Thanksgiving on the go

I started thinking about on my pre-dinner walk yesterday (hungry, thinking about food!). If it were me,

I would make Turkey Saltimbocca https://food52.com/recipes/31943-turkey-saltimbocca using extra sage. I'd slice it crosswise into 1" pieces and put on Rosemary Epi Rolls which I'd shape and cut a bit larger than usual: https://food52.com/recipes/8324-rosemary-epi-rolls slathered with a savory-leaning cranberry sauce https://food52.com/recipes/24974-the-secret-to-truly-outstanding-cranberry-sauce-bay-leaves-optional, a touch of horseradish mustard and a fistful of arugula - kind of a "day after" sandwich. Make pan sauce with a splash of good white wine and drizzle on the turkey after putting it on the bread.

Then, I'd make a wild rice and brown jasmine rice salad with dried apricots poached in Madeira wine and then snipped, toasted pecans, chopped parsley, cubed jicama for crunch and roasted carrots for color, tossed with a vinaigrette made with the Madeira poaching wine, champagne vinegar and olive oil.

Then for dessert I'd make pumpkin custard, using Paul Virant's "Genius" pumpkin butter, cream cheese, sour cream, brown sugar, eggs and spices, in medium ramekins in a bain-marie.

I'd drink pear cider with this meal. And I'd start with fig and blue cheese savouries: https://food52.com/recipes/8010-fig-and-blue-cheese-savouries

Bake up only as many as you need, freeze what remains of the log. You'll want them in December!

Hmmm. This makes me want to plan a second holiday weekend hike, to take this along! ;o)

P.S. I'd make stuffing the centerpiece of a meal when I returned home. My family is absolutely crazy about the 2009 contest-winning melissav's ciabatta and chorizo stuffing: https://food52.com/recipes/1516-ciabatta-stuffing-with-chorizo-sweet-potato-and-mushrooms It really can be a meal unto itself, with some pan-fried Brusslies on the side. Leftovers are great for lunch!

Ask your colleagues to give you a link to my submission from November 2009 to the totally "on-the-go" Thanksgiving we celebrated that year - from the top of a ridge, with a view of Half Moon Bay. It's no longer on the site. I can send you the original email with photos if you're interested. ;o)

You could take all the essential pieces of Thanksgiving and turn them into a salad. For example, I would make faro or barley salad (instead of stuffing), with roasted turkey, sausage crumbs, roasted squash, cranberries and apple cider vinaigrette. Like a Thanksgiving in a bowl. Safe travels!

You should try to recreate Ross Gellar's Thanksgiving sandwich-- complete with a "moist maker" ;) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2xi7B3mkr0

When I lived in Boston in the 80's there was a restaurant across the street from Mass General Hospital that served Thanksgiving dinner in several forms every day. The sandwich I still dream about was packed into a pita and had roast turkey (no deli breast!) bread dressing, cranberry sauce. the turkey was so juicy and the dressing soft and luscious. I wonder if you could find or get someone to make something like that for you. It was a bit messy to eat, but with a whole host of napkins I'm sure you could conquer it.

Personally, I'd punt on an on-the-go Thanksgiving meal and just make things that travel well, without trying to replicate what might be on the dinner table. One can observe a holiday and celebrate without the traditional fixings.

I despise delicatessen turkey because the bird has invariably been brined, so I'd opt for a different sandwich meat.

My husband's father used to make a traveling Thanksgiving burrito for people he knew who wouldn't be able to enjoy a sit down dinner. He used the frozen, raw flour tortillas that Costco carries. He'd cook and soften them on a cast iron griddle, thinly spread with cranberry compote and fill them with turkey, stuffing, mashed or sweet potatoes and gravy. I always had one the next day even though my traveling consisted of moving from the bedroom to the living room with the huge stone fireplace. The burritos are delicious cold, warm or room temp.

It would probably be too hard to replicate the whole meal on the train and to eat it cold.
If I were you, I'd pick three dishes that are essential for you and make them in portable form. That will likely not be the same form you'd eat at a table, with an oven nearby, but enough to evoke the sense of the meal and memories.
I would have
Example, for me the 3 essentials would be turkey, stuffing and one side..
Turkey Nam Jim Salad (delicious...see Telegraph (UK newspaper), Dec 23, 2008
Favorite stuffing baked in muffin tins (take one or two, with some cranberry sauce or other good spread to counter-act any dryness eating it cold)
Potato salad or the 1950s-60s Jell-o salad that we used to have, and mock, but that actually tastes good.
Buy or package a small portion homemade dessert.
Include a pint bottle of apple cider (regular or hard) or wine.