Mock Thanksgiving - what should I bring?

For a mock Thanksgiving, take fake food? Or tofurkey, that’s fake food that people eat.

Mock turkey legs? (Probably like mock chicken legs, but bigger!)

Is there supposed to be something “mock” about the food & what does “facegiving” mean? Or is it simply celebrating on the wrong day.

Mock Apple Pie
I’ve actually never had this, but it’s an iconic American recipe and holds a certain morbid fascination for me. Has anyone here ever made or eaten this?

@jaytkay: nothing about the food… the “face” part is kind of like an inside joke. it started as, for example, someone would say “i miss you face!” and now there’s face thrown around all the time so she’s calling this facegiving. it’s just 20 friends getting together before the actual holiday (because most of us will be with family or out of town) to celebrate together.

@Harp: You are probably too young to Remember Pearl Harbor.

There were dozens of ersatz recipes, among them your Mock A/P. All dreadful, as I recall. I remember my mother massaging a bag of white margarine; inside was a capsule filled with yellow food dye. Eventually she was able to turn the mess into something yellow.

And the nice salmon loaves (also made with saltine crumbs); let us not forget spam either.

I’m having one of those today with my family because we’re all going to be busy on Thanksgiving.

I’m bringing Baked Macaroni & Cheese – specifically, that recipe. I will return tonight to say how it went. But I haven’t had one of his recipes go bad on me yet.

Haha, when I first saw the question, I thought of bringing a Lego Turkey.

How about a pumpkin cheesecake? Delicious, easy to make and easy to carry.

My first reply was Mock Turtle Soup.

Since transportation is such a pain, I would bring wine, and maybe cans of Cranberry Sauce.

Mocking bird pie.

Tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, fresh basil, olive oil, red wine or balsamic vinegar (call her and see if she has the last two items so you don’t have to carry them.) When you get there, slice the tomatoes and cheese, lay out on a plate, top with chopped fresh basil, sprinkle with olive oil and vinegar—done! You would need about 7 nice sized tomatoes and 2 packages of mozzarella.

Back, for results.

My Mac & Cheese is fuckin’ delicious.
Though I used half a cup less milk, one cup more cheese with layers, more pepper, slightly more salt, slightly more paprika and a sprinkling of garlic powder. It’s super delicious.

It looked so good I stole a bite before going over to my mom’s house. :)

+1 for the tomatoes, PandoraBoxx. I grow basil in the summer for that purpose.

Cold asparagus salad is another easy, fresh dish.

Very lightly sautee or steam the asparagus, so it’s still crunchy, chill in the fridge
At the party, mix cold asparagus with crumbled feta
Serve with a vinaigrette dressing

Corn mini-muffins or cornbread.

I forgot to add the candied pecans sound yummy also. Trader Joes actually has really good Pecan Pralines.

@asmonet Mock Mac, aye!

@Val123 Mock-a-roni.

@filmfann Mock on! (Jimmy Dean!) Mock on! (Jimmie Dean) Mock on (Jaaaaames Dean.)

I know! You could take something to drink! Say, Tequila Mockingbird?
Seriously, you really can’t take a covered dish, but what about a couple of loaves of good bread? Homemade? They could go in a back pack, or just in a grocery bag. You could carry a bunch of them. They’d be a lot lighter than a comparable amount of nuts…

It would take a bit of fiddling, but you could make a frame of bamboo or wire, then cover the whole thing with a mixture of spam, eggs and cracker crumbs. Then bake it so that it kind of solidifies. if the color is wrong, brush a little kitchen bouquet to make it brown. I did it for the kids on a scout campout that was close to Thanksgiving.

Of course, it tasted salty and dreadful.

@majorrich LOL! Sounds like something the squirrels and birds would love! But…she has to tote it on a subway and a few blocks on foot.

thanks for all the help everyone!!! as of right now, i got a ride so woohoo!! but i’m still going to still with pecans and maybeeee cornbread, we’ll see how much time i have tomorrow. thanks again!

@asmonet, sounds good. I have to make a putluck dish too. What are panko bread crumbs? What does “temper in the egg” mean?

@jeruba panko breadcrumbs are Japanese bread crumbs, they will either be with all of the other bread crumbs in your store or in the international section. It is usually in a box as opposed to the Progresso bread crumbs that come in a round container, but it depends on the brand.

Temper in the egg is a process to get the egg up to the temperature of the other ingredients you are mixing it with so the egg does not cook and make scrambled eggs. I did not look at the specific recipe but usually you would beat the eggs in a separate bowl, then take a small amount, maybe a tablespoon or two of the other mixture and beat into the eggs, then a little more, then add the egg mixture back into the main mixture.

The Panko bread crumbs are coarser than the bread crumbs we are accustomed to.

@JLeslie: Way to steal my thunder, woman. And way to be right about everything.

grumble, grumble!

@Jeruba: Specifically, Panko breadcrumbs are larger and look like flakey. They’re like the kind you see on really flakey fried shrimp. They get toastier and crispier. If you go to the website I linked there is a tab showing a video of the process. It does a great job explaining the tempering of the egg and the benefit of using Panko breadcrumbs in that recipe. It was a huge hit with everyone and came out super delicious. However having eaten a larger quantity I have some edits to the recipe to make it much better – if you’re interested in trying it. Delicioso!

Ha! Thunder taken back!

@all Panko bread? “Temper in the eggs?” Is zat a movie? A book? What?? Excuse me. I haveta go make some pancakes. I just have this vision of eggs having temper tantrums and making a HUGE mess!

@asmonet, no one can steal your thunderbolts, lady! At most they can only borrow them for a little while.

Yes, please let me have your amended recipe. I haven’t made any real mac’n’cheese in a long while, and now I am getting up an appetite for this very mix. I hope Trader Joe can supply the breadcrumbs; if not, I live almost within walking distance of my city’s Japantown.

@Jeruba: I’ll pm you my version of it and some pictures when I get home! :)

If anyone else would like it, let me know!

@asmonet My sincere apologies :). I just saw the question and answered, not knowing when you might return.

@JLeslie, thank you for stepping in!