Please help with massive work potluck.

[Jondor_Battlehammer]

I work for Boeing, and our entire building is doing a "bite of..." style potluck, with each working group of 30-60 people preparing food based on a theme. Ours is the road kill cafe, which will be BBQ with a touch of fear factor. I'm hoping for some cheap/easy/inventive ways to present BBQ style dishes in a way that makes you wonder what it is you are actually eating. Nothing is yet nailed down, not even what food we will be using as a base. Any idea at all, even just names, would be very appriciated.


Thanks!

 

[Thunderfoot]

Cool! My suggestion would be to purchase pork tenderloin, slice it really thin (or at least have part of it thin) to give it that 'run over' appearance. Another would be to shape the meat in a manner similar to small animals that have been skinned, such as a squirrel or raccoon.

To complete the charade, having 'examples' of road kill (fake, stuffed, road kill critters) for comparison as a table dressing would really up the fear factor.

Of course, you could just BBQ up a bunch of squirrels and tell them you ran over them.
(BTW - I'm from the backwoods and yes, I've eaten squirrel - if you do go that route soak the meat in lukewarm saltwater for about 20 minutes to relax the meat and release the 'gamey' flavor.)

 

[Huw]

<cheap_shot>So when airlines give us crap food, it's not their fault, it's because Boeing supplied them with the leftovers from their pot luck meals?</cheap_shot>

Seriously, I'd suggest sausages. My knowledge of sausages in the US is formed mainly from jokes about the contents of hotdogs in Futurama, but hopefully you'll be able to buy a selection of sausages made from a great range of meats and flavourings and coming in a number of interesting colours (Pork & Apple is a sort of grey-green, Pork & Chili is red, etc. ). Buy a dozen different packs, mix them up on the grill, and voila, roadkill hotdogs, you'll never know quite what it is.

 

[Jondor_Battlehammer]

OOO. Where could we buy those? I know about bear sausage, had some, but is the raccoon or deer sausage too? That could be the ticket.

 

[Huw]

OOO. Where could we buy those? I know about bear sausage, had some, but is the raccoon or deer sausage too? That could be the ticket.

If you were in the UK, then Waitrose, Tesco or any good butcher. You can get venison and wild boar as well as pork and beef. I'm assuming you're in the US though - in which case I have no idea.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

If you do a search for exotic jerkey or sausage, you should find something.

Here in Texas, there are all kinds of roadside smokehouses with buffalo, ostrich, and others.

 

[Jondor_Battlehammer]

I found a bunch of places selling frog legs and rabbit and such. Does anyone know about raccoon or possum? That would be perfect! And, yes, I am in the US.

 

[megamania]

All of the above and come up with spiffy names to further sell the humor and bewilderment of it.


The mentioning of speciality shops is a good one. A local 5 star inn/place of dining has an annual chili contest in Vermont. I went one year and had rattlesnake, Alligator and somesort of exotic bird from Africa.

Tasted good.... texture was different..... especially the gator.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Raccoon, Possum, and Squirrel should be available in the South. Look for places in Louisiana/Mississippi.

Louisiana also has as a claim to fame the tasty Nutria, which is an extra-huge swamp rat. Its one of the largest rodents on the planet.

FWIW, Ostritch tastes like lean beef, and the only exotic animal I've ever had that tasted like chicken to (me) was a particular kind of Octopus.

 

[Scotley]

As a Southerner, I have never seen Raccoon, possum or squirrel for sale. You want to eat it, you have to kill your own. Here is a site that has some fairly exotic stuff like rattle snake, frog, yak and snapping turtle.

http://www.exoticmeats.com/store/?gclid=CO2Y3s7pz40CFRE4OAodJxQmLQ

To me the stuff in Asian markets is pretty exotic. I expect there are some good ones in the Pacific Northwest--assuming that's the part of the country you are in. They do some pretty frightening things with seafood and parts of animals we don't normally consider edible in the US. The sausage idea could also work out well.