. I am 12 years old and a member of our ward dies. A staple at Mormon funerals at that time was "scalloped Potatoes" Which are the basis of what is now know as funeral potatoes. I don't recall a single funeral in my pre-20's years that did not include these.
"I think one serving contains 400 calories. Another reason they're called "funeral" potatoes."
That's a great line. I've actually heard them called heart-attack potatoes. I haven't had them in years. but I do have to admit to craving them occasionally.
>"Augason Farms is actually an emergency food supplier that sells products that can be stored for months at a time — products that can be quickly, and easily, made."
My home ward always served funeral potatoes after the funeral. At my father's funeral there were five kinds--every family has their own recipe tho they are similar. I sampled them all. Three of them were amazing. I had seconds of all of them.
I have my own recipe. I love them.
The R.S. pres was lamenting that they were called that. Said they were so good they deserved a better name. They've been funeral potatoes forever and I say don't mess with history. Of course telling a Mormon not to "mess with history" is not only useless but a joke. of ya know what I mean.
and still make them taste really good. Everyone I make them for loves them and they ask me to bring them to family dinners because they like mine the best.
I like them and I eat them. Sure I'm overweight, but not just from eating funeral potatoes. I had less food to eat during the bad years and worked myself almost to death taking care of 2 kids, a house, a yard, and working 2 jobs, but I gained weight instead of lost. I gain weight with stress. I wasn't forever eating.
I've lost significant weight, but not by giving up funeral potatoes. I don't make them all that often anymore, but I think they get a bad rap. I also make au gratin potatoes. My kids prefer funeral potatoes, as does my boyfriend.
I don't know that I'll try those premade ones from Wal-Mart. They are so easy to make, why have to buy premade ones?
I may check them out the next time I'm at Wally World.
Last time I had them was at a cousin's funeral last year. Food was served by the RS where she'd grown up. They actually complimented the overcooked ham following the service that day. I couldn't eat very much of either. They reminded me too much of death.
With the smell of formaldehyde stinking up the entire church house, I'd had my fill.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/04/2018 10:23PM by Amyjo.
I had green jello salad with canned vegetables in it and plenty of other typical mormon food, but surprisingly never had funeral taters growing up.
So a few weeks ago I googled recipes and made one. It was delicious. I chose a recipe that used the little diced potatoes, but next time I'll try the grated hash brown taters.
Just for the record, funeral potatoes are not restricted to LDS settings. They are a staple of lots and lots of after-funeral meals in may parts of the US.In fact, people from other churches make jokes about them also.
I live where there are no Mormons I know of. Oddly enough though, I have one co-worker who is exMo--excommunicated twice for the same "crime." They just lost the paperwork and so they did it all over again. Springville, Ut. Many years ago. What can I say?
So I told her about Walmart Funeral Potatoes and she already new. We started reminiscing about them (she has brought me some of hers to try) and another NeverMo co-worker who was listening to us went to WallMart that very night just to get some as we made them sound awesome. They didn't have any but told her she could order them on line. Get this. They told her they didn't stock them because they thought they would be upsetting to people.
So she ordered them and can pick them up at the store when they come in. I am sure they wouldn't scare any customers in Utah as they do here-----in civilization. :)
My Catholic mother made the same thing called scalloped potatoes, but not for funerals, just to eat at home. I never heard that term until I met Mormons.
Jersey Girl Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > My Catholic mother made the same thing called > scalloped potatoes, but not for funerals, just to > eat at home. I never heard that term until I met > Mormons.
Funeral potatoes are not the same as scalloped potatoes. Scalloped would not be as heavy a dish typically.
Funeral potatoes are like loaded potatoes, with bacon pieces, cheese, maybe sliced green onions, loaded with butter & cream, etc. Really a very rich dish. It's like a stuffed potato, only made on a large scale in a large casserole dish. I'd prefer scalloped potatoes to funeral potatoes, because they aren't as loaded with other ingredients. They can be made with hash browns, diced, or cubed, etc, unlike scalloped that are thinly sliced.
Typical ingredients for scalloped potatoes:
3 pounds potatoes, thinly sliced 1/2 onion, thinly sliced 9 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided 6 tablespoons butter, diced and divided salt and ground black pepper to taste 3 cups whole milk, or as needed
While ingredients for funeral potatoes from a Utah website:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 small onion, diced (about 1 cup) 2 cloves garlic, minced One 30-ounce bag frozen shredded hash brown potatoes, lightly thawed One 10.5-ounce can condensed cream of chicken soup 1 cup sour cream 1/4 cup grated Parmesan 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 2 cups shredded sharp yellow Cheddar 1 1/2 cups lightly crushed corn flake cereal
The last time I had some it also had bacon pieces added. It was really over the top!
The recipe I used had potato chips in place of the corn flakes. And several TBSP of melted butter poured on top. Of POTATO CHIPS! LOL Boy it was good though.
Talk about yin and yang! I never ate my mother's scalloped potatoes as a child because the too-liquid ingredients bubbled up and looked like phlegm. Jazz them up with a little cheese, more onion, garlic, sour cream OR condensed soup, and it would have been a different story.
My Catholic grandmother made a casserole she called scalloped potatoes, which is similar to Mormon funeral potatoes, but she used sliced, raw potatoes, onion soup mix, and it was topped with shredded cheddar cheese. The potatoes were cooked by the time the casserole was done baking. She got the recipe from some magazine in the 50's probably as an ad to sell cream of mushroom soup, and it became a cheap side dish to feed her large family, especially for holiday dinners where she would have almost 20 people over for dinner.
I didn't know about Mormon funeral potatoes until I was an adult, and had some at a ward dinner when I was with my TBM ex-husband.
Mormons have Funeral Potatoes. Lutherans have Hotdish (with the prominent sub-specialty Hamburger Hotdish). Campbells ships Cream of Mushroom soup to Minnesota in tanker cars.
Do not ever refer to them as "a casserole". This is blasphemy and will be dealt with severely.
And if you want real "heart-attack-on-a-plate", one word. Poutine.
And whatever you do, no tomato based hotdish at a funeral. People might spill on their Sunday go to meeting clothes and they would stain. Cream of Mushroom soup does not show.
Amyjo, my mother did put cheddar cheese in her scalloped potatoes, but otherwise the recipe was pretty much what you said, if I remember correctly. She never used canned soup in anything she made, we just ate it as soup especially if home from school sick. With grilled cheese sandwich, still a good lunch.
My husband makes fabulous scalloped potatoes. He usually also puts cheese on them, which technically makes them “Au Gratin” potatoes I guess. Any way he does them, I love them!
Roll uncooked funeral taters into balls. Dip balls into a beaten milk/egg mixture. Roll balls in cornflake crumbs. Let set about 10 minutes to set the crust. Deep fry for about 2-3 minutes until golden brown. Then eat!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/05/2018 08:02PM by BYU Boner.
I don't think many people make authentic funeral potatoes anymore, where you start with whole potatoes, parboil them and shred them yourself. I think using frozen hash browns is cheating. :D
Funeral taters beat the seeds out of tuna sammiches made with love the day before and left on the counter till aunt hildegard trots them over to the luncheon...how do you spell metamucil