Also available as Totchos!
August 28, 2017 7:01 PM   Subscribe

 
Years ago I invented a dish called Yeachos. It's just nachos, but not so negative.
posted by orange ball at 7:10 PM on August 28, 2017 [30 favorites]


That’s a pretty good rule for life in general: “Don’t be fooled by Imi-taters.”
posted by LeLiLo at 7:12 PM on August 28, 2017 [7 favorites]


I like me some Tator Tots, yessiree.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 7:22 PM on August 28, 2017 [3 favorites]


I'm amused by the honesty here:

“Fuck making them,” says Dale Talde, head chef and founder of the casual Asian-American restaurant Talde in South Brooklyn. “I always buy them frozen. There is no benefit from making them unless you are a sadist.”

Though I suspect he probably means masochist...
posted by tavella at 7:23 PM on August 28, 2017 [12 favorites]


And all this time, I thought Tater Tots was just a modernized version of hash browns.
posted by Miss Cellania at 7:24 PM on August 28, 2017 [3 favorites]


Though I suspect he probably means masochist...

Maybe, but that quote is from a head chef, and something tells me it wouldn't be the head chef spending all day making imi-tater tots.
posted by jedicus at 7:26 PM on August 28, 2017 [45 favorites]


Good point, jedicus!
posted by tavella at 7:29 PM on August 28, 2017


Graham crackers are another food that is simply not worth making oneself. A bunch of work for something that tastes...exactly like a Graham cracker.
posted by jedicus at 7:30 PM on August 28, 2017 [9 favorites]


Why is "pink slime" so reviled and associated with greed and deception, when tator tots are the same thing conceptually but are celebrated as american ingenuity at its finest.
posted by Dr. Twist at 7:33 PM on August 28, 2017 [7 favorites]


fuck, I love tater tots

(this message sponsored by legal weed)
posted by palomar at 7:36 PM on August 28, 2017 [39 favorites]


Think of all the sad, naked, totless pre-1954 hot dishes.

.
posted by Wolfdog at 7:36 PM on August 28, 2017 [13 favorites]


Went to a coney today, got chili fries. They had tater tots in there too. The coney dog was meh but I'm still going back there
posted by disclaimer at 7:41 PM on August 28, 2017 [1 favorite]


My wife and I make a version of steak frites where we replace the frites with tots. Homemade french fries are good, but a pain in the ass. $30/pound ribeye really elevates tater tots.
posted by mr_roboto at 7:47 PM on August 28, 2017 [14 favorites]


Ok, what's the deal with the term "tater"?
posted by unliteral at 7:54 PM on August 28, 2017 [10 favorites]


Tater tot poutine. That is all.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 7:55 PM on August 28, 2017 [20 favorites]


Just dropping in to link to elizardbits' classic invention: Greasy Honky Pie. I consider it my sacred duty to remind my fellow MeFites of this shining example of ingenuity every chance I get.
posted by aka burlap at 7:58 PM on August 28, 2017 [14 favorites]


F. Nephi and Golden Grigg were two determined young Mormon entrepreneurs,

This sounds right.

Ok, what's the deal with the term "tater"?

Not snarking here - probably just alliteration as a marketing tactic.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 8:01 PM on August 28, 2017 [1 favorite]


Crispy crowns are the superior variant. Thinner, wider discs, which maximizes crunch. Add curry ketchup and some bratwurst and you've got a hell of a meal.
posted by tocts at 8:02 PM on August 28, 2017 [8 favorites]


what about hardcore taters?
posted by Iax at 8:04 PM on August 28, 2017 [17 favorites]


The names in this article are a delight unto themselves:

F. Nephi Griggs
Golden Griggs
J.R. Simplot
Slim Burton

I'm picturing a Coen Brothers slapstick dark comedy.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 8:07 PM on August 28, 2017 [24 favorites]


Crispy crowns are the superior variant. Thinner, wider discs, which maximizes crunch. Add curry ketchup and some bratwurst and you've got a hell of a meal.

My brother, who is an engineer, describes this flavour/texture confluence thusly: "It's all about the surface area to volume ratio."
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 8:09 PM on August 28, 2017 [4 favorites]


Holy cow, they were invented by Mormons. I never knew that, but which makes sense.

Gross

(Napoleon Dynamite is pretty much an Idaho Mormon childhood love story)
posted by yhbc at 8:17 PM on August 28, 2017 [2 favorites]


the two highlights from last week in Oregon: the solar eclipse and McMenamins Cajun tots
posted by roger ackroyd at 8:30 PM on August 28, 2017 [5 favorites]


I love tater tots but I'm very upset by "Idahoian". It's Idahoan or if you're super-old-school and from North Idaho maybe Idahonian. But never Idahoian. Sheesh.
posted by smartyboots at 8:52 PM on August 28, 2017 [9 favorites]


I'm pretty sure if you're super-old-school from North Idaho you pronounce it "Free Man of the Land".
posted by traveler_ at 8:56 PM on August 28, 2017 [3 favorites]


I listed to an NPR show today about how Boise is the new Portland so bring on that Idahois Ingenuity.
posted by Nelson at 8:58 PM on August 28, 2017 [1 favorite]


Went to coney/
got chili fries/
They had tater tots/
in there too/
The coney dog/
was meh but I'm/
still going back there


It's obvious to me you can't get enough...

You know you're gonna have to face it...

You're addicted to spuds.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:24 PM on August 28, 2017 [11 favorites]


That probably doesn't scan but I got up from bed to pee and realized that this thread was missing Weird Al.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:31 PM on August 28, 2017 [1 favorite]


Ok, what's the deal with the term "tater"?

OED shows that "tater" was used in reference to potatoes as early as 1759.
1759 L. Wood Jrnl. 27 May in Essex Inst. Hist. Coll. (1882) XIX. 65 We travelled..9 miles to Capt Curtises and there we Dined upon codfish and taters.
1815 Sporting Mag. 45 2 A piece of taters or a few turnips.
1834 F. Marryat Peter Simple I. xiv. 224 Officers who boil their 'tators in a cabbage-net hanging in the ship's coppers.
1848 Thackeray Bk. Snobs xiv. 55 Baked 'taturs.
1884 Good Words May 333/2 The other man..plied a vigorous trade in 'taters and trotters.
1911 F. H. Burnett Secret Garden xxiv. 252 Anything'll grow for him. His 'taters and cabbages is twice th' size of anyone else's.
1939 F. Thompson Lark Rise i. 11 Mother spent hours boiling up the ‘little taturs’.
1943 W. Stevens in O. Williams New Poems 1943 236 (title of poem) No possum, no sop, no taters.
I assume it's the same quirk of pronunciation that makes some people in the south refer to tomatoes as "maters," and makes some people with really deep-south dialects that refer to windows as "winders." The conversion of the "-oes" sound to an "-ers" sound is like a weird mishmash of what we in the US know as a really strong New England accent and a really strong Southern accent. (Total layperson's opinion. I anxiously await the input of Metafilter's resident linguists.)
posted by mudpuppie at 9:40 PM on August 28, 2017 [6 favorites]




Graham crackers are another food that is simply not worth making oneself. A bunch of work for something that tastes...exactly like a Graham cracker.


like Ketchup and French Onion Soup I feel like there should be a term for food that is largely the result of large scale production which makes no sense to make at home.

like Bistro cuisine is basically fast food.
posted by The Whelk at 9:53 PM on August 28, 2017 [1 favorite]


bring on that Idahois Ingenuity.

Prounounced "I-doe-hwah" like Iroquois
posted by hippybear at 10:07 PM on August 28, 2017 [6 favorites]


like Ketchup and French Onion Soup I feel like there should be a term for food that is largely the result of large scale production which makes no sense to make at home.

I know what you mean, but I wouldn't count French onion soup in that; I'd swap it out for sausage.
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:09 PM on August 28, 2017 [1 favorite]


So, mr hippybear once made ketchup out of a surplus of yellow pear tomatoes and it was fantastic tasting but the color was just so wrong it was difficult to eat.

Also, Julia's French Onion Soup recipe, if you have the time to make it, is basically an orgy for your taste buds.
posted by hippybear at 10:09 PM on August 28, 2017 [5 favorites]


I have to leave this here:
i just realized tater tots is short for potato toddlers and i don’t know how i feel about that
—Anthony "jerkidiot" Amorim, 13 Sep 2013
posted by a car full of lions at 10:13 PM on August 28, 2017 [27 favorites]


OMG My life has been made better by that ^^
posted by hippybear at 10:16 PM on August 28, 2017 [4 favorites]


American ingenuity at its sloppy deliciousest!

SO happy to hear it was Ketchup AND French Onion Soup. Not Ketchup and french onion soup. All is well in the universe.

Baby taters are best taters, BTW.
posted by Samizdata at 2:12 AM on August 29, 2017


My Sonic order after school was always tater tots and a root beer float. Truly the food of the gods.
posted by showbiz_liz at 3:22 AM on August 29, 2017


At the Blue Door Pub in St. Paul, MN, they serve deep-fried tater tots.

The lighting is just low enough that I can't see any difference, but the flavor is... *kisses fingers*
posted by wenestvedt at 3:25 AM on August 29, 2017 [3 favorites]


Ok, what's the deal with the term "tater"?

The world is stocked like a trout stream with people who love cutesy, diminutive words for everything: "potato" in this case
posted by thelonius at 4:08 AM on August 29, 2017 [3 favorites]


Think of all the sad, naked, totless pre-1954 hot dishes.

This is similar to nacho-less world before WW2.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 4:14 AM on August 29, 2017 [1 favorite]


Speaking of superior variants, I like latkes.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:41 AM on August 29, 2017 [6 favorites]


Crispy crowns, dipped in a ketchup-sriracha blend=WHY DID I EAT SO MANY
posted by Caxton1476 at 4:44 AM on August 29, 2017 [5 favorites]


I point out that "Täter tot" is, to American eyes, a somewhat jarring thing to see in tragic German headlines.
posted by Wolfdog at 4:45 AM on August 29, 2017 [11 favorites]


bring on that Idahois Ingenuity.

Prounounced "I-doe-hwah" like Iroquois


Where I come from we pronounce it "Iowa."
posted by Floydd at 4:53 AM on August 29, 2017


Hummus tots.

You're welcome.
posted by saysthis at 5:52 AM on August 29, 2017 [3 favorites]


Taco John's Potato Oles are crispy crowns with taco-like seasoning on them. They are wonderful, even if everything else there is not.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 6:13 AM on August 29, 2017 [2 favorites]


Hummus tots

Need more info - tots made from hummus or tots dipped in hummus?
posted by romakimmy at 6:15 AM on August 29, 2017 [4 favorites]


I was already looking forward to having tater tots next week when my wife goes out of town for a while.
(She doesn't have the same feeling for them as I do)
I was shocked to see them 'decorated' in that picture.
I know I shouldn't be surprised, but I just put salt on them. They don't need anything else. (especially not cat-soup)

Usually, this is accompanied by a garlic burger, and the garlic is just in, but now I can't wait to try Greasy Honky Pie.
...with garlic.
posted by MtDewd at 6:24 AM on August 29, 2017


All of the above, deep fried, on a stick, at a state or county fair near you.
posted by ZeusHumms at 6:26 AM on August 29, 2017 [1 favorite]


Ok, what's the deal with the term "tater"?

Po-ta-toes, Seinfeld Gollum.
posted by zamboni at 6:27 AM on August 29, 2017 [6 favorites]


Out here in the Midwest, a staple at any potluck dinner or funeral at a small town church is the tater tot hotdish/casserole: green beans, ground beef, cream of mushroom soup, some seasoning and topped with a layer of tots. Sounds mundane but from a decent cook it's to die for.
posted by Ber at 6:35 AM on August 29, 2017 [1 favorite]


Ya know what's like a Tater Tot only bigger and flatter? McDonald's hash browns.
posted by Splunge at 6:42 AM on August 29, 2017 [3 favorites]


I'm really amazed that the potato croquette/kroketten isn't a thing in America like it is in Europe. You can sometimes find them in the frozen foods section (McCain even tries to sell them as Smiles, bless their hearts), but you never see them in restaurants.

Breaded and deep-fried mashed potatoes, people!

Once you have a good croquette the tater tot tastes like greasy pressed sawdust.
posted by JoeZydeco at 6:43 AM on August 29, 2017 [1 favorite]


Talde’s former restaurant, the now-closed Pork Slope

That's some good restaurant namin', Lou.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:22 AM on August 29, 2017 [2 favorites]


Why is "pink slime" so reviled and associated with greed and deception, when tator tots are the same thing conceptually but are celebrated as american ingenuity at its finest.

Because "meat slurry" is a lot more disgusting and potentially dangerous then potato bits. Not hard to grok.
posted by agregoli at 8:16 AM on August 29, 2017 [2 favorites]


Is it really though? Hormel's Spam is less mystery meat than hot dogs are, yet depending on where you are, hot dogs are fine and Spam is gross, however there are also places where Spam is fine and hot dogs are gross. (It's a tube of meat.)

The revulsion of "pink slime" is a social construct borne out of a successful negative marketing campaign, combined with ignorance about what food undergos in order to get to the dinner table. The name itself is a triumph of ABC News chasing advertising dollars. They paid out $177 million to settle a defamation suit filed in the wake of that news broadcast. "Boneless lean beef trimmings made with added citric acid" sounds a whole lot less disgusting than "slime made with ammonia".

Or to look at it from the other side, tater tots are made from potatoes, and potatoes are used to make this magic mud that glows in the dark (which is totally unnatural and "evidence" that potatoes are full of chemicals and everyone just knows those are bad for you), and if that's not enough to turn you off from eating potatoes forever, think of all the worms and dirt and animal poop that potatoes touch. Just think about how many people handle potatoes before they become tater tots. Ew.

Of course, that's just silly (plus here's the instructional video on how to make that magic mud) because tater tots are delicious, as is cooked potatoes of all forms (including congealed starch slurry aka mashed potatoes).
posted by fragmede at 9:03 AM on August 29, 2017


bring on that Idahois Ingenuity.

Prounounced "I-doe-hwah" like Iroquois


What? Iroquois is pronounced "Ear-A-Coy." The word is not French, despite the suffix.

"The Algonquin called them the Iroqu (Irinakhoiw) "rattlesnakes." After the French added the Gallic suffix "-ois" to this insult, the name became Iroquois."
posted by leotrotsky at 9:23 AM on August 29, 2017


Uniliteral: I got it. I guess it was too long ago.

Those of you resorting to dictionaries will just have to google it.
 
posted by Herodios at 9:27 AM on August 29, 2017


i had a 5 minute argument with myself the other day while eating some Night Tots at 3am about whether or not the horrible word totchos was bad enough to ruin the concept of totchos

i still haven't decided who won, me or me
posted by poffin boffin at 10:44 AM on August 29, 2017 [3 favorites]


The best tater tots I ever ate were served to me by a strange naked man who was standing in the hot spring we were both enjoying, cooking said tots in a propane-powered skillet balanced on the edge of the pool. It was a surreal experience. I can't imagine wanting anything else at that moment. Perfect springing food.
posted by ikahime at 10:57 AM on August 29, 2017 [2 favorites]


The best Tater Tots in Chicago were served at a dive bar in Pilsen (corner of Cermak and Halsted) called SKYLARK. I think they do it the frites way by double cooking them so they come out crunchy and fluffy.

I don't go there much anymore as I have stopped drinking and Skylark is basically a dive bar with no TV's and is really dark. But they did have fabulous food for a dive bar and a really good beer selection. Stop by if you are there.

The last time I was there, the owner allowed you to bring your LP's to play on the system they have hooked up.
posted by indianbadger1 at 11:32 AM on August 29, 2017 [2 favorites]


OK, OK, the best tater tots I ever had were served to me by a shimmering, aurora-like entity of pure light, they were made from rare Tibetan ur-potatoes, farmed there by monks in the traditional fashion for millenia, and they tasted like the chiming of diamond bells rebounding from the literal spheres of heaven.
posted by Wolfdog at 11:53 AM on August 29, 2017 [6 favorites]


...because tater tots are delicious, as is cooked potatoes of all forms (including congealed starch slurry aka mashed potatoes).

Aren't Pringles made from this same base?
posted by JoeZydeco at 11:59 AM on August 29, 2017 [1 favorite]


Hummus tots

Need more info - tots made from hummus or tots dipped in hummus?
posted by romakimmy at 10:15 PM on August 29 [2 favorites −] Favorite added! [!]


BOTH.
posted by saysthis at 1:14 PM on August 29, 2017 [1 favorite]


Potato Ole's from Taco Johns are one of the more disgusting things I'm willing to eat, and I happily consume blood sausage, lengua, and chòudòufu.
posted by aspersioncast at 11:33 AM on August 31, 2017


Aw come on they're not that bad. You must have gone to an unusually crappy Taco John's.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 2:46 PM on August 31, 2017


Finally got to it. Made Greasy Honkey Pie tonight. It was fabulous.
Now I'm going to probably ruin it by having seconds.
Thanks to elizardbits and aka burlap.
posted by MtDewd at 4:54 PM on September 8, 2017 [2 favorites]


tots made from hummus

To a first approximation, this is a falafel.
posted by zamboni at 10:31 AM on September 11, 2017


"To a first approximation", a cow standing on a bag of flour is beef wellington.
posted by Wolfdog at 10:39 AM on September 11, 2017


But Beef Wellington isn't spherical.
posted by zamboni at 12:14 PM on September 11, 2017


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