I’m universally known for my chef’s kiss Michelangelo performances with Kraft Dinner.
I am almost lusted after in this regard.
For larger groups: Pork and shrimp lumpia, if I can find the wrappers, with a sweet-chili dipping sauce. They usually upstage whatever anyone else brings, including the host. For summer barbecues, it’s usually shrimp/pasta salad.
I’m the pieroghi maker for holidays, I think mostly because I’m the one who has patience. Simple potato and cheese, nothing fancy.
For anything else, I’m the primary dessert bringer. What amuses me about bringing desserts- I can make fancy meringues, macarons… my family would rather have Oreo Fluff, gooey butter cookies, and Scotcharoos.
Sweet snack things. Triple chocolate cookies, chocolate banana bread (and then I have to explain quick breads to an audience who wants to call it cake), almond/chocolate/coconut cookies, apple fritter bread, etc.
But the showstopper? Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. I almost have to bring a second plastic container of cream cheese frosting. Cream cheese is mostly used for savory dishes here.
On Monday we will have our first big group meeting since February. I know some people are hesitant to eat things made in other people’s home, since the beginning of the pandemic. I asked if people would eat whatever I bring. I think some of my coworkers may have had to clean drool out of their keyboards.
I don’t think I have to worry about bringing home leftovers. If there are any, I expect others will be happy to take them home.
My wife likes to make pierogi as part of her Polish heritage. We use our mixer’s pasta attachment to ‘roll’ the dough, as it’s much easier than by hand. She makes both potato & cheese, and mushroom, which have much more flavor.
I once made sauerkraut pieroghi per my mom’s request.
My house reeked for a week. It was horrendous. There’s a small Russian deli near me that sells them, so that’s become my out for that request - but they’re still banned from holidays.
Alas, I do not have a stand mixer, let alone a pasta attachment for one, so the old wax covered tablecloth gets pulled out and my table becomes the rolling station.
My wife, The Slovak, will be right over. 
That pasta roller gets used for a lot of things, including kruschiki (a Polish holiday sugar cookie) and pide (a Turkish flat bread). And occasionally for pasta. You might look for a hand-operated pasta roller, which would work just as well.
Hmm, I guess I’m expected to make lemon angel pie for Passover. It’s a lot of work, so I don’t make it for anything else, though.
My specialty is roast birds. I’m very good at roasting a whole bird so it’s juicy and delicious, with beautiful tasty crisp brown skin.
My sister is the cookie queen.
I had to look that up but it looks pretty much akin to what I know as lemon meringue pie - a childhood favourite.
Gunpowder, gelatine
Dynamite with a laser beam
Baozi (Chinese stuffed steamed buns). I make a classic char siu bao, and a vegetarian version. I’m the only person in the family who makes them, and I’m always asked to bring them to family events. Made them for an office party years ago and now I’m expected to bring them every time. Sometimes I think we have office events just so I’ll make them. One of those things that looks really hard to make, but it’s not.
It’s sort of like an upside down lemon meringue pie.
First, you make a “crust” of meringue, and bake that.
Then, you make lemon curd
Then you make some whipped cream, and fold it into the lemon curd, to make lemon cream. That is layered into the meringue shell.
Finally, you whip some more cream, add a little vanilla and sugar, and layer it on top.
Allow it to rest in the fridge overnight, so that the meringue softens enough to cut slices, and serve.
As guests always say, “there are no calories here, it’s all air”.
It’s hard to say what culinary specialty I have, per se. I am a classically trained chef who has spent most of my life in one kitchen or another and then converted all of what I knew into home cooking. (I was never taught home cooking in my home.)
I actually try to avoid being too crazy when I used to go to other people’s shindigs (damn covid) because I really didn’t want to overshadow the efforts of others or the host. One of my usual offerings was guacamole. Everybody loved my guac, even people that said that they didn’t like guac. Homemade chips too, of course.
That said, when I have hosted (damn covid) the sauces and gravies was one of the big draws. I apparently ruined quite a number of my guests who were no longer able to eat canned gravy. I’d usually make a selection of beef, chicken and pork dishes, with a gravy for each, all made with the fond left over from cooking the proteins. People went nuts over that shit, usually asking me if they could take some home with them. To be fair, it probably was not something that was typically found outside of a pretty fancy restaurant.
Mmmm, a good meat sauce is a thing of joy.
There are lots of things that I make, but my specialty is definitely Grape Pie.
I’ve been making it ever since I discovered it in upstate New York. Aside from roadside stands in the Finger Lakes, I don’t know anyplace you can buy them – too labor-intensive – so you have to make your own. I’ve been doing it every fall, no matter where I live.
I’ve gotten awfully good at Japanese cooking. We love the cuisine so much, that I taught myself by watching real Japanese cooks on youtube and imitating them.
We like the homey, family-style dishes best, as opposed to restaurant teriyaki and tempura kinds of dishes. Though I love those too!
We eat tsukune (chicken meatballs), ginger-grilled pork on rice, soboro-don (crumbled seasoned ground chicken on rice), shio-yaki (salt-grilled fish), etc. about three times a week.
This skill has come in handy since it’s hard to visit Japanese restaurants during quarantine.
Yes, that’s an extremely labor intensive dish. I’ve made it twice. It’s delicious, but i decided it wasn’t worth the effort.
(Of course, my husband asked me about the effort last time i made oxtail soup… And i keep making that.)