Spinoff--what to bring to the hunt breakfast?

[GrayMare]

Help me out here, please! I have my flask situation worked out but I struggle with what to bring to share at hunt breakfasts and post-hunting potlucks. I have many fine qualities but food/cooking is not an area of expertise for me. My boys and I hunt with a wonderful hunt that quite often has a lovely shared potluck meal after we come in from hunting, and I would like to improve my contributions.

Does anyone have suggestions for recipes that are delicious at room/truck temperature, easy to make (and perhaps can be made a day in advance), don’t require elaborate planning/shopping lists, and that also are easy to transport?

[Equibrit]

I once brought all kinds of exotic cheeses, with different kinds of bread and interesting crackers. Add Pickles, chutney etc. and Port.

You don’t HAVE to cook as long as you keep it interesting. Most other folks do the cooking which allows you to be imaginative with the befores and afters.

[kinscem]

Champagne

[SouthernYankee]

-any sort of alcohol is always a hit

• brownies, cookies, sweets

• finger food sandwiches, bbq & PB&J are always big hits

• My go to is a 5 bean southwest salad with tortilla chips or a chicken bacon ranch dip.

• sausage balls

• I deer and boar hunt so anything made with wild game is a huge hit with our members.

• anything can be wrapped in foil and placed on top of the engine when you get there and it should still be warm when you get back in. Plenty of our members do that.

• no one cares if it’s store bought or if it’s homemade. By the time we eat we are all 1 flask into the day and famished.

[CopperFoxFarm]

Quiche, fritatta, or a savoury bread pudding are all VERY easy, can be made a day or two early, and in fact can taste better for the sitting, and are delicious hot, cold or room temp. Plus all are great for using up odds and ends in the fridge!

Quiche -
Any premade pie crust, I like the Pillsbury in the fridge case, but you need a pie pan so a premade frozen might be best.
5 Lrg eggs
3/4 cup milk, cream, half & half
2 cups filling of choice - spinach & cheese, ham & cheese, seafood( my mom beats the eggs into Campbell’s chunky clam chowder) really any flavour combo you like.

Whisk eggs and milk, mix n filing pour into shell
Bake at 350 til lightly browned and set.

Fritatta -
Basically a crustless quiche with less milk
12 Lrg eggs
1 cup milk, cream, half & half
4 cups filling of choice

Evenly lay filling on the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish, you could use a foil one from the dollar store. Whisk eggs & milk, pour over filling.
Bake at 350 til set and lightly browned.

Bread Pudding

Use a decent bread like a Panera loaf
You can either slice it or cube it.
9 eggs
3/4 cup milk, etc
2 cups filling of choice

Whisk eggs and milk
If sliced intrleave bread and filling in pan. Then cover in eggs.
If cubed mix cubes and filling into eggs, pour into pan.
Bake at 350 etc

PS grease the pans for fritatta and bread pudding

[CopperFoxFarm]

Hit the button once, posted twice!!

PPS- let them bread pudding sit for a bit so the bread can soak up the custard before baking!

[KateDB]

All sorts of things you can bring/make…pie, donuts, monkey bread, chips and dip, egg salad or tuna salad with crackers. When we hunt from my house, sometimes we do frozen pizza!

One of the easiest is to hit the deli department at the grocery store. Buy appropriate number of slices of turkey, ham, cheese, and dinner sized potato rolls (usually 12 rolls per pack). Make sandwiches: one slice meat and one slice cheese. Takes about 15 minutes tops to make 36 sandwiches, transport them in the original bag the rolls came in. Bring along a tray, a jar of pickles/fork, a bottle of squeezable mayonnaise and a bottle of squeezable mustard - done!

[xeroxchick]

If you bring something that you purchased, serve it in an attractive way, not fussy or too precious, just make an effort. Bring a serving utensil (cheap plastic ones in all colors at Party City if you are afraid to loose yours) put it on a tray or in a bowl.
I use fox hunting themed paper napkins (seem to get these as gifts a lot, btw, thank you) to line the container with my sandwiches, makes it a little bit more fun and takes two extra minutes.
Nothing that says “whatever” like that unopened plastic cube of grocery potato salad plunked on the pot luck. No one will open it and look for a serving spoon, no one wants it because it’s yucky.
Maybe a different and more enlightening thread would be to post pet peeves of breakfasts and tailgates. I will admit right now I loved the good old days when we would sit on the back of the truck with Hardaway and open Vienna sausage tins and eat soda crackers.

[2DogsFarm]

I do not hunt, but I do love breffy : 9

I make a variation of KateDBs sandwiches using Hawaiian rolls & packing the mini-sandwiches into a baking dish then topping with a mustard/butter/brown sugar sauce (couple tablespoons mustard, stick of butter maybe 1/4 cup sugar?) & baking until warmed through - maybe 20-30min @ 350.
Good warm or at room temp.
WTH! Probably good cold too, although they never last to be tested.

[PintoPony]

I’m not a hunter but I am an experienced pot lucker!

I like to make easy chicken salad. Get a couple big cans of chicken (aldi is cheapest), drain it good then mix it with mayo or miracle whip and whatever else you like.

I usually do a bit of onion, some shredded cheese and crumbled crispy bacon. A bit of chopped celery and chopped apple is good too. Serve with buns or crackers.

Quick, easy, holds up well in the cooler and gets eaten!

[GrayMare]

You guys are brilliant! I didn’t have time to do too much last night (I should have posted a couple of days ago), but I did put together a cheese platter with crackers–that was quick and easy–and a store bought (but nice looking, and definitely better looking than if I made it) key lime pie. We had hunted through some stunning territory, but then the rain set in on us, and by the time we made it back to the trailers everyone was thoroughly soaked and the kids were cold and tired so we ended up not staying for the breakfast. We had good munchies for the ride home though!

Next time out I’m going to try the sandwiches (I don’t think I can mess those up). I like the idea of doing the topping to make them a little extra special/tasty.

Good point about presentation and bringing serving utensils, napkins, etc.

Southern Yankee, what exactly do you mean by placing things “on the engine”? Inside the hood? I’d forget it and drive off for sure!!!

[vineyridge]

You could try Dog Trot Danish. Dog Trot is where the Chula Homa kennels are located. It’s a cream cheese danish made with crescent rolls and is delicious.

2 cans crescent rolls
16 0z. cream cheese softened
1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup chopped pecans–I would toast them slightly

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees

Grease bottom of a 9x13 baking pan and unroll one can of crescent rolls
in the bottom, pressing gently to seal perforations. Then, and this is me
speaking, I would put in the oven and bake for five minutes. It’s not
necessary, and it’s not called for.

Combine cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, the egg, and the vanilla and spread
over the dough.

Unroll remaining can of crescent rolls and place on top, sealing the holes.
Combine butter, remaining 1/2 cup sugar, cinnamon and pecans, and spead
over the top. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.

We also vey much appreciated slow cooker pork barbeque with slaw, sauce and buns. They can be put in ziploc bags for transport.

[jawa]

If you do a crockpot thing overnight, you can place it in a cooler with some activated hot hands packs and covered by a towel or two. This will keep it plenty warm until you get back.

A friend of mine was able to find a propane powered crock pot. She can get her pot of soup up to temperature in 20 minutes.

I have brought smoked salmon with the fixings, goat cheese smothered in honey and sunflower seeds with crackers, cheddar cheese with fig preserves and crackers, Boursin cheese and snap peas, cheddar cheese and pickles. Summer sausage. Fresh sliced fruit is great on hot days. Big cans of nuts, chocolate turtles and other yummies from Costco that will keep in the trailer so I always have a last minute something.

There are some folks who keep a cooler of drinks and just ice before the hunt. Waters, gatorades, sodas, lemonade.

You could bring hot tea (kept in the cooler to keep it hot). A friend makes hers as a mulled tea and then has brandy on the side for people to spike as they wish.

[Beau_s_mom]

Beer.

[Eleanor]

We have a place around here that does 4 hunter paces through the summer each year. I always bring a lunch for after. Cheese, crackers, a meat, pickles, a fruit and some type of sweet. I always make sure I have enough to share at the table. Last year for the one hunter pace me and the lady I was riding with planed a big tailgate lunch. Cheese, baguette, meat, fruit, veges and dip. I had wine and glass wine glasses, full sliver wear plates, table cloth and so on. I guess I made quite the impression with it as one of the ladies was talking about it yesterday at the hunter pace. I was to tired to do to much this time.

[otterhound]

Something really simple that always goes down well here is curried eggs. Hard boil eggs, shell, cut in half. Scoop out the yolks and mix with a little curry powder and milk or mayo, then put back into the empty white halves. You gotta be quick to get them here, if you want some.

[Eleanor]

[QUOTE=otterhound;8854477]
Something really simple that always goes down well here is curried eggs. Hard boil eggs, shell, cut in half. Scoop out the yolks and mix with a little curry powder and milk or mayo, then put back into the empty white halves. You gotta be quick to get them here, if you want some. ;)[/QUOTE]

Here we call them deviled eggs and yes they go fast.

[Synthesis]

[QUOTE=Eleanor;8855104]
Here we call them deviled eggs and yes they go fast.[/QUOTE]

I make mine with a bit of Keen’s Mustard powder, mayo and some crumbled bacon. Also, mash one egg white into the filling for a better filling to egg white ratio. Top with a little paprika and/or cayenne

[Cindy_Galloway]

We have a gal that always brings trays of turkey/roast beef/chicken wraps cut into 2 inch pieces. Add cheese, lettuce, tomato. Easy and relatively elegant. Have fun!

[GrayMare]

So many excellent suggestions!

I love deviled eggs! Yes, they tend to disappear immediately from the table I think that may be above my ability level though–hard boiled eggs always fall apart in my fingers when I try to peel them and they end up looking unpresentable.

I love the smoked salmon idea! Costco has lovely packages of it that would be perfect. What do you consider “all the fixings” for smoked salmon?

Dog Trot Danish sounds yummy and I think within my skills, definitely will add that one to the list!