I recently returned from a trip back to my home state of Wisconsin, where people turn every statement into a question by adding the phrase “or no” (ie. “We going to lunch, or no?”), where a little is a “skosh” and where people live on “hot dish”.

While discussing the ingredients in my Grandma’s tuna salad, Vicky said that it sounds like simple tuna casserole.  I could see that an intervention was in order.  Salad is cold, hot dish is hot, and casserole is the pan hot dish is made in.  See the definitions below from Wikipedia.

Casserole: from the French for “sauce pan,” is a large, deep pot or dish used both in the oven and as a serving dish.

Hot Dish: a variety of casserole dishes popular in the Midwest of the United States and especially in Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and northern regions of Iowa. It consists of a starch and a protein (meat and/or a vegetable) mixed together with a binding ingredient (most often canned soup or a sauce) and a topping.

Salad: a mixture of cold foods, usually including vegetables and/or fruits, often with a dressing, occasionally nuts or croutons, and sometimes with the addition of meat, fish, pasta, cheese, or whole grains.

Therefore, tuna salad is cold and made with macaroni noodles, mayonnaise, tuna, peas, onions and celery.  Tuna hot dish is hot and made with a box of mac & cheese, cream of mushroom soup, and a can of tuna.

Both are delicious.