The Drunken Tailgate

Tailgating Recipe: Grilled Mediterranean Sandwich

Foodthinkers.com has a good recipe for a Mediterranean Sandwich that you can prepare at home and then heat up on the grill for an easy tailgating solution. After ignoring it for most of my life, I’ve recently realized that few things go better with beer than salami. A lower quality salami gets you a fair amount for $3-5 and is still tasty enough to do the trick. You’ll probably need to find an Italian market to pick up the bread and specialty cheese.

Mediterranean Sandwich

Ingredients

1 Turkish bread cut into 6 equal sections
butter
18 slices of genoa salami
6 bocconcini (Buffalo Mozzarella), sliced
1 cup pesto sauce
1 cup cherry tomatoes cut in half
Olive Oil

Directions

Cut the bread sections through the center and set aside the top halves. Lightly butter the inside of both halves. Divvy up the salami, bocconcini, pesto, and tomatoes evenly among the sandwiches. Put the tops on and wrap. Put in the fridge if they’re for a future date.

Once you’re tailgating, rub olive oil on both sides of the sandwich. Put it on the grill and heat each side long enough to the let the cheese melt a little and get the bread warm and toasty.

Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

If you like Cupcakes and Guinness but don’t fancy the Bailey’s and Jameson involved in Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes, then celebrations.com has the recipe for you. The main difference between Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes and the Car Bomb cupcakes is the frosting. The Chocolate recipes eschews the Bailey’s and Jameson for another hit of Guinness in the frosting. You can also check out other spiked recipes on their site like Bloody Mary Cocktail Sauce.

Cupcake Ingredients:

* 1 Cup(s) Guinness Extra Stout
* 1 1/2 Sticks Unsalted Butter
* 3/4 Cup(s) Unsweetened Chocolate Chunks
* 2 Cup(s) All Purpose Flour
* 2 Cup(s) Sugar
* 1/2 Tablespoon Baking Soda
* 3/4 Teaspoon Salt
* 2 Large Eggs
* 3/4 Cup(s) Sour Cream

Cupcake Directions:

# Preheat oven to 350 degrees

# Bring stout and butter to a simmer in a large saucepan over medium heat. Do not boil.

# Add unsweetened chocolate chunks to hot stout/butter mixture. Whisk until chocolate melts. Turn heat off and let cool.

# Add sugar to chocolate mixture and whisk to combine.

# Sift flour, baking soda and salt.

# In a stand-alone mixer with a whisk attachment, combine the eggs and sour cream on medium speed.

# Add stout-chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and combine on medium-low speed until encorporated.

# Slowly add flour mixture in thirds to chocolate mixture with whisk attachment. Scrape the sides with your whisk to make sure you get all the dry ingredients combined.

# Place cupcake papers in pan and divide batter into cups evenly. Fill about 2/3 of the cup.

# Bake for 18-24 minutes or until the tops are firm to the touch, and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the cupcake.

# Let cool on wire rack before frosting.

Frosting Ingredients

* 1 Cup(s) Unsalted Butter (room temperature)
* 2 1/2 Cup(s) Sifted Powder Sugar
* 1/4 Cup Milk
* 1/2 Whole Scraped Vanilla Bean
* 1/2 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
* 1 Cup(s) Guinness Extra Stout

Frosting Directions

# In a sauce pan, simmer Guinness on low heat for 10-15 min, until it stout becomes reduced and thicker in consistency. Similar to a syrup. *Tip: keep your eye on the store, so stout does not over cook. Let cool.

# In a stand alone mixer, cream your butter for 1 minute

# Slowly add the powder sugar in thirds, alternating with a little milk each time till mixture is creamy.

# Add scraped vanilla bean and vanilla extract.

# Slowly add reduced Guinness a little at a time. Taste test to desired flavor. You may not use all the Guinness reduction.

# Place buttercream in a piping bag with a #848 french star tip, frost cupcakes and enjoy!

(image from FlyingRiceCooker)

New Tailgating Show on TLC

I was able to view an advanced screening of TLC’s new show “Tailgate Takedown”. It’s your basic cooking challenge but set at actual college football games. Three teams of fans are chosen and allowed to make the tailgating food of their choice. The premiere featured three USC cooking teams competing before the USC/UCLA game. In this episode only USC fans were selected and the menu takes on a latin flair. The show is hosted by Joe Cahn who you may have seen online before since he’s proclaimed himself the “Commissioner of Tailgating”. While the teams are preparing their meals, Joe walks around and interviews other fans to feature the campus atmosphere. This is a great idea and I’m always willing to check out other campuses and traditions. Unfortunately, Joe might be the corniest guy in America. I’d have trouble not throwing a fork in his eye if he ever tailgated with me all day.

I’ve only watched a handful of cooking challenge/reality shows, but I think Tailgate Takedown holds up inspite of Joe. It personally gives me a little something to relate to and I’d imagine as the series moves on you’ll get some interesting ideas for expanding your tailgating menu. The show premieres tonight (1/6/2010) on TLC at 10pm Eastern with the USC/UCLA episode. Then at 10:30 for the SEC Championship episode from the Georgia Dome featuring two Alabama cooking teams and one Florida team. The shows repeat at 1am.

Thanksgiving Tailgating

If you’re tailgating for the Texas/A&M game next Thursday on Thanksgiving or just looking to use some leftovers as part of your fare, we’ve got a couple of links and suggestions for you.

Beeriety has a post on pairing beers with your Thanksgiving meal. They also have a more general post on how to pair beer with food.

Turkey – Oktoberfest (Paulaner), Biere de Garde (3 Monts), Bock (Anchor Bock).

Sweet potato – Brown Ale (Newcastle), ESB/English Bitter (Fullers), Pumpkin Beer (Dogfish Head Punkin).

Stuffing – Rye Ale (Founder’s Red Rye).

Pumpkin pie – Dunkelweiss (Weihenstephaner Dunkel), Dopplebock (Ayinger), Cream Ale (Sam Adams), Pumpkin Beer (Dogfish Head Punkin).

Green beans/veggies – Pale Ale (Sam Smith).

Cranberry sauce – Lambic (Lindemans Framboise).

The Georgia Sports Blog made a Turducken for their tailgate a few years ago. A Turducken consists of a chicken that is stuffed inside a duck which is then stuffed inside a turkey. Read about the recipe and planning and the aftermath.

The Real Simple website has a recipe for using your leftover turkey to make Reuben sandwiches that you can serve hot by grilling over a campfire stove.

Turkey Reuben Sandwiches

1. Spread 4 slices rye bread with Dijon mustard and another 4 with Russian dressing.

2. Dividing evenly, top the mustard-spread bread slices with 8 slices roasted turkey, 1 cup sauerkraut, 8 slices Swiss cheese, and the remaining bread.

3. Pan-fry the sandwiches in olive oil until the cheese melts.

Inside Out Buffalo Hot Wings

I know many people enjoy hot wings while tailgating but I’ve never really been a fan. It’s just always been a food I partake in while watching football on tv at the bar or at home. But a Dash of Sass has a recipe for Inside Out Buffalo Hot Wings that eliminates my main objection. By making these bite sized and boneless it allows you to use toothpicks or a fork to take these down instead of your hands and a ton of napkins. Which most importantly allows you to continue holding a beer in your hand. Check out their site for pictures of the cooking process.

Ingredients

1 pound thin chicken cutlets
4-5 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese
4-6 tablespoons hot sauce (Frank’s Buffalo Hot Sauce works perfectly)*
salt and pepper

Directions:

- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

- Place one chicken cutlet between two sheets of wax paper. Using a meat tenderizer or a heavy saucepan, carefully pound the meat until it is approximately 1/4-1/2 inch thick. Be careful not to tear the chicken. Repeat with each cutlet.

- Season each side of the chicken cutlets with salt and pepper.

- Place approximately 1 tablespoon of crumbled blue cheese on the wide end of each chicken cutlet.

- Roll the cutlets around the blue cheese crumbles. Secure each roll with a toothpick.

- Place the rolled cutlets in a baking dish. Using a pastry brush (or your fingers) brush the cutlets with hot sauce. Roll the cutlets around so that they are completely covered with hot sauce.

- Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

- Carefully remove toothpicks. Serve warm with crunchy celery. Feel free to drizzle more hot sauce over the rolls before serving.

* You will want to adjust the amount of sauce used based on your personal preference for spiciness and the amount of sauce you like on your wings.

Tailgating Drinks: Bourbon Manhattan

I’m currently reading Everyday Drinking: The Distilled Kingsley Amis, which is just a magnificent book covering all aspects of alcohol. I suggest you pick it up tomorrow… like before noon. His recipe for a Whiskey Manhattan tickled my bourbon soaked fancy. For those who don’t usually drink bourbon straight it serves as a change up to using Coke or Ginger Ale as a mixer. For those who normally drink straight bourbon, it works a little sugary taste into a long day of tailgating. And luckily it’s not a hassle to make at a tailgate, especially if you have a traveling bar. I’ve modified Kingley’s take slightly to work in this context:

The (Whiskey) Manhattan

Ingredients:
2oz Buffalo Trace Bourbon
0.5oz Noilly Prat Sweet Vermouth
1 dash of Angostura bitters
1 maraschino cherry
Ice Cubes

Stir the fluid together very hard before adding the ice and fruit. Whatever the pundits may say, this in practice the not very energetic man’s Old-Fashioned, and is an excellent drink, though never, I think, as good as a properly made Old-Fashioned. And you really have to use bourbon (instead of the traditional rye whiskey).

Drunken Tailgate thoughts:

- Sweet Vermouth comes in bottles with red labels. Dry Vermouth comes in green labels. Sometimes they are not marked very well. That being said, it’s good to keep a bottle of dry and sweet vermouth in your bar.

- Angostura bitters is one of those things that looks ridiculous on a drink recipe, but you can get a bottle for a couple of bucks and it will last you a decade.

- Same goes for Maraschino cherries. Just keep them in the fridge and you should be able to use them over the course of a year if you enjoy cocktails

Grilled Krispy Kremes & Hanging TVs

I just stumbled across the Team Tailgate blog. This group of Kansas fans have a serious tailgate. Apparently “Mike the Bartender” takes care of everyone and another dude wears a Jayhawk emblazoned chef’s coat while doing things like grilling Krispy Kreme Donuts for a breakfast tailgate. Their method of hanging a flat screen mount from the top of the tent is also commendable. That would be the advantage of having a tent frame made out of PVC pipe. So check out their site for other menu and tailgating ideas.

Chicago Italian Beef Sandwiches

There are times when the simplest solution for tailgating food is just making a bunch of sandwiches. They’re filling, can be served whenever, and are pretty cheap. This recipe for Italian Beef Sandwiches from Cooking with Caitlin is perfectly suited for tailgating. Just bring a pot and heat it up on a camping stove to get a really great sandwich. You can also watch a video on how to make these.

key information

Yield: 6
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes

ingredients

1 Baguette
1 1/2 Pounds Rare Roast Beef
1/2 Pound Provolone
32 Oz. Beef Broth
2 Tablespoons Italian Seasonings
1 Tablespoon Red Pepper Flakes
1 Handful Hot Pickled Vegetables

instructions

1. In a large pot, add the beef broth, herbs, and spices. Bring the concoction to medium-high heat so the broth will start to boil and allow the flavors to steep.

2. Slice Baguette length wise without completely cutting the spine of the bread. Fold the bread open and assemble a layer of provolone.

3. Once the bread is ready and the broth is boiling, individually place the slices of roast beef into the hot broth. When the beef begins to float (shouldn’t take longer then a minute), using tongs, place the beef along the baguette.

4. Place the hot pickled vegetables – Giardiniera -(optional) on top of the beef, fold the bread together, and slice into portion sizes. For a real Chicago experience dip the connected side of the sandwich into the hot broth. This gives it that added extra flavor.