Summer potlucks (reunions, etc.)...

[Kim Shook]

Deviled eggs and, oddly, cocktail meatballs - never any leftovers.

Edited July 25, 2022 by Kim Shook (log)

[rotuts]

@Kim Shook

 

do your cocktail meatballs

 

have a sweet dipping sauce ?

 

I used to hunt those down 

 

when i was little .

 

the best always had a rainbow assortment

 

of toothpicks

Edited July 25, 2022 by rotuts (log)

[Kim Shook]

1 minute ago, rotuts said:

@Kim Shook

 

do your cocktail meatballs

 

have a sweet dipping sauce ?

 

I used to hunt those down 

 

when i was little .

 

the best alway had a rainbow assortment

 

of toothpicks

I've made different kinds, but the ones that disappear the fastest are the ones my mother always made - 1/2 and 1/2 apricot preserves and BBQ sauce + small meatballs.  I make my own meatballs - quite sure that my mom never did.  She was a good cook who made simple things - most dishes would have had less than 5 ingredients. 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Shades of the '70s = cocktail meatballs with chili-grape jelly sauce.

[blue_dolphin]

I’m a third vote on the deviled eggs. I don’t even like them that much but everyone else seems to as they always disappear. 
Easy to make with minimal supplies, assuming there’s a pot to boil or steam them in.  In a pinch, everything can be procured from the convenience store - plastic knife to cut the eggs, plastic fork to mix condiment packets of mustard & mayo, S & P  with the yolks in a plastic bag, snip a corner to pipe, then mete out little dabs from a relish packet to garnish. Now them are some trashy deviled eggs!

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Another vote for deviled eggs.    I recently offered a variation at two separate cocktail hours .    I set out several heads of Belgian endive leaves alongside a bowl of curried egg salad.    Wolfed by both sexes.   

[Kim Shook]

Everyone probably already knows this, but when I bring deviled eggs to a gathering I completely prepare them up to the point of actually putting the yolk mix into the egg white halves.  I put the whites in one ziplock bag and the yolk mixture in another.  I pack those and my deviled egg platter (you DO have a deviled egg platter, don't you? 🤨 😄) up and tote them to the party venue.  When I'm ready to put them on the table, I put the whites on the platter and cut a little corner off the yolk bag and squeeze it into the whites.  

[heidih]

And the bonus is that all the deviled egg gas passing happens outdoors

[rotuts]

@Kim Shook 

 

a true DE professional .

 

I wonder how 

 

the small meatballs 

 

w a sweet/sour/tangy sauce 

 

( colorful tooth-picks please , to even the field )

 

would do , time wise 

 

w the Devil'd Eggs also right there ?

 

I think the DE's would be inhaled first ,

 

then the crowd would move on to the

 

MB.s , and inhale them

Edited July 25, 2022 by rotuts (log)

[gfweb]

a nice potato salad

gently cooked/smoked turkey or chicken breast salad with more slivered red grapes than seems reasonable and bacon

a hideous but always popular queso dip

 

[weinoo]

3 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

I pack those and my deviled egg platter (you DO have a deviled egg platter, don't you? 🤨 😄)

Please: you don't want to rile up @JoNorvelleWalker , do you?

[Margaret Pilgrim]

4 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

 (you DO have a deviled egg platter, don't you? 🤨 😄)

 

Don't.   Never had one.

 

An even simpler egg presentation is a basket of hard boiled quail eggs, alongside a little bowl of Maldon salt.     These are pretty reasonable at Asian markets.    You can go so far as pickling them.

[Kim Shook]

6 minutes ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

 

Don't.   Never had one.

It's because you live in California 😁!  Seriously, though - I've never seen a southern bride that didn't get at least one deviled egg plate for a shower or wedding gift.  And when I was a bridal consultant, I saw more than one bride change her silver pattern because the one she originally picked didn't come with ice tea spoons.  I'm guessing that was a regional thing, too!  

[MaryIsobel]

2 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

It's because you live in California 😁!  Seriously, though - I've never seen a southern bride that didn't get at least one deviled egg plate for a shower or wedding gift.  And when I was a bridal consultant, I saw more than one bride change her silver pattern because the one she originally picked didn't come with ice tea spoons.  I'm guessing that was a regional thing, too!  

I have two devilled egg plates - one is a hideous hand painted one ( gift) and one is plastic (that I bought at a dollar store to display dyed easter eggs when the kids were wee.) So I usually use kale (or iceberg torn into large chunks - if I'm camping) to keep the eggs upright. This has reminded me that my aunt used to do devilled eggs by cutting the eggs aross the equator rather than pole to pole. A tiny sliver off the pointy end and the eggs stood up nicely by themselves. Don't know why I didn't remember this until this minute! I have never owned ice tea spoons, nor has anyone I know but I can certainly see their usefulness.

 

 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

12 minutes ago, MaryIsobel said:

II have never owned ice tea spoons, nor has anyone I know but I can certainly see their usefulness.

 

 

I have them in stainless, not silver, and husband uses them all the time.   Iced tea, horchata, Campari and soda.

[Kim Shook]

9 minutes ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

I have them in stainless, not silver, and husband uses them all the time.   Iced tea, horchata, Campari and soda.

Also for getting things out of deep jars.  They are very versatile items!

Edited July 25, 2022 by Kim Shook (log)

[Margaret Pilgrim]

ROOT BEER FLOATS and ICE CREAM SODAS!

Edited July 25, 2022 by Margaret Pilgrim (log)

[BeeZee]

Good grief, all of those egg people...if my husband or I saw deviled eggs we'd make a warp speed u-turn. I don't know a single person in either of our families who likes them. 

I try to bring things that won't potentially poison people if left out too long at room temp. That means no mayo. I'll make a potato salad, grain-based salad, or marinated veg salad, which can stay nicely at room temp with oil-based dressing.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

2 hours ago, weinoo said:

Please: you don't want to rile up @JoNorvelleWalker , do you?

 

Jo Norvelle Walker does not have a devilled egg platter.  However a neighbor does and I have been admiring hers.

 

[JeanneCake]

I love to bring either the lentil salad from The Way to Cook (Julia) or the Sweet Potato Salad from Thrill of the Grill (Chris Schlesinger); both are fantastic, hold well at rm temp and generate recipe requests

 

The tomato dish reminds me of the Tomato Pie in one of Laurie Colwin's essays (in More Home Cooking); it's a biscuit crust in a pie plate, lined with thinly sliced fresh or best quality canned tomatoes, minced garlic, shredded cheese and topped with the rest of the biscuit.  She says it's fantastic when reheated so the cheese is just melty enough....

 

I might have to have my  own pot luck so I can try some of these, they look and sound wonderful!

[rotuts]

@JeanneCake 

 

both those books 

 

are as good as cookbooks get 

 

both authors 

 

thought deeply about their Rx's

 

before publishing 

 

no Click-Return for them.

[weinoo]

I just hope, with all this food everyone is bringing, that @Martin Fisher's brownies still show up.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

3 hours ago, BeeZee said:

Good grief, all of those egg people...if my husband or I saw deviled eggs we'd make a warp speed u-turn. I don't know a single person in either of our families who likes them. 

I try to bring things that won't potentially poison people if left out too long at room temp. That means no mayo. I'll make a potato salad, grain-based salad, or marinated veg salad, which can stay nicely at room temp with oil-based dressing.

i believe that current thought is that commercial mayonnaise actually prevents food from spoiling due to acid and preservatives.    Everything within limits of course.

[blue_dolphin]

47 minutes ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

i believe that current thought is that commercial mayonnaise actually prevents food from spoiling due to acid and preservatives.    Everything within limits of course.

That’s my understanding as well, as discussed here.  I’ve never chosen to eat a deviled egg at a pot luck mostly because they’re not all that interesting but a hard cooked egg with commercial mayo and mustard isn’t as risky as a lot of other options!

[Martin Fisher]

16 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

I pack those and my deviled egg platter (you DO have a deviled egg platter, don't you?

 

I have two of the Rubbermaid deviled egg trays w/ lids.