Title: Hot Dish Anyone?
Author: CassieRaven (Formerly known as GothicAnn87 and CassandraMalfoy.)
Rated: T (Teen or PG-13)
Relationship: Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter, Jimmy Price/Brian Zeller
Characters: Will Graham, Hannibal Lecter, Beverly Katz, Jimmy Price, Brian Zeller, and Will Graham's Dogs.
Warnings/Tags: Alternate Universe, Season One, Will Graham Loves Hannibal Lecter, Hannibal Lecter loves Will Graham, Establish Relationship between Will and Hannibal, Hannibal is still the Chesapeake Ripper, Will knows, Dark Will Graham, Murder Husbands, Cannibals, Will Graham is a Cannibal, Team Sassy Science rules, Feed The Team Sassy Science, Food, Hannibal is such a food snob, Will cooks, Picky Eater Snob Hannibal anyone?
Disclaimer: I am not in any way affiliated with Hannibal; Hannibal the television (TV) series was created and developed by Bryan Fuller for NBC, was produced by Bryan Fuller and other producers of the television series. The novels of 'Hannibal' like others in its chronicle series ('Silence of the Lambs' and 'Red Dragon') were all written and created by its author and writer Thomas Harris. The characters contained herein are not mine. The only thing I own the rights to or creation is if any of my original characters are in this fan fictional story. No money is being made from this fan fictional story/fan fiction, which is presented for entertainment purposes only. I own nothing! Thus, no need for a lawsuit!
Story Summary: Will invites his friends and lover/official boyfriend to join him for dinner at his house. Everyone's enjoying what Will has prepared...well, almost everyone.
Author's Notes:
Hello as always to my readers and fellow Fannibals. I hope everyone is doing well, being safe during these current times of chaos with the Corona-Virus happening all over the world.
(Please, keep safe, be safe health-wise, keep indoors at home, try to wash your hands with soap thoroughly when you can, be kind to everyone, just be safe please everybody.)
This one-shot short prompt story was all inspired by thanks to an evening that happened maybe two weeks ago of snacking on some oven-baked frozen baggy tater tots and thinking back to memories of one of my late aunt's homemade comfort meals involving the beloved tater tots of frozen potato foods.
This story was the result after the thought process, writing process, and plot bunnies encouraged me to write this story.
As always, I would like to thank my Beta-Reader Pensee for Beta-Reading for me, looking over this story, and for highly encouraging me to post this story up. Thank you lovely lady as always!
Please scroll down and enjoy reading everybody.
Prompt/Drabble: Dinner, What's For Dinner?
Ship: Hannibal/Will (Hannigram, Hannibal)
Title: Hot Dish Anyone?
Definition of a Hot Dish: A hotdish is a casserole that typically contains a starch, a lump of meat, and a canned or frozen vegetable mixed with canned soup
"At home, my food is just sort of comfort food. It's not super fancy, but it's certainly tasty."
- Quote about comfort food by Anne Burrell
"Well everybody, as Hannibal would say, Bon Appetit but I'd rather say 'dig in and serve yourself' as much as you would like," Will motioned with a smile to his dinner guests to start serving themselves the dinner he prepared for everyone seated at his small intimate dining room table.
"You don't have to tell me twice Will, I am starving. It smells great," Jimmy Price grinned excitedly as he took one of the serving spoons to dig a spoonful of the casserole dish on to his plate before going in on the salad tongs for the simple side salad from the salad bowl.
"So what would you call this kind of hot dish or casserole that we're about to stuff our faces and stomachs hardheartedly with Graham?" Brian Zeller asked curiously, as Jimmy passed the serving spoon to him to help himself.
"It's a potato casserole like a dish that my Aunt Charlotte on my Dad's side got from someone on their parent's side of the family tree. Someone who was originally from the Midwestern states before settling in the south in Louisiana. But instead of using home fries or chopped up oven-baked or fried potatoes or potato hash, Aunt Charlotte and Dad both swore that Grandma Graham always insisted to using frozen or homemade from scratch tater tots instead of regular potatoes or cut up french fries in the dish," Will answered, as he and Hannibal served themselves some of the casseroles out of its clear glass casserole dish, and Caesar salad from the salad bowl.
"So instead of it being a what's it called that Paula Deen on the Food Network calls a potato hash casserole, this is what? A tater tot casserole?" Beverly Katz asked between the polite mouthfuls of her spoon and the meat and potatoes concoction.
"Pretty much. It's exactly that but Aunt Charlotte always called it a Tater Tot Explosion Casserole. She would always make it for special guests visiting them in Louisville. She'd especially make it for my Dad and me whenever we'd be coming out to Kentucky to see them for Christmas or the Summer whenever we could. I can't ever remember times visiting her and my Uncle when I was a kid and her making it in the kitchen or pulling it out of the oven for us to have at the kitchen table for supper," Will answered Beverly's question, remembering the good times in his past, "The casserole was an I guess comfort food for us all in Dad's family. All of the kids in Dad and Charlotte's family learned how to make it properly, but my Aunt made it the best."
"That's quite interesting that this dish was passed down in your Father's family. I have never heard of this kind of hot dish before in my time living here in America. Tell me, Will, what exactly is in this casserole?" Hannibal politely questioned his lover, his reddish-brown eyes staring at the strange-looking oven-baked meal before him on Will's best ceramic plate dishes.
"Oh, the basic usual things one from the South or Midwest states. The usual staple ingredients. Some of this, and some of that," Will shrugged with a laugh as he continued with eating as did the trio of the Sassy Science Team.
"I've had baked potato dishes with eggs and cheese, bacon before for breakfast at buffet or dinner places. But nothing this good, I'm with the doctor on this Will. What's in it, precisely?" Jimmy inquired as well after finishing a spoonful of the meal.
"Come on Will, we promise not to give away the long lost Graham family secret recipes. Right, Brian?" Beverly smirked, looking interested.
"Yeah, your family's secret at making oven-baked meals is safe with us. We won't spill the southern tea secrets. This is actually and honestly a really good man. I'd eat this again for breakfast or lunch if I can put a little bit of hot sauce in it." Brian nodded, going in for second helpings with the serving spoon into the dish.
"Fine, I'll spill the tea," Will Sighed, shaking his head.
"Well?" Hannibal inquired, settling for eating his salad first on his plate trying to look polite though he quietly suspected Will knew what he was doing...if the slightly stare the curly-haired man was slightly giving him of 'Really? You won't touch it yet until I tell you what's in it?'
"Most tater tot or minced oven bake casserole recipes, Call for ingredients combining of some ground beef, seasoning, a can of Campbell's condensed cream of mushroom soup, shredded cheese of some kind, and if optional for some vegetables like string beans or green beans," Will shared, Quietly, as he watched the look of horror and disgust flash quickly in his lover's eyes at this revelation.
"Campbell's...condensed cream of mushroom soup?! William, no. Do you know how many bad calories and how much sodium is in that soup?" Hannibal grumbled looking like he was somewhere between repulsed and nauseated.
"Condensed and high sodium levels, sounds like my childhood whenever my Mother would make my twin and I eat veggies and soup instant mixtures stuffed to the brim with those instant soup mix whipped up gravies and stuffing in either turkey stuffing or chicken pot pies baked dish wise. Mom was selectively deaf to wanting us to eat healthy back then," Jimmy snorted jokingly while Brian and Beverly tried everything in their power not to laugh at what was happening at Will's dinner table before them.
"So did my family as well Jimmy, the two of us should talk to compare childhoods raised on processed and canned soup meals." Will giggled before turning his attention back to Hannibal who was taking a drink of his red wine.
"So William, does this casserole contain alongside its frozen potatoes Campbell's or the Walmart store brand of condensed soup offerings of so-called mushrooms with cream sauce?" Hannibal winced, looking at the casserole on his plate that was still hot.
"No, it isn't. I promise you, Hannibal. Unlike my Aunt Charlotte's exact recipe that she and my Dad followed by heart from Grandma-ma Graham with tweaking a few things here and there in their versions; I over the years changed a few things to the recipe to suit my taste buds for myself," Will began to explain as he took another bite into his small mountain pile portion of the dinner on his plate.
"You changed your Aunt's and Father's recipes to suit your palate and taste buds?" Hannibal asked, looking surprised and a little bit curious.
"Yes, I did. Instead of the regular fresh butcher deli ground beef or the frozen version of it from the frozen sections of supermarkets, I always have gone with either getting fresh lamb from a butcher shop further out in another county past Vienna, Virginia or will look into hunting wild pig further in the Virginia woods near the lakes or fishing pond spots I usually go to for fly-fishing. An old friend of mine Lucas, I met back in Louisiana who's a school teacher I met when he moved to New Orleans from Europe
taught me how to hunt and shoot a good hunting rifle when we used to fish and hunt together on weekends," Will began sharing.
"Lamb or Deer you say? How interesting, what is in tonight's casserole with the tater tots?" Hannibal asked, looking honestly interested.
"It's venison from that buck I had shot. I had asked one of the butchers at the usual market in town that I go to grind up the deer meat for me. I had kept some of the meat frozen after cutting it up a week ago, that I took down to the butcher. He was happy to do it. There's also homemade cream with fresh organic mushrooms and two kinds of shredded cheese of White Cheddar and Pepper Jack Cheddar in it with some salt and pepper. Try it, Hannibal, I think you'll enjoy it...the venison tastes wonderful. It was a pretty Chatty deer before I shot it." Will answered, giving Hannibal a knowing look with a grin that their friends at the table didn't once notice.
"Chatty you say? How unfortunate for that buck. Well, if you insist that I will enjoy eating it," Hannibal drew with an amused smile as he took his knife and fork to the casserole and the fork of the hotdish to his mouth to eat it.
"How are the ground venison and tater tots Doctor Lecter? Superb?" Beverly laughed looking curious.
"It's quite, to be perfectly honest...wonderful. The cheese with the homemade cream and mushrooms with what little dashes of salt and pepper you combined into the potatoes and meat makes it taste hearty and delectable. Well done Will," Hannibal nodded, praising Will honestly as he continued to eat the casserole, going for more chunks of the ground up 'venison'.
"I knew you'd enjoy eating it. It took me all morning and afternoon that Saturday with Buster to the trail, track, and hunt that buck when we were in the woods scouting for either wild rabbit or deer. Buster's quite the good tracker when he wants to help me wrangle in potential suppers." Will smiled, a hidden dark gleam in his blue-green eyes behind his eyeglasses.
"You don't say? Well, my compliments to the chef and Buster, your hunting assistant." Hannibal smiled.
"So, my darling. Now that we are all alone with your beloved pack that your other guests have left for their homes...care to tell me about that 'buck' you successfully hunted? What exactly was the gentleman's crime to finding himself on the other end of your rifle and Buster's deadly canine jaws and growls?" Hannibal asked Will, as the two of them were sitting together on Will's bed in the living room, with a glass of wine and whiskey between them.
"He had been quite the rude 'pig' so to speak...A man who looked like the type of businessman with ego from the cities, fancying himself a fisherman coming down from the city to the countrysides of the fishing lakes where I find peace at, at the lakes where I enjoy fly-fishing at where I like taking our dogs and Abigail to for fishing or just a day out in nature," Will begin sharing, weaving his design out for Hannibal to see visually so perfectly.
"So this man or should I say 'rude hog', trespassed into your fishing territory? Was he that rude?" Hannibal inquired, taking a sip of his wine glass.
"Very rude, He was extremely insistent that Buster, Zoe, and Jack were a problem for him with how I had allowed them to walk along freely on the shore by the waters while the others were just peacefully and politely resting by my fishing equipment by my camping site next to my camping tent. I was up there at the lake for the weekend just to myself with the pack. Then even after I had called and put them all leashed up next to the nearby picnic table...he still was a royal pain in the ass," Will nodded sighing with a slight growl.
"Really? How rude...but I take it that wasn't exactly what was 'extremely rude' to set you off to want to take care of him?" Hannibal questioned, a knowing smile on his lips.
"Nope, the final straw for me wasn't when he kept trying to comment rudely about the dogs, that I was probably an awful southern trailer park dog hoarder...what had pissed me off was when he kept answering his damn cellphone while we were both in the water. Phone's loud annoying ringtone kept scaring the fish away from my lures biting," Will shared, "So, I decided to take care of him with my fishing knife and some extra fishing line. It didn't take me long to end his life. I made sure to get rid of his phone, wallet, and other things...his pretentious looking rental car. I left his rental car in a vacant rest stop elsewhere in the area where there were no passersby or cameras that night." Was Will's answer grumbling slightly still.
"Have I told you how much I enjoy seeing you taking so naturally to your true nature in letting yourself hunt more whenever the rude upset you or the pack, my love?" Hannibal asked, looking pleased with the man sitting next to him.
"You tell me that every time I provide the meat for us to stock up either my or your freezer box." Will smiled, trying not to blush.
"So, did you prepare all of that pig's so-called 'venison' into casserole protein?" Hannibal asked, sounding a little bit curious.
"Oh no, I only took a pound of him to be made into the ground-up 'venison'. The rest of him I kept in the freezer in the backyard that I made into steaks, ham shoulders, rump roast, and I saved his good organs and ends for you to have and make the extras into sausage links. I thought you'd like those." Will explained with a cunning evil grin.
"You, my sweet boy, are so thoughtful." Hannibal sighed lovingly.
"I know, that's why you love me." Will laughed.
End
Author's Ending Note:
Another drabble/prompt finished.
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Until next, be happy, be safe, be especially safe out there currently right now with all the things happening in the world currently; keep safe, think safe, wash your hands, be safe whether you're indoors at home or ever outside everybody.
XO