Our “dump meal” … a fun and festive night !
The picture above is the closest I could find to what actually came to pass a few weeks ago. A good friend had invited my daughter, son-in-law & myself to her house for dinner.
I was especially pleased because I know what an excellent cook she is and I wanted to share that with my children. The only problem was that when we got there we couldn’t smell a thing cooking ... nor was the table set for dinner. I started to worry that we’d misinterpreted her invitation.
Her husband kept disappearing and then I noticed that my daughter and our hostess were in the dining room doing strange things! They had a big roll of heavy duty aluminum foil and they were rolling it out on top of a layer of blankets and towels that had been draped over the table. There were no settings (not a fork or knife in sight) but individual portions of condiments (butter, cocktail sauce, tarter sauce and mustard) were being ladled out at each person’s place.
The light started to dawn when her husband poked his head in the room and asked for help carrying in the huge steamer. He had been on the porch steaming a delicious dinner of vegetables, kielbasi and shrimp. As soon as we were all seated he and my son-in-law carried the huge pot in and, literally, dumped the contents in the center of the table.
What fun! We all just dug in with our hands and rolled our corn cob chunks in butter, slathered our Kielbasi with mustard, dunked the shrimp in cocktail sauce or just ate them plain. And the steamed veggies were cooked to perfection. I still don’t know how he got everything to come out so perfectly. I think it has to do with the order that you steam everything.
When we were full to exploding our hostess merely rolled up the foil and took it all to the kitchen!! Then we were back to “normal” stuff like coffee and the rhubarb/strawberry pie that my daughter had made, topped with vanilla ice cream and eaten in the dull old civilized way with a fork and spoon.
If we’d had any idea of what to expect for dinner we might have brought a different dessert … a “dump cake” perhaps.
posted by Ginnie at 4:45 PM
11 Comments:
Sounds like dinner was not only tasty but an adventure as well.
I must say--this is a new one on me.
Hmmm--a dmup dessert sounds a tad messy.
Sounds like a wonderful meal!
WOW! I never heard of that before - and I sure would like to be a guest for the next one!
I absolutely LOVE that idea!! I have on DVD a few clips of Creedence Clearwater Revival and in one of the clips they show what I thought was termed a "Clam Bake"? Correct me if I am wrong. But they too "dumped" The food onto the table and everyone dug in!
Bliss, yummy veggies and yummy seafood...my style.
When I cook, even a roast, I place everything centre table and everyone picks what they want and eats all they pick and I am happy.
Eating with your hands, I love it!
Another interesting and unique experience for our Ginnie.
Sounds like a great meal. Reminds me of spreading newspapers for a southern crab crack, or a Frogmore stew.
That sounds like a great meal and so much fun!
this sounds like the way they do crawfish boils. Yummy.
Oh My Ginnie
That feast sounds heavenly. And the pie your daughter made--yummy.
My son makes a similar dish of boiled shrimp, new potatoes, corn and heaven knows what else when we are at the beach.
I love those sort of low country boil dinners.
What a great idea! I'm going to give it a try myself.
That sounds like fun!
Post a Comment
<< Home