Ah, casseroles. People probably make them during the warmer months, but why? They’re tailor-made for this time of year (ignoring the fact that it’s 55 degrees outside as I write this) when we all bundle up and hunker down and put as many warm ingredients into our bellies at one time as humanly possible.
Your family most likely has at least one go-to casserole or hot dish or whatever you call it. But as good as you think it is, I’d bet dollars to large rectangular baking dishes that it can’t stack up to what will be served Sunday at Central Waters Milwaukee Taproom — the location of Milwaukee Record’s very first Casserole Call.
Right off the bat, let’s applaud the fact that a portion of the proceeds will go to Kinship Community Food Center. So, while you eat, you can feel good about the fact that you’re helping get food into the hands of someone in the Milwaukee area who could really use it.
To take advantage of that win-win situation, you need to first determine if you’re available between noon and 5 p.m. this Sunday. The Casserole Call will take place throughout that window, although the folks from the Record strongly encourage arriving before 4 p.m. while the dishes are piping hot and in ready supply.
Having double-checked your social calendar, you can now move on to purchasing tickets either online for $12 ($14.21 including the service fee) or at the door for $15. When you arrive at the event, you’ll get a ballot and tickets for three free samples. If you think you’ll want to eat more than that, additional tickets will be available for $1 each, and it might be wise to bring cash so you’re not that person swiping their credit card through a Square reader for a transaction totaling $3.
Based on the casserole-makers showing up, though, you might end up buying a heckuva lot more tickets than that. The loaded lineup includes:
- Archie’s Flat Top
- Beans & Barley
- Crafty Cow
- Flour Girl & Flame
- Hot Dish Pantry
- Red Maple MKE
- Riverwest Co-Op
- Semolina MKE
- The Real Good Life
- Trouble Makers Cocina
Central Waters will be happy to help you wash that all down with one of their beverage offerings (alcoholic and N/A alike), and when you’re done sampling, you’ll use your ballot to vote for your favorite dish. The winner gets a trophy and the incalculable value of being able to say for at least one year that they make the finest casserole in the city.
If you want to help crown the Milwaukee area’s king/queen of casserole or just need a little more info, head over to the event’s ticketing portal.
