Enough Chicken (almost!)

Well, I have been silent here for way too long but I hope you're not disappointed with today's post!

Most of the time I prefer to be identified as a Southerner, despite the fact that I was born in New England and raised by West Virginians in Pennsylvania! I have lived almost my entire adult life in the South and find that I identify with the warmth and friendliness of Southerners. But I have recently had to come to grips with something that Yankees understand better than Southerners.... Covered Dish Dinners!

I have warm (and satisfying)childhood memories of covered dish dinners. The long cafeteria style tables would be set up with paper table cloths and the casserole dishes were crammed practically on top of each other. No one ever had to tell anyone what to bring. You weren't assigned "a meat dish" if your name started with L-P or a "veggie dish" if you were blond. You were never told how many dishes to prepare or that your meat had to be of a certain variety. Home preparations were similar to Christmas or Easter (but not quite as extravagant as Thanksgiving). This wasn't a time for quickie foods or boring foods. It was time to show off your cooking skills, your great grandmother's secret recipe and your finesse at pulling it all off and still having it hot when you arrived. The men stood in line with plates as big as serving trays and the women teased them that they'd have to walk home (which in my small town was no big deal!) My Mom always told my Dad that he was embarrassing her by how much he ate but we all really knew she was flattered that he took her meatloaf first and "saved room" for her cake. There was always enough food to go back for seconds and the highest compliment was to go home with empty dishes or a request for your recipe.

Last night we attended our eldest son's track "banquet" in which we were instructed to bring "chicken for four and tea" because he's an 8th grader. Knowing that that's not really how it's done, I made chicken salad for 12 and brought a loaf of good bread to go with our gallon and a half of tea. I was surprised (but I don't know why since this has happened to me here in the South before) to see box after box of Bojangle's chicken sitting on the table. There were a few dishes of veggies but by the time we got through the line it wasn't clear what they were by the juice left in the bowls. I saw a biscuit on one guy's plate and a piece of cake on another kid's plate but that's the only evidence we had that anything other than store bought fried chicken and tea were served.

So Southerners may have the corner on the hospitality market when in their own homes but there's a thing or two they could learn from Yankees about feeding a crowd. At least I went home with an empty bowl!