The social distancing of COVID-19 kept us from serving others in ways we love. Last fall, our friend Dell Lefevre died. The church in our area planned a family dinner to take place after the graveside services. They asked my mother and me to make something to bring to the dinner. Of course, I chose to make a Potato Casserole, aka Funeral Potatoes. Why call them funeral potatoes? Well, a potato casserole became a favorite dish to make and serve at many funerals in the Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona areas.
The first time I tried to make funeral potatoes I was serving dinner for missionaries for our church. I couldn’t find a recipe, so I made up my own. One of the missionaries, being kind and tactful, told me they were a little drier than his mother’s and that she added milk to her recipe. I tried that the next time and sure enough, it made them better. I also had put in a lot of shredded cheese.
To avoid these problems, I looked on the internet at several recipes, but I didn’t have all the ingredients they were asking for. I searched some old recipe books my mother had and found several Potato Casseroles. The ingredients matched what I knew Funeral Potatoes to be, and of course, back in the day the recipe books were printed, the casserole had not earned the name of Funeral Potatoes yet.
The recipe I chose was submitted by my second cousin, Betty R. Alvey. Here is her recipe:
Potato Casserole aka Funeral Potatoes
10 boiled potatoes diced or grated
Grate 1 cup cheese
A large sour cream
Slice and fry one large onion in butter
1 can cream of mushroom soup
Mix ingredients together and put in a dripper. Cover with a mixture of butter and corn flakes. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
My version of Funeral Potatoes from this Potato Cassarole recipe
My version of Funeral Potatoes
In place of the boiled potatoes, I substituted frozen shredded hash browns. First, I mixed the hash browns with probably more than a cup of grated cheese in a bowl. Second, I sauteed a small onion in butter for about 30 minutes. Third, I mixed the can of mushroom soup and a cup of sour cream with a ¾ cup of milk in a bowl. Even though the recipe didn’t call for it, I added some salt and pepper (all the other recipes I had seen asked for it, so why not?)
After sauteeing the onion, I added it to the soup and sour cream mixture, and then, poured it over the cheese and potatoes. Lastly, I mixed it well and then I sprayed a 9×13 glass casserole dish and spread the mixture of potatoes in the bottom. In a small bowl, I poured about 2 cups of Corn Flakes. And then, in a small pan, I melted about 2 tablespoons of butter. I slowly poured the melted butter over the Corn Flakes while string to distribute the butter evenly. In the preheated 350 degrees oven, I baked it for one hour. I loved the difference that the sauteed onions made over any other recipe I had tried.
COVID robbed us of the personal touch of attending a funeral and saying goodbye to our friend in person. For Dell, we lined the highway as his casket slowly rode through town in the back of a flatbed truck. An entourage of local cowboys, cowgirls, family, and friends followed, riding horses or walking. I’m told the family dinner lasted several hours. A friend brought us some leftovers from the dinner. She said they had more than enough food because people were so eager to serve.
Here are a couple of blog posts with Funeral Potatoes you may enjoy. Lil’ Luna and Tastes Better From Scratch.
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