Simply amazing. From our experience, Pot-luck dinners are more a social event than a gourmet food tasting.
We must be traveling in the wrong crowd. The occasional whinner is on the other end of the spectrum. Something like "Well, I see Betty out did everyone again. she is just not happy unless she has the best dish on the table". Regardless, everyone seems to have a good time socializing, laughing, and making plans for the next "to-do".
But, I do wonder how many of us internet warriors would folow their own advice face to face with the dispicable "duck' mentioned in the OP.
You just need more people. The pot luck I go to camping has 300 people attending. I have no idea who brings what, unless I ask who brought that delicious whatever. The "meat" (fresh abalone) is basically brought by whoever went diving.
There is always WAY MORE there than the group can possibly eat.
sem1 wrote: You could change the rules a little bit, like drawing the next pot luck out of a hat, You could make up different menu items like dessert/salads etc.
Another thought on the expensive meat part is to rotate that portion or have everybody contribute funds to buy.
Both those are IMHO great suggestions for something like an ongoing POT LUCK with the same people. Let all the dishes rotate on a regular schedule and for the main dish have one person (say out of three whose turn it is for the main dish) choose it and like two others split the cost of it.
As the OP I wanted to provide something that one of our group, not the "Duck" found on-line. Enjoy and hopefully we all found some form of answer to the puzzling question or at least could recall and similar experience and smile. This couple of ours will no doubt continue to go with the group as it was they left a day ahead of weveryone else and we all had a few chuckles at theri expense. All and all I guess we're even.
Potluck etiquette
I do enjoy a good potluck, but it is a quirky experience for the gourmand. By definition, you never know exactly what you're going to get. If your pot has some luck, you won't end up with 15 potato salads and one liter of Pepsi. Smarter potluck hosts take a little luck out of the equation by assigning courses to attendees.
But just assigning people a course still results in a hodgepodge of selections that may not mix well. On Thursday, we had a potluck at work and I had barbecue sauce running into my chicken enchiladas and green goddess dressing dripping onto my egg roll. I love a variety of ethnic foods but not necessarily all mixed on the same plate. Chefs give a lot of thought to how foods go together. There's a reason you can't order sashimi at Olive Garden and you can't get pepperoni pizza with your udon noodles.
I can get over that, but as the potluck season continues in full gear, we should all heed the following rules of potluck etiquette:
1. Bring your own serving utensils. Nothing is worse than stalling a potluck buffet line while guests have to serve their own soup with a plastic teaspoon because you didn't bring a ladle. Don't expect that the host will have one for you.
2. Your dish should be ready to serve. At a potluck I attended this week, someone brought a bone-in ham but offered no assistance in divvying it up. Without a knife and a serving fork, it sat at the buffet table untouched, like a centerpiece to give homage to carnivorous living without actually facilitating its occurrence.
3. If you don't cook, you have two choices: (1) Don't come to the party, or (2) offer to handle other non-edible necessities like cups, napkins and plates. And one or two guests who are particularly kitchen-phobic get to bring the beverages. Bringing a bag of potato chips is not an option. At a potluck buffet, I regard store-bought items as if they were parsley sprigs--pretty adornments that are not actually meant for eating. Thanks for adding some color to the table.
4. If you are going to be a little late, bring a dessert. If you're going to be really late, don't bother coming. On Thursday, some poor sap showed up after everyone had already been through the buffet line once or twice. Everything would have been fine if he had brought in a homemade cheesecake, but he brought an appetizer. And as an added infraction, the appetizer was a cheese and cracker plate from the grocery store. As he was tearing open a plastic packet of cheddar cheese blocks, I wondered if he really expected everyone to jump up and come back to the buffet table for another round.
5. Avoid poisoning other guests--it's very uncouth. Use proper hygiene when preparing food, especially with meat. Keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold. Bring your own Crock Pot, chafing dish or other warmer. Use ice to keep cold dishes cold. True, with the multitude of dishes, it's not likely that you will be fingered as the culprit, but don't push your luck.
Maybe they are very frugal and eat the same way at home all the time. Maybe they aren't doing nearly as well as they say they are. Maybe they are just cheap, or bad cooks - who knows.
I would not make an issue of it. If it bothered me, I would start delegating who would be responsible for each dish. I think it would be a lot less aggravating if you just said "Marge, you are in charge of" amd assign to her the corn on the cob, baked beans, green bean casserole, baked potatoes - whatever. Ask her to bring what she does best - everyone has a dish they have mastered over the years.
You want their company and it is not such a big deal to feed them once a month.
Put the steaks on the plates and hand them out rather than wait for these 2 to pick through to find the biggest or best ones. Serve from the grill.
Since you do this once a month, I would come up with an agreement where 2-3 couples would be in charge of the meat for the pot luck and the others in charged of deserts, sides and salads (with specificty!) Switch every month so no one is stuck with the meat bill alone, or more than every couple of months.
Castaic Lion wrote: As the OP I wanted to provide something that one of our group, not the "Duck" found on-line. Enjoy and hopefully we all found some form of answer to the puzzling question or at least could recall and similar experience and smile. This couple of ours will no doubt continue to go with the group as it was they left a day ahead of weveryone else and we all had a few chuckles at theri expense. All and all I guess we're even.
Potluck etiquette
I do enjoy a good potluck, but it is a quirky experience for the gourmand. By definition, you never know exactly what you're going to get. If your pot has some luck, you won't end up with 15 potato salads and one liter of Pepsi. Smarter potluck hosts take a little luck out of the equation by assigning courses to attendees.
But just assigning people a course still results in a hodgepodge of selections that may not mix well. On Thursday, we had a potluck at work and I had barbecue sauce running into my chicken enchiladas and green goddess dressing dripping onto my egg roll. I love a variety of ethnic foods but not necessarily all mixed on the same plate. Chefs give a lot of thought to how foods go together. There's a reason you can't order sashimi at Olive Garden and you can't get pepperoni pizza with your udon noodles.
I can get over that, but as the potluck season continues in full gear, we should all heed the following rules of potluck etiquette:
1. Bring your own serving utensils. Nothing is worse than stalling a potluck buffet line while guests have to serve their own soup with a plastic teaspoon because you didn't bring a ladle. Don't expect that the host will have one for you.
2. Your dish should be ready to serve. At a potluck I attended this week, someone brought a bone-in ham but offered no assistance in divvying it up. Without a knife and a serving fork, it sat at the buffet table untouched, like a centerpiece to give homage to carnivorous living without actually facilitating its occurrence.
3. If you don't cook, you have two choices: (1) Don't come to the party, or (2) offer to handle other non-edible necessities like cups, napkins and plates. And one or two guests who are particularly kitchen-phobic get to bring the beverages. Bringing a bag of potato chips is not an option. At a potluck buffet, I regard store-bought items as if they were parsley sprigs--pretty adornments that are not actually meant for eating. Thanks for adding some color to the table.
4. If you are going to be a little late, bring a dessert. If you're going to be really late, don't bother coming. On Thursday, some poor sap showed up after everyone had already been through the buffet line once or twice. Everything would have been fine if he had brought in a homemade cheesecake, but he brought an appetizer. And as an added infraction, the appetizer was a cheese and cracker plate from the grocery store. As he was tearing open a plastic packet of cheddar cheese blocks, I wondered if he really expected everyone to jump up and come back to the buffet table for another round.
5. Avoid poisoning other guests--it's very uncouth. Use proper hygiene when preparing food, especially with meat. Keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold. Bring your own Crock Pot, chafing dish or other warmer. Use ice to keep cold dishes cold. True, with the multitude of dishes, it's not likely that you will be fingered as the culprit, but don't push your luck.
If I were you, I would stick with eating at the Four Seasons,
You dont` come across as a pot luck type of person.
At my seasonal site I will cook Blueberry pancakes and bacon breakfast for the campground staff and the other seasonal's (and anyone who shows up). When I cook rib eye's I invite one couple at a time. The last thing I would want to do at a potluck is embarrass someone because they did not bring what I thought was appropriate. Who knows they might be just getting by. Who knows someday I might be the one needing a meal.
The potluck IMHO isn't the only situation when people behave out of our expectation.
For 20 years we have friends, who are great company, but quite often when "stopping for a coffee on their way back from airport" they sit for 6 hr eating lunch, than dinner and drinking my beer.
Occasionally (about every 3 years) they make a party where asked for a soda -he starts digging at the back of the lower shelf in his wet bar.
Have to admit that enjoying their nice way of talking they have been getting away with the behavior for long time, but with the age there is less to talk about and the behavior get more and more annoying.
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