As long as your pans leave with you when the party is over - clean or dirty.

Whatever pan or pretty dish you bring the food in, make sure you get to take it home... as Ricky said. You might lable it with your name. I know this seems extreme, but similar pans/dishes can disappear.

I bought glass dishes years ago for taking places. Take the plastic lid off and they are great.

Have you talked to the hostess about oven space and timing? Carving (whatever the right word is) space and timing? Sherry's suggestion, which I read as enclosed oven to table dishes, sounds good (Linda has said something like she got a bunch of bring food in 'em dishes at thrift shops so she wouldn't have to worry about them. That could cost less than ”disposable”). I bring in covered Pyrex or corningware a lot, but didn't think of it until Sherry said. I also have an insulated box to bring them in, and wrangle all my lids and used dishes into it. With the rouladen, however, if they reheat in liquid or goo that won't be served, or if they can be cut/carved in the pan, the pan might be easier.

I agree about the more decorative serving pans, but suggest ceramic. I find a generic white blends in with most table decor and will look a little more formal than pyrex. You can find them in second hand shop or Home Goods (and can even just be used to transfer the rouladen from the original baking vessel).

Everything is stovetop and no oven space required at all. It's a matter of needing to reheat everything once we're there, which is why bringing things in the original pans makes the most sense to me.

And I will try really hard not to leave anything behind! Thanks everyone!

I would take it in the pan and also bring a suitable serving dish. You can’t always count on the hostess having a spare suitable serving dish, and I wouldn’t put it on the table in a pan.

Do you have a plug-in electric pan or something you can be sure to re-heat your rouladen - you can always find a socket! - then take a serving dish as well?

Thank you for the suggestions, but this is a woman who often has formal dinner parties and she has *every* serving dish and utensil imaginable. Her house is old and grand, so the kitchen is small and finding counter space and a free socket is actually a problem... I learned that from bringing pierogies w/ an electric skillet once. :)

eta: I love the procession of dishes at her table... dinner usually starts with something small and sweet, like her homemade grape shrub with a bit of sherbet floating in it, or a tiny pierced decorated plate containing a strawberry or two and some powdered sugar. Next might be a salad with spring mix and fruit/veg shaped like some seasonal decoration. It's fun. :) Sadly, I'm not bringing courses. lol! But I will bring my homemade "schnapps"!!! :)

I’m late to the ”party,” but can you take it in something like a Le Creuset dutch oven which will make it easy to reheat. Then plate everything in the kitchen.

I was thinking that you don't have to use a socket in the kitchen. Anywhere would do for an electric skillet.

What about one of those Pyrex Portables thingies with the hot pack in the bottom?

If she has the service and wants to use it... let her. It's a beauty. Bring your stuff in the pan it reheats in and then put it into whatever service she hands you.

Can we back up and talk about dinner starting with a sweet bite? The presentation sounds beautiful, but something sweet at the beginning of a meal would kill my appetite. Am I just out of step with everyone else (wouldn’t be the first time 😁)?

PM, I'm so sorry your intended host is doing so poorly, but if he's able to eat normally, how special to get your homemade rouladen as sick food! That's sure to cheer them both up.

Bbstx, sweets actually stimulate the appetite. A lot of ”savory” appetizers have a sweet component. First, there are the carbs of a standard carrier, like crust, toast, grain, etc. Then there are things like caramelized onion, sweet pickles, etc. I agree that PM's hostess's overtly sweet small plates sound a bit odd to me too, but I've had decades of serving filling hors d'oeuvre to growly-bear hungry working men whose appetites we were trying to mollify, rather than stimulate, so in contrasting that with the likely crowd being served the little sweets, it makes sense.

DH was famous for eating his dessert first. I never could understand it. Even a small bite would make me not want dinner. That’s going to be my new diet! Dessert first!

My roulladen ecipe actually finishes in the oven????

Sherry, yours is just another of many different versions. :)

Re the sweet first course, I wondered about it at first too, but they aren't just sweet... they are tart/sweet. I always enjoy it. I love her shrub and she won't tell me how she makes it!

It was a cold and very windy day yesterday, and we had a snowstorm on the first half of the trip, so it wasn't exactly a relaxing drive. lol! Reheating was easy and the food was great. She went into her massive dish pantry and pulled out some very pretty Spode serving dishes; I checked because I loved the shape and colors of the dish she chose for the red cabbage :)

Thanks for all the input, everyone! We have around 3" fresh snow on the ground this morning.

My mother used to say that her father always ate his pie first at dinner in case he didn't have room afterwards :-)

Pre-covid, there was an annual dinner/play put on by a local historical society that my family wouldn't miss. Wonderful witty original plays, based on material in a diary that was written by a local man, beginning in the mid 1800s and continuing over the course of more than 65 years. The dinner is always the same: a homemade roast pork dinner, with all the traditional sides, served family style. Upon entry, you're instructed to go choose your dessert from the dessert table, which is covered with plated slices of every kind of homemade pie imaginable. I usually look for a pecan pie and eat most of it before dinner is served. I'm quite sure there are a LOT of desserts eaten before dinner on a night of the play. :)