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Serious Party Potatoes Question

McLovin32

HR Legend
Feb 1, 2008
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Alright, so I'm a big fan of party potatoes. Love em. For about the last week, we've been planning to have a potluck sort of thing at work today. One girl (no pic) was bragging about her party potatoes all week. How delicious they are, and how everyone that has ever had them, love them. So I'm thinking I'm going to get some fantastic party potatoes today.

Wellllll, said girl brings them in, so I go and get a couple scoops. She basically made instant mashed potatoes, and melted cheddar cheese on top. That was it. I'm talking about the kind of potatoes you make by mixing friggin water with it. Now when I think of party potatoes, I think of hashbrowns (Or dice potatoes) mixed with some sort of cheddar, sour cream, sauce type stuff. I know a lot of people will use cream of chicken or cream of mushroom with it. That's fantastic.

So the question to the board is, can what she made be considered party potatoes? Or anything with mashed potatoes be considered party potatoes? I feel like she's just trying to jazz up a BS instant potato dish that you'd make for a child. Anyways, I feel cheated/rant.
 
Alright, so I'm a big fan of party potatoes. Love em. For about the last week, we've been planning to have a potluck sort of thing at work today. One girl (no pic) was bragging about her party potatoes all week. How delicious they are, and how everyone that has ever had them, love them. So I'm thinking I'm going to get some fantastic party potatoes today.

Wellllll, said girl brings them in, so I go and get a couple scoops. She basically made instant mashed potatoes, and melted cheddar cheese on top. That was it. I'm talking about the kind of potatoes you make by mixing friggin water with it. Now when I think of party potatoes, I think of hashbrowns (Or dice potatoes) mixed with some sort of cheddar, sour cream, sauce type stuff. I know a lot of people will use cream of chicken or cream of mushroom with it. That's fantastic.

So the question to the board is, can what she made be considered party potatoes? Or anything with mashed potatoes be considered party potatoes? I feel like she's just trying to jazz up a BS instant potato dish that you'd make for a child. Anyways, I feel cheated/rant.

No, that is not party potatoes and you should feel cheated and call her out.
 
No, that is not party potatoes and you should feel cheated and call her out.
Right? I mean, if she said all week she was going to bring instant potatoes with cheese on top, I'd be expecting it. But you can't talk up party potatoes and then bring that crap in.
 
So the question to the board is, can what she made be considered party potatoes?

No chance. That sounds like a homeless man's version of Shepherd's Pie. Party potatoes are hash browns with sour cream and other things. Now you can improvise on the topping (Ritz crackers, bread crumbs, corn flakes, etc) but that abomination is not Party Potatoes and I would have threw the pan on the floor.
 
No chance. That sounds like a homeless man's version of Shepherd's Pie. Party potatoes are hash browns with sour cream and other things. Now you can improvise on the topping (Ritz crackers, bread crumbs, corn flakes, etc) but that abomination is not Party Potatoes and I would have threw the pan on the floor.
I threw my plate in the trash. So we're on the same page there.
 
Right? I mean, if she said all week she was going to bring instant potatoes with cheese on top, I'd be expecting it. But you can't talk up party potatoes and then bring that crap in.

I agree with your description of party potatoes, at least in Iowa. Usually some form of previously-frozen potato, like hash browns/cubes, with the cheese and other fixins. The other way is with corn flakes crusted on top.

This, basically, from google: http://iowagirleats.com/2011/11/14/week-of-thanksgiving-favorites-potatoes-deluxe/

DSC_0828.jpg
 
Instant (or any mash) potatoes with that stuff in them is just, you know, mashed potatoes. And bad mashed potatoes at that. I see the usefulness of instant, but I can't imagine using instant to bring a bragged-about dish to work.
 
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I was confused by this thread because I hadn't ever heard the term party potatoes either (I call them cheesy potatoes). @theIowaHawk 's picture looks nearly identical to how I make mine. It sounds like you really got screwed.
 
2# frozen hash browns
2 cups french onion dip(the real kind like AE or Land O Lakes)
I can cream of chicken soup
8oz of sharp cheddar cheese
8oz of monterey jack cheese(no pepper jack)
1 cup of whole milik
3 Tbsp butter
1 cup of plain bread crumbs

Mix all ingredients except bread crumbs and butter together in large greased oven ready bowl. Melt the butter and blend with bread crumbs.Sprinkle buttered bread crumbs on top. Bake in 350 degree oven for 40-45 minutes - bread crumbs will be golden brown. Allow to sit at least 15 minutes before serving. This recipie can be made the day before and sit in refrig overnight for even better results.
 
2# frozen hash browns
2 cups french onion dip(the real kind like AE or Land O Lakes)
I can cream of chicken soup
8oz of sharp cheddar cheese
8oz of monterey jack cheese(no pepper jack)
1 cup of whole milik
3 Tbsp butter
1 cup of plain bread crumbs

Mix all ingredients except bread crumbs and butter together in large greased oven ready bowl. Melt the butter and blend with bread crumbs.Sprinkle buttered bread crumbs on top. Bake in 350 degree oven for 40-45 minutes - bread crumbs will be golden brown. Allow to sit at least 15 minutes before serving. This recipie can be made the day before and sit in refrig overnight for even better results.

I feel like when my wife makes them they have about two sticks of butter. Yours seems low on the butter.
 
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Pic of faux party potatoes?



Alright, so I'm a big fan of party potatoes. Love em. For about the last week, we've been planning to have a potluck sort of thing at work today. One girl (no pic) was bragging about her party potatoes all week. How delicious they are, and how everyone that has ever had them, love them. So I'm thinking I'm going to get some fantastic party potatoes today.

Wellllll, said girl brings them in, so I go and get a couple scoops. She basically made instant mashed potatoes, and melted cheddar cheese on top. That was it. I'm talking about the kind of potatoes you make by mixing friggin water with it. Now when I think of party potatoes, I think of hashbrowns (Or dice potatoes) mixed with some sort of cheddar, sour cream, sauce type stuff. I know a lot of people will use cream of chicken or cream of mushroom with it. That's fantastic.

So the question to the board is, can what she made be considered party potatoes? Or anything with mashed potatoes be considered party potatoes? I feel like she's just trying to jazz up a BS instant potato dish that you'd make for a child. Anyways, I feel cheated/rant.
 
2# frozen hash browns
2 cups french onion dip(the real kind like AE or Land O Lakes)
I can cream of chicken soup
8oz of sharp cheddar cheese
8oz of monterey jack cheese(no pepper jack)
1 cup of whole milik
3 Tbsp butter
1 cup of plain bread crumbs

Mix all ingredients except bread crumbs and butter together in large greased oven ready bowl. Melt the butter and blend with bread crumbs.Sprinkle buttered bread crumbs on top. Bake in 350 degree oven for 40-45 minutes - bread crumbs will be golden brown. Allow to sit at least 15 minutes before serving. This recipie can be made the day before and sit in refrig overnight for even better results.
That sounds amazing. I'm going to try that some time. Never heard of using French Onion dip, but that makes sense as a replacement for sour cream.
 
I was confused by this thread because I hadn't ever heard the term party potatoes either (I call them cheesy potatoes). @theIowaHawk 's picture looks nearly identical to how I make mine. It sounds like you really got screwed.

I think the family I know who makes these regularly call them both party/cheesy potatoes, I stick to "party" because cheesy potatoes could be just about anything. I generally call what the girl made the OP "cheesy mashed".

Potatoes are serious business in Iowa.

And @soybean, I hope you mean refrigerated the day before prior to baking. Although I enjoy it as a leftover, it starts to get, well, slimy, if cooked and then refrigerated. But we often have it brought over prior to baking, could have been stored a day or two that way.
 
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This has been a hotly debated topic in some circles on FB. So I decided to consult the highest authority available to me on the subject...my wife. After posing the question of, "can party potatoes consist of instant mashed potatoes and shredded cheese?" my wife looked at me funny and replied, "you've been looking at too much porn on the internet and it has made your brain soft."
 
I feel like when my wife makes them they have about two sticks of butter. Yours seems low on the butter.

More butter will make em too greasy...there is plenty of fat in the cheese, dip and milk.

BTW - Some people I know use a jar of Cheese-Whiz(not the same as Velveta) instead of cheddar. Believe it or not they are good that way too.
 
I don't even know where to start.

It would be rude to call her a liar in front of other people, but...man.
The good news is that if she was bragging about them all week, then every other co-worker already knows too. IMO, nothing needs to be said.
 
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