Corn on the cob cut into slices about 1" thick?
Hot doga?
Mini-burgers?

Er, that would of course be "hot dogs" :-)

How about those miniature hot dogs with the grape jelly sauce? You could keep them warm in a crockpot.

Or mini Pigs in Blankets - use cocktail weiners wrapped in pieces of bread dough or crescent roll dough. Have a pot of good mustard along side.

Or the cocktail franks with baked beans in the crock pot - beanie weenies!

Pimiento cheese with crackers? Or our wonderful Southern cheese straws? Or easier, cheese biscuits made with Rice Krispies. I can get you recipes!
Teresa

Meatballs? Add tiny little "buns" for meatballs sliders if you like, as a take off on Colleen's burger suggestion.

I was going to suggest chicken wings, but since you're having riblets maybe just big sheet pans of pizza, cut in squares, or a sliver of ham on a sweet potato biscuit would be good and simple too.

I'm assuming something more substantial than cheese and crackers? I like the cheese straw idea too, or multi-grain bread sticks or a savory cheesecake or block of cream cheese with some hot pepper jelly.

Annie

Green bean casserole. ;)

What about a Thanksgiving theme for your table? How many other food stations will there be, or are you doing it all? A pumpkin bread or cookie or mini-tart to go with that theme?

Turkey slices in gravy.

Mashed potatoes.

Green bean casserole.

I think these are very "American" and will stay warm well in a chafing dish.

Depending on what else you end up serving - there is nothing more American than baked beans. But again - depends what else you are serving. But it would be economical also for that many people.

I think I would like to know more about the wines being tasted before I made any decisions on what food items I would recommend, and I'm not really sure what sort of dessert wine I would serve with chocolate chip cookies and apple tartlets. I do love the idea of tiny mac & cheese done in the mini muffin cups.

Also, there is the mess factor. If people are mingling, and eating from small plates or most of the items are "single bite" then I think riblets with BBQ and having left over bones are going to be difficult. Also, pairing BBQ sauce with wine can be a challenge.

I love the idea of cheese straws, sliders, even tiny squares of pizza would be great. What about tiny potato pancakes? Or corn fritters? Or Savory Pumpkin or Sweet Potato soup in small cups? Or Pear tartlets with Chase's Blue Cheese Whipped Cream? I think even that appy that was all the rage a few years ago; grapes in cream/roquefort cheese and pecans might work.....

Sounds like a fun event - and I'm sure whatever you make will be delicious. Good luck!

Alexa

Thanks to all for your great ideas!

I wish I could do corn, it is perfect, but it's not very seasonal here in Michigan in November. Plus, I am afraid it is difficult to ear while holding a glass of wine.

Mini hot dogs in crescent rolls is good, but do you think the rolls will get soggy in a chafing dish?

Green bean casserole? Love it!

If I have cheese straws, isn't that too much cheese since I already have mac and cheese?

Alexa, you are cracking me up. You should be doing this and not me, because you are taking it much more seriously than I am. I SHOULD be concerned as to which wines are being served, but I'm not. I have much more of a "They'll get what I give 'em" attitude, which probably isn't so nice.

While I enjoy entertaining, the truth is that I resent doing this event. The reasons are too irrelevant to get into here. If I were doing this for a personal event, I would be all excited about making hundreds of potato pancakes or covering endless grapes with blue cheese and nuts.

There will be twenty food stations. Each has it's own supply of plates and people use a new plate at each station, so bones are no problem.

I like the idea of pumpkin bread. I also like the idea of corn bread. How can I incorporate cranberries with either of these?

Now that I think of it, it would be best to have something that doesn't need to be warm. I don't think I have room for one more chafing dish - they are big!!

teresa, may I have the recipe for the cheese biscuits with rice krispies anyway? They sound yummy!

Nicole

I am amazed at the wide variety of foods
considered "Americana" here.
(Hot dogs in grape jelly sauce, Americana? ? ?)

Personally, I think you pretty well have the basics
Of Americana food covered.
Maybe the mini-burgers?
Or the baked beans?
Mashed potatoes & gravy,
But that would be hard to eat standing up.

Perhaps, for simplicity,
convenience, and easy for you,
(not to mention economics)
Just plain ol' white bread
cut into triangles?

Rusty

rusty, at least give 'em some bologna or pb&j, ...

Something not hot? I do like the idea of cheese straws or a herbed bread stick to munch and those would go well with many wines, I think. (Although I would much prefer your food to any of the wines!) Maybe some type of savory mini muffin? That could be your corn muffin, add jalapenos or corn kernels or bacon, chives, whatever suits you.

Devilled eggs wouldn't need to be warmed, but you'd have to keep them cold. Mini quiches might be better, they're good at room temperature. Those tortilla roll up things can be done with nearly any kind of filling. Bruschetta with rounds of bread might be possible with the very last of the tomatoes of the year. Hey, I'm from Michigan too, so I'm optimistic about tomatoes in November, LOL.

If you really don't want to do it, though, I'd still go with cheese and crackers. Crackers and pate might be good too, many people don't care for liver and so you wouldn't have to make much. (grin)

rusty, I've often said that the best thing about being American is that we get to take all the best recipes from all the various "melting pot" cultures, and make them ours, it's all Americana!

Annie

Her ya go, Nicole:

Cheese Crispies

2 cups (8 oz.) grated sharp cheddar cheese
2 sticks butter (softened at room temp)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups Rice Krispies cereal
1 t. salt
dash red cayenne pepper

Mix the grated cheese and the softened butter. Add in the flour and cereal; then add in the salt and cayenne pepper. Shape into small balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten each ball with a fork. Bake at 325 to 350 degrees for about 10 minutes.

Cool on racks when done. Store in an airtight container.

I've often served these at Thanksgiving with hot mulled cider or wine as a simple appetizer. We don't need heavy appetizers on that one day of the year, IMO!

Teresa

You are probably right, Annie 1992.
About both the bologna or PB & J,
And the 'melting pot' cultures all being "Americana".

But the first things that come to my mind
When I see that term is pretty basic,
Red, white and blue bunting and flags,
Baseball, hamburgers, apple pie.
Square bales of hay or straw.
Wheel barrows and hand water pumps.
Taking a bath on Saturday night in a galvanized wash tub.
Feeding the chickens and gathering the eggs.

Foods were pretty basic,
regardless of the land of their origin.
Not much in the way of fancy sauces,
(Unless it was a special Sunday dinner).

Yeah, I know, most of you are not old enough
to remember some of those things.

Nicole, I truly hope you find yourself
Really enjoying this event.
It sounds like it could be a lot of fun.

Rusty

you need a vegetable in your menu..:-)
How about a bread? Or muffin? Pumpkin bread? or ranberry bread....or corn bread...or Sally lunn? Or Spoon bread but you would have to keep that warm.
Perhaps Virginia peanut soup, in a crock pot, served in small styrofoam cups.
Linda C

Rusty,

Even in colonial America places like Boston, Philly, Baltimore, Wash. DC, Charleston, Savannah, etc. had pretty sophisticated cooking complete with "fancy sauces".

Cooking was pretty basic in the mid-west & west although certainly in Denver at the Brown Palace Hotel in the mid-1890s you could enjoy a well prepared "eastern US-style" meal. San Francisco had also established itself as a culinary center before the 1906 earthquake.

We weren't culinary bumpkins living on cornbread & beans all around the country. A nice resource for Americana cooking is Better Homes & Gardens "Heritage Cook Book". Southern cooking, in the 1700s, was alreadly world known for its extravagant luxury dishes.

There's also a great chapter on Trail Cooking that I've used for many a meal. A recipe called "Son-of-a-Gun In A Sack" won my DS a first place ribbon at an elementary school contest in Colorado. (smile)

/tricia

Although it's widely known and accepted that Midwesterners are, always have been and always will be hicks, and darned proud of it, food and its history also depends on the population and what is available. Detroit was founded by the French, and so cooking was very much influenced by that in the 1700-1800s and that style of cooking was popular and common in Michigan. Food in the cities was far removed from that the pioneers subsisted on, which by nature had to be made from ingredients that were portable and could be stored long term as refrigeration was not available and transportation of foodstuffs was inconvenient. The railroads in the 1800s made food more portable and so more variety became available.

I got this from "food timeline", and the Occidental Saloon in Tombstone certainly was going "upscale", LOL.

"Sudden wealth from gold and silver brought sudden change. It came earliest in California. Bayard Taylor reported in 1850 "it was no unusual thing to see a company of these men, who had never before thought of luxury beyond a good beefsteak and glass of whiskey, drinking their champagne at ten dollars a bottle, and eating their tongue and sardines, or warming in the smoky campfire their tin cannisters of turtle soup and lobster salad."...Teddy Blue, a Montana cowboy during the 1880s when the cattle trade flourished, wrote: 'talking about food, do you know what was the first thing a cowpuncher ordered to eat when he got to town? Oysters and celery. And eggs. Those things were what he didn't get and what he was crazy for.'...It was not only oysters that, with the coming of the railroads, suddenly became avaialble in Sheridan, Wyoming, in Miles City, Montana, or Virginia City, Nevada. Gambling and concert saloons as well as hotel bars offered their well-heeled customers fancy fare printed on equally fancy menus, often in broken French...

"In Wyatt Earp's and Doc Holliday's Tombstone, the Occidental Saloon served a Sunday dinner to tickle "Doc's" fashionable palate:

Soups
Chicken Giblet and Consumme, with Egg
Fish
Columbia River Salmon, au Beurre Noir
Relieves
Filet a Boeuf, a la Financier
Leg of Lamb, Sauce, Oysters
Cold Meats
Loin of Beef, Loin of Ham, Loin of Pork, Westphalia Ham, Corned Beef, Imported Lunches
Boiled Meats
Leg of Mutton, Ribs of Beef, Corned Beef and Cabbage, Russian River Bacon
Entrees
Pinons a Poulett, aux Champignons
Cream Fricasse of Chicken, Asparagus Points,br> Lapine Domestique, a la Matire d'Hote
Casserole d'Ritz aux Oeufs, a la Chinoise
Ducks of Mutton, Braze, with Chipoluta Ragout
California Fresh Peach, a la Conde
Roasts
Loin of Beef, Loin of Mutton, Leg of Pork
Apple Sauce, Suckling Pig, with Jelly, Chicken Stuffed Veal
Pastry
Peach, Apple, Plum, and Custard Pies
English Plum Pudding, Hard Sauce, Lemon Flavor
And we will have it or perish.
This dinner will be served for 50 cents."

And so it appears that nearly anything can be Americana. I guess, though, that peanut butter might not be since it was not common until the 1880s or so, so scratch the peanut butter and jelly and replace it with Casserole d'Ritz aux Oeufs, a la Chinoise and Suckling Pig! Or hardtack and pemmican, your choice.

Annie

Thanks, Annie! I had no idea that fare was available in Tombstone! :)

/tricia

I do notice a distinct lack of vegetables and fruit only in the pies, although there is a plethora of meat products. Maybe they were all doing Atkins....

Annie

We have a strong spanish heritage, too. Potatoes or fish with green sauce. Green beens with browned garlic. Chili & wonder if you could do cranberries, corn (frozen) with green chilies - I'll bet that would look spectacular.

Jambalaya recipes come with assorted fixings or creole anything and I'll come running with a fork. Both are more wonderful when made ahead.

If you're not afraid that the overall theme might become too southern, Hoppin' John would be very well received. There are a ton of recipes out there (the one from Emeril looks good), but it's basically black eyed peas and rice seasoned with onions and some sort of pork, and lots of spices. Southern tradition is to eat it on New Years' Day to give you good luck for the year. It's delicious.

And for dessert, here's an ancient comfort food: banana pudding with vanilla wafers. You could make little cupcake sized servings if you could find the appropriate sized paper cup.

Here is a link that might be useful: hoppin' john