Meet Minnesota’s hot dish ambassador

Amber Estenson is an opera singer fluent in three languages. But to her fans, she’s That Midwestern Mom.

The Frazee, Minn., mother of three has cultivated a sizable online following with the sing-songy, curler-clad persona of a discount-grocery-shopping home cook. Her videos simultaneously celebrate and skewer some of the hallmarks of Minnesota cuisine, with tongue-in-cheek preparations of “Minnesota salads that aren’t really salads” and a seemingly endless variety of hot dish.

Taking inspiration from her mother, who runs a Frazee hair salon, Estenson’s character harks to a retro, small-town ideal of a housewife, but with a very obvious wink.

That Midwestern Mom has had several videos go viral since Estenson launched her social media accounts in 2021; a notable one features her stocking up at Costco for Thanksgiving by dropping cases of butter and cream cheese tubs into her cart.

Her latest viral video? Making Tim Walz’s hot dish recipe.

When the Minnesota governor became Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, his ascent to the top of the Democratic ticket thrust Minnesota — and its quirks — into the spotlight. Among the things in Walz’s past that came to light were his recipes for hot dish. After all, he is the three-time winner of the Minnesota Congressional Delegation Hotdish-Off for his versions of the quintessential Minnesota casserole. (His Midwest cuisine bona fides don’t stop there: See his latest quip about “white guy tacos” and his exuberant stop at a Runza in his other home state of Nebraska.)

But the true meaning of hot dish wasn’t immediately obvious to pundits from coast to coast, and that’s where That Midwestern Mom stepped in. She’s been featured on Today.com explaining the North Star State’s version of casserole, adding to a list of media appearances that ranged from talking about Jell-O salad to singing the national anthem at a Twins game.

Some sample dialogue from her Walz video: “Don’cha know the internet is ablaze talking about Midwestern dad. And can you blame us? Minnesota hasn’t had this much national attention since the great snowstorm of 1991. Ope, nobody cared about that one? Oh, for cripe’s sakes.”

Commenters ate it up.

“When he wins, he should appoint you to the department of Health, Education & Jello,” wrote one follower.

We caught up with Estenson to talk about the true meaning of hot dish, her comic aspirations and how it feels to get political in front of her more than 2 million followers. (Find her on TikTok, Facebook and Instagram.) The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

It seems like you’re having a moment.

Minnesota is really having a moment, which is awesome.

Fair enough. But how did Walz’s VP nomination affect you?

It wasn’t right away that people started tagging me, but once they started talking about hot dish, everybody in the country — in the world — was like, “What is hot dish?” (My followers) were like, “Oh, That Midwestern Mom is from Minnesota, I wonder what she thinks.”

Any concerns about getting political in your feed?

I always say on my channel, “We’re from the Midwest. We’re from Minnesota. We don’t talk about money, politics or religion.” I struggled at first because, you know, I have my opinions, obviously, and I’m super-proud of them, but on my channel, I try to just ride the line in between people. But once he put out the hot dish recipe, I was like, “Oh, my gosh. They picked the guy from Minnesota, and he knows how to cook. Of course I have to talk about it.”

And you were immediately tapped by national outlets to explain what hot dish is.

I love that it’s our little pocket of American vernacular. I love that we kind of only know what it is, and it’s almost like a cute little secret that we’ve been keeping for so long. Do I think it’s the world’s best food? No. In fact, I made one last night, and I was like, well, it’s food. But that’s where the humor is, because it’ll feed an army. It makes you feel loved. It’s warm and cozy. Mom made it. It doesn’t matter, really, what it is. It’s just that feeling of being at home and with your family.

So, is there a difference between Minnesota hot dish and any other casserole?

Well, casseroles specifically are made in a casserole pan, and not all Minnesota hot dishes are. And Minnesota hot dish has to be the main course. It has to be at least two elements: You have a starch and you have to have a protein. Most often, it will have the vegetable and be held together with something. It’s not always a creamy substance. It’s usually a can of soup, whether it’s a tomato-based soup or a cream-based soup. It doesn’t matter what it is. Sour cream is acceptable. A big block of Philadelphia cream cheese is acceptable. There are many different variations, but a hot dish specifically will be, you serve the hot dish and that’s it. Maybe a salad. Maybe it’s a Jell-O salad. Maybe it’s not. It doesn’t have to be healthy. Anything can be a salad, and pretty much anything can be a hot dish. You’re just taking elements of something that you love and turning it into a one-pot meal.

Let’s talk about Walz’s recipes.

I just made all three of them.

There’s the Turkey Trot one. And I saw the one with brats in it.

I made the brat one last night. That was interesting.

Interesting — another Minnesota phrase.

When we don’t know what to say, we say, “Oh, fer interesting.”

What’s the third one?

The Turkey Taco Tot Hot Dish. It was more complicated than it needed to be. There were a lot of bowls involved in mixing, and the less bowls you dirty, the better, I’ve discovered. If you can just brown the meat in a big cast-iron pan and add everything to the pan and then throw the pan in the oven, it’s like the bee’s knees. But you know, everybody’s gonna tell you you’re doing your recipe wrong, because their recipe is different, and everybody’s recipe is better or easier or whatever. But there are so many variations of everything.

I noticed that you added Worcestershire sauce to one of Walz’s recipes.

I have to have Worcestershire sauce. It just really brings out the flavor of the meat. And I know that sounds so funny when you’re talking about hot dish, because we’re not known for seasoning our food really well up here. Plus, if it’s turkey, turkey tends to be a little bit more bland than beef, you know, so I added it in there, and I’m glad I did. Do whatever makes you happy. There are no rules when it comes to hot dish.

Did you have a favorite?

I’m a bit partial to my own Tater Tot Hot Dish recipe. But I didn’t mind the turkey at all. And I know he did turkey, specifically, for turkey growers, which is funny, because I’m from Frazee, the home of the world’s largest turkey. So if Walz needs to make a trip up here to support the turkey industry, we can certainly welcome him with open arms.

Back up. The world’s largest turkey?

Oh, you don’t know that Frazee is home to the world’s largest turkey? For Pete’s sake, I haven’t been doing my job. The first one was constructed in the early ’80s and it’s made of fiberglass, and we had a huge scandal when they tried to repair it with a blowtorch and it accidentally caught fire. I remember driving on the highway and seeing the fireball. That was 25 years ago. We just had the anniversary and everybody who was involved came back to town. We had a whole thing.

Are the people in your town the inspiration for your character?

Well, it started with mimicking my mother, but I kind of had to move away from it a little bit, because she started noticing. So really, it’s just what you would think a typical Midwestern mom would be. I draw inspiration everywhere in town. I think about what my mom would do, what Grandma would do. I pull from my heritage, as well; we’re Scandinavian up here. Every church has a potluck on certain days, and every town in the area has a festival. And there’s just certain things that we do differently when there’s 40 inches of snow and it’s 40 below and you need to take the trash out. It’s basically just talking about Minnesota and educating people that this is a really great place to live, great place to visit, and we aren’t flyover country.

How do you tread the line of not making fun of Minnesotans, but showing your appreciation?

I think it depends on who you talk to and how they interpret my humor. If I have a really viral video that people see out of context, they will assume that I’m making fun of Minnesota. But it’s kind of cute that all of my followers will come into the comments so fast. They will take that person down and just be like, “You need to follow her stuff. You need to listen to her. She loves her town, she loves her mother, she loves Minnesota.” But you know, the way that you can appreciate something is making fun of yourself, because where’s the humor if you can’t make fun of yourself?

How do you keep up, posting a new video every day?

It’s my full-time job. I’ve never worked more hours in my life. As I keep building my platform, the hope is to get to a point where I can post once every three days and it goes just as viral. But opportunities keep happening. And I just love traveling and telling the world about Minnesota. I would love to write a book someday; a cookbook is definitely in the wings. I need to get merchandise going. I need to hire an assistant.

What are the benchmarks for knowing something went viral?

I think a million (views) is considered viral on any platform. My Thanksgiving video went viral on all three platforms (TikTok, Instagram and Facebook), and I want to say it’s up to like 30 million views. It’s just absolutely mind-blowing to me, because my hope was to be an opera singer. And I think one of the largest opera halls there is, is 8,000 people. So when you think that 30 million people have seen my face talking about buying groceries for Thanksgiving at Costco, and assume so many things about me that could or could not be true, I don’t know how to process that kind of number. But then, on the everyday, it’s somewhere under 100,000. But still, 50,000 people. What? Excuse me? I was hoping for 8,000 people to listen to me sing.

How does it feel to be an unofficial ambassador for Minnesota and Minnesota food?

It’s terrifying and exciting all at the same time. I honestly don’t know if I could have dreamed up a more perfect job for myself.

With Walz’s profile rising, what’s next for That Midwestern Mom?

I would like to go more to the comedy side of things, not necessarily the political side. You know, if “SNL” needs a Midwestern mom to impersonate Mrs. Walz, I’m here.

That Midwestern Mom’s Easy Ground Meat and Veggie Hot Dish

Amber Estenson’s hot dish is so easy, it doesn’t require a recipe — just follow these steps. To make it a one-pot meal, use an oven and stovetop-safe dish like a cast-iron pan or a Dutch oven.

In your skillet, brown 1 pound of ground meat with 1 diced onion until browned and crumbly. We prefer beef but ground turkey is also acceptable as turkey in Minnesota is “special” so that would make this a vegetarian hot dish!

While the meat is cooking, season the meat until your ancestors say stop. Which, if your ancestors are Minnesotans, that means salt, a dash of pepper and a bit of Worcestershire sauce if you are feeling spicy.

I personally go against my Minnesota heritage and add a LOT of jarlic (yes, garlic that’s in the jar), Lawry’s seasoned salt and pepper, Mrs. Dash, and at least a few healthy glugs of Worcestershire sauce. As long as my mother won’t be eating it, I also add chili flakes.

Drain your unseasoned cooked meat, if necessary, and transfer to a 9-by-13 baking dish if you do not have an oven-safe skillet.

To the meat, add a layer each of diced potatoes, diced celery and diced carrots. I have never measured these ingredients as Hot Dish is often different every time you make it, depending on what you have in the fridge and pantry. You don’t have many carrots but have a lot of potatoes, do what needs to be done. You hate celery? Leave it out. You LOVE peas and want to add them, go for it. You will be judged, but if you like it, that’s all that matters!

Once you are satisfied with your veggie layers, cover the whole dish with 1 can of cream-of-something soup (we prefer mushroom but celery also works) and 1 can of condensed tomato soup. You know, the sweet kind that actually contains very little tomato. Sloppily smear them together, cover your dish with foil (or the oven-safe lid) and bake for about an hour at 350 degrees. Your veggies will be tender when it’s done.

Remember, folks, hot dish was “invented” to save time and money, and to use up whatever you have in the pantry or freezer in case you are stuck inside during a snowstorm that could rival the storm of 1991. Enjoy!