Church (or Firehouse) Suppers

[PattiCakes]

I'm not sure if this is the correct forum for this topic; if it's not, I'm sure that TPTB (The Powers That Be) will put it in an appropriate place.

I live in PA. This Saturday, we are going with friends of ours to the bi-annual Hungarian hurka & kolbasz dinner at her mother's Hungarian Lutheran church. For those of you n ot familiar with Hungarian food, kolbasz is a type of fresh (not smoked) kielbasa-like sausage, and hurka is a sausage made with liver and rice. Don't knock it until you've tried it. These are served with copious amounts of sauerkraut & mashed potatoes, and finished off with home-made Hungarian pastries. They used to have the supper once a year, but the church's congregation has dwindled as the older members have died off. Now it's every other year. We've been going for upwards of 30 years. Back in the day, it was held in the local Hungarian American Club, and even had a polka band (the Telstars -- old men, accordians, bad rugs). The men would eat a platefull of food, disappear downstairs to get a few shots from the HAC bar, then reappear to eat another platefull. The food is still good, but the move from the HAC to the church basement has put a damper on the fun.

We also like to go to the ham supper and the pork & sauerkraut supper done by my SIL's church. His grandparents, Omi & Opa, are German, and go to a German Lutheran Church. The suppers are fundraisers, but also provide a sense of community as well as a damned fine meal for little money.

Do these types of suppers exist where you live? It seems to me that they used to be much more prevalent years ago. Our local firehouse, for instance, used to have a ham and fried oyster dinner. If you were not in the mood to sit and eat your dinner, you could buy a platter to go. That supper doesn't exist anymore.

Do you think the bad economy will bring back some of these community suppers?

[Suzy Q]

I sure hope so! I love these kinds of get-togethers. The last one I attended was a BBQ chicken fundraiser/dinner at a local firehouse, and it was great. My mom's church still does this kind of thing once in a blue moon - usually for a funeral or something of that nature - and that food is absolutely the best stuff you've ever put in your mouth.

[Allstonian]

Here in New England, there are still suppers, though I'm jealous of your Hungarian and German ones! Here it's things like spaghetti dinners, summertime barbecues, *maybe* old-fashioned baked bean suppers, and so on. And don't forget pancake breakfasts! Most of them are in smaller towns rather than in the cities, although I've seen signs for Boy Scout pancake breakfasts in Coolidge Corner in Brookline.

BarmyFotheringayPhipps and I drive from Boston to Bradford VT every November for an annual game dinner at a church there - roast venison, moose, wild boar, rabbit, bear, sometimes beaver, pheasant & wild rice casserole, plus sausage patties form several of those and an excellent game chili, plus mashed potatoes, winter squash, cole slaw, homemade dinner rolls and wild-game-liver pate, finished off with all the cider and decaf coffee you want and a cube of gigngerbread, all for $25 a head. It's been happening for 53 years last November (and I think I've been going for well over 25 of those) and still going strong.

[Louise]

Oh. My. God. The BF may need to visit Bradford VT next year.

[viperlush]

Same here. Would love a reminder on the Boston board this fall :)

[Allstonian]

Will try to post a heads-up in October - tix are sold in advance - but it goes on the New England board, not Boston.

[Louise]

Looking the articles referenced in the links, there may be quite a few similar dinners. Thanks for the heads up regarding the New England board.

[Louise]

Where I live (SFBA) I see flyers for them semi-regularly. Pancake breakfast, spaghetti dinner, crab feed, usually at one of the several local boosters clubs or middle/high schools.

[Sooeygun]

There are a few months of the year when my parents are at one of those dinners every week...Oddfellows, churches and other community organizations. The most common are roast beef dinners with unlimited home made pie for dessert.

[GretchenS]

In addition to the suppers that Allstonian mentions (and the Bradbury VT game-fest sounds worth the trip) here in the Boston area there are a fairly large number of Greek churches that have weekend-long festivals largely involving food, including a least one with pig and lamb on spits over coals. Generally excellent food at these. Would love to go to your Hungarian church supper!

[PattiCakes]

Ah, I forgot about the Greek church and the full week festival! drool. My husband would like that game dinner, as long as he had some good beer to go with! Personally, I'd love to find a really good BBQ at a local African American church. For some reason I just can't do justice to that type of cooking, but I sure do love to eat it. A clambake would be awesome as well.

We tend to have roast beef dinners here as fundraisers for a single cause -- help out a family with medical bills, contribute to the education fund of a slain policeman's family -- not so much for the general funds of a church. Sometimes clubs at the local high school (example, the Ecology Club) will do a spaghetti dinner.

My favorites are the ethnic dinners (could you tell?). I'm going to have to make it a point to search some of these suppers out. In these tough times, I think I'd rather put my money towards one of those rather than toward just going out to dinner. The food is usually good, but the people you meet are usually so genuine and willing to share their stories. I'll bet you could get a motor home & trek across the country in search of a different dinner a couple times a week. I'm not talking about festivals (like the Gilroy Garlic Fesival or a Chili Festival); I'm talking about community suppers/breakfasts. Food Network, are you listening???

[tall sarah]

We'll be attending our local elementary school's PTO pancake breakfast next weekend.

My mother grew up in farm country NC. They still have several church dinners, served just after services are over. (Dinner= lunchtime, supper= evening meal) They have bean dinners for hunting season, bar b que several times a year, a couple of family reunions (where everyone's invited, blood relation or not), etc. I haven't been in 5+ years & am itching to get back to one, if only to hear of people missing my late mama (grandma) and her delicious fried pies!

[cstr]

I always liked church sponsored dinners, lots of great cooks and plenty of food to fill you.

[Passadumkeg]

Here in Maine: baked bean suppers, turkey or ham suppers and pot lucks. Local fund raisers include lobster or scallop stew. In Nov. a lobster tasting fair to support lobsterman due to the low off the boat price.

Pa & NJ Russian Orthodox church fairs w/ blini, kolbasi, and holupsie and kapusta.

On the rez. in NM: green chile venison stew and bingo or Navajo tacos at rug auctions.

[PattiCakes]

Tears in my eyes here. My grandmother was Russian Orthodox & used to make the best holupsie -- all of my Polish friends call them Galumpkie, but I know better.

Are you getting ready for your trip?

[Passadumkeg]

My wife is booking the Park & Fly motel for the night we return in Manchester Vt.
Where did grandma live?

[PattiCakes]

She lived in Scranton. Originaly Mayfield & Olyphant -- both mining towns. In Mayfield, she owned a bar & dance hall -- quite a woman for those days! Unfortunately she died before I was 12, so I never got to really cook with her a lot -- I do remember making pierogois with her, however. My mom carried on many of the food traditions, as well as those of my father's PA German ancestors. She used to tell me that her parents always had a picture of the Czar's family hanging in their dining room.

[Passadumkeg]

When you go through McAdoo on 309, that was our church. Learned about a Russian wake when we buried my grandfather when I was in 9th grade.

Lots of local concerts/ food here. Going to hear Bill Staines tonight w/ great desserts in Winter Harbor.

The local Grange Halls and churches have a lot of dinners. Public suppers are still a common means to raise money for families w/out health insurance and big medical bills.

[broncosaurus]

Got a recipe for scallop stew?

[Passadumkeg]

Basically just scallops and cream, but do not boil or cram will curdle. I'll look up a recipe tonight.

[kchurchill5]

FL, hellooooo. Scallops I love them. I have several recipes from stew to a creamed broth.

This is my creamed version. I also make one tomato based and added shrimp, fish and some fresh vegetables with potatoes and served over polenta. Depends what you are looking for. This is mine. I make it with shrimp, crab or scallops and it is usually very similar. A standard for leftovers.
-----

1 lb scallops (sea or fine for this)
1 cup diced skinned potatoes
1 large shallot diced
Basically make 3 cups of a bechemel sauce (flour, butter equal parts 3 tablespoons each and 3 cups of heavy cream)
1/2 cup milk
1/2 sherry
1 cup fish broth or stock, or you can use chicken broth
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
Garnish with a little paprika, parsley, I also like diced tomato (that is just my favorite)

[Passadumkeg]

I just asked a local woman I work with and she says, as I thought, for scallop stew, just fry the scallops in butter, add cream or half and half, and warm to a simmer. For chowder cook onions and spuds separately and add.

The season is short this year, but I usually manage to buy a 5 gal bucket of scallops and freeze 'em. They freeze really well.

[kchurchill5]

Not traditional for down here, but very close. I like to add some sherry, and sometimes fresh tarragon but the paprika and parsley is good too at the end. That works for me!! Anything with seafood. You can't really go wrong. I have had probably 20 seafood stews ... I have never NOT enjoyed one. They are all good!! That is what makes recipes so fun. Never ending and all different. Have fun. I love getting the big bucket and freezing. Nice idea. See my ...

Winter Seafood Pasta I posted at chow. Scallops, it is amazing I think with artichoke hearts and pasta. A favorite of mine.

Enjoy the stew!

[kchurchill5]

I think the economy has and with busy schedules, life isn't as simple. I was raised in Dearborn Detroit MI, but had a summer home in northern MI. A german lodge or community and an eagles lodge. Always had sausage and kraut and potato nights. Chicken BBQs, also I am familiar with your hungairian dinner. Lots of immigrants from Kohler WI and MI. I loved those nights. We also had a small greek population just 50 ros o but it was a great excuse to have a greek night. People have got away from that which I think it is a shame whether it is church or just community. Either way a nice thing.

[kchurchill5]

FYI, I think up north states have them much more. Cultural I guess or maybe also weather induced. But I notice a decline from just talking to friends I know. Some areas I think or states may keep it up much more than others.

[mpjmph]

Where I grew up (Eastern NC) every civic group (plus the fire department) has an annual supper or breakfast. It's a small town, and pretty much everyone belongs to or wants to support every group, so the events are scattered year round. Breakfasts are almost always AYCE pancakes. Suppers are BBQ or fish fries. Each church hosts their own homecoming pot luck, usually scheduled to coincide with the town street fair in mid October (also when family and class reunions are held). My favorite events are the herring fish fries, held between Jan 1 and Mar 31 or each year, when the herring swim up stream to spawn and it is legal to fish them (as long as the population counts are high enough that year).

We moved a lot during my childhood, and ended up in a larger city by my teenage years. Fewer civic group dinners, but our church still had pot lucks and BBQs. We also had dinner every Sunday evening for people attending youth group or bible study.

[dfrostnh]

In our area of NH there are weekly ham and bean suppers in the summer but attendance has been dwindling. It's usually the old folk who go and enjoy visiting. A nearby IOOF has a monthly breakfast all you can eat that's pretty good because someone makes some homemade donuts and some breakfast casseroles. Different churches will have occasional suppers, sometimes "famous pork roast". The Granges have been losing membership so I don't see as many suppers as there used to be. In our town, it's called a church supper but the same crew does all the suppers and the proceeds are split three ways - church, grange and women's union. Those of you with ethnic suppers are lucky. As much as I appreciate a good pot of beans, it would be fun to try different foods. I think the good pie bakers are dying out, unfortunately. We can usually spot the best lemon meringue pie on the table but if you make a mistake, the other lemon meringue pies are awful. I know the great pie baker is just about 90 yo. It's not nice to say bad things about volunteers but the pies made from store bought graham cracker crust and boxed pudding and pie filling don't taste too good.
The other popular event are the summer chicken barbecues which are typically a 4th of July or Old Home Day event. It's a vinegar based sauce, not a southern tomato one. The 4-H Jr Leaders have a pit going every day during the state fair. Sometimes the next best thing to a supper is a church run booth at a county or state fair where they make great mac and cheese, beef stew, corn chowder, etc.
We don't usually go to a spaghetti supper because DH doesn't care for spaghetti. Maybe someone can prove me wrong but we usually figure the spaghetti suppers are put on by people because they are cheap and easy but they aren't very good.
I think because of the economy we might see less food donations. I agree that they provide a nice sense of community esp when they have young teens busing tables and working next to their parents and grandparents.

[mwright]

In Newfoundland they have, among other things, flipper suppers (seal flippers) at the appropriate time of year (March-April, I believe. I have never been -- I like to eat my fish straight rather than taste it via the flesh of a fish-eating animal -- but I believe they are very popular.

Jiggs Dinner events are also very popular, as are "turkey teas"

[dberg1313]

I also live in PA (southeast) and our firehouse ladies auxiliary has breakfasts twice a year--in March and in September. I am officially middle-aged as I have been assigned hostess duties, but I diverge...we have all you can eat eggs and/or omelets, all cooked to order, ham, sausage, creamed dried beef, home fries, toast, coffee, juice, milk, and (usually) home-made baked goods. We used to have open dishes of home-made preserves but the county got after us for food-safety issues, so now we are restricted to the nasty plastic-cup servings of "jelly". We used to do a chicken potpie (that's the squares of home-made noodle dough cooked in the broth) supper with a choice of potpies, ham and green beans, or both, but the suppers got to be such an effort. Many members are aging and few newer residents volunteer. Also, we had to roll out our noodle dough on the pool tables (covered of course) in the basement! We still serve over 1,000 at each breakfast though and it's a good fund-raiser. I can vouch for the Witmer Fire Company Ox Roast suppers served out near Smoketown, PA (February, April, and October).

[PattiCakes]

I am going to have to plan some trips this Spring and Summer. That Roast Ox dinner sounds right up my alley.

[Hue]

Here in Baltimore there are still a few churches where they have a traditional
Sour Beef and Dumplings Dinner, the volunteers are getting beyond the age to hold such dinners and they are becoming fewer and fewer.
Many of the local civic groups hold "Bull and Oyster Roasts", where the menu consists of raw oysters, pit cooked beef and ham, and assorted buffet items.
These are usually AYCE affairs, and the beer also flows liberally.