Editor’s Note: With the football post-season kicking into high gear, contributor broadandpattison returns for a retrospective on another year as an Eagles fan…and the tailgating grub that got him through it.

Given that my beloved Eagles seem to have a much different definition of “football” than I do, this year I decided to use my time at Eagles games more wisely. That is, instead of “going to the football game,” I go to the tailgate. It occurred to me at my last tailgate, before the Pats spanked the Birds, that all of the wonderful food I was eating was actually the exact OPPOSITE of the Eagles players I’ve been watching all year. Let’s break it down:

Dish: Bacon, Egg and Cheese……and a Keystone Light
Exact Opposite: Desean Jackson

The Sunday morning breakfast sandwich is about the most reliable food order of all time. It’s Sunday morning, you’re a little hungover, you need grease and substance at the same time….you get a breakfast sandwich. Works every time. It used to be that we could count on Desean for a long touchdown bomb and a totally over-the-top TD dance every game, just like you could count on the breakfast sandwich hitting the spot every Sunday morning. Now? I’m not sure Desean knows when he is playing football.

Dish: Pulled Pork on Brioche
Exact Opposite: Casey Matthews

The pulled pork at the tailgate was juicy, seasoned and delicious. No matter how much you have, you can ALWAYS have one more bite. Casey Matthews? You never want one more play out of him. EVER. No more!!!!! Please stop!!!! (Those emotions never, ever are associated with pulled pork. Ever.)

Dish: Chicken Cutlet, Broccoli Rabe, Sharp Provolone on an Amoroso Roll
Exact Opposite: Juan Castillo and Defensive Coordinator

There hasn’t been a marriage as sturdy, stable and perfect as the chicken cutlet-broccoli rabe-sharp provolone-amoroso since peanut butter and jelly. I mean, these items are PERFECT for each other. They were meant for each other. Juan Castillo and the word “defense” were meant for each other about as much as the Montagues and Capulets. It doesn’t work!!!! How come everyone knew it wouldn’t work but Andy Reid!?!!?!?

Dish: Fried Fish in a Hot Dog Bun with Russian Dressing
Exact Opposite: Nnamdi Asomghnotverygood

That’s right – fried motherfucking fish in a motherfucking hot dog bun with motherfucking Russian dressing. Don’t see it working in a football tailgate, do you? Neither did I. But guess what? It motherfucking works!!!! Delicious. I would have never thought. You know what I was sure of? Certain of, in fact. Nnamdi being a GREAT player! Well, he isn’t.

Finally, I wish I had eaten something as good as Andy Reid is bad. But I’m not sure man has created a dish quite that delectable just yet.

‘Til next year, football eaters.

That means now is as good a time as any to drown your sorrows. If your team is on the upswing, celebrate away. If not, feel free to try some  all of these tasty libations, which make “drinking a cold one” much more exciting for any football foodie.  They’ll make sure you and your guests have a great time no matter what the score is.

1. New Orleans Style Michelada from A Mountain of Crushed Ice

Salty, savory and with just enough kick, this michelada with Peychaud bitters definitely lives up to its Bayou heritage.

 2. The Glazed Doughnut from Sips and Shots

The only thing we can say about this is, why the hell didn’t we think of it first?

3. German Style Radler from Trouble Brewing

Radlers are so delicious that I even saw children drinking them when I was in Austria.

4. Liquid French Toast from The Beer Sessions

A take on the classic black and tan, this is definitely an exception to our no drinking before noon 10am rule.

5. Muddy Puddle from JoeDoe in NYC

Bourbon, espresso and Sierra Nevada stout? Sounds about perfect, and may give just the lift you need for a bad second half.

Starting Monday, you’ll hear all about the dining/debauchery that went on when the entire ES crew descended upon Philly for a weekend. To ease us into that, here’s a Gridiron Grub dish inspired by my favorite football-related Philly food stop: Chickie and Pete’s Crab Fries.

Chickie and Pete’s is a local restaurant that started in the late 70′s and has grown to include locations in all the city’s stadiums, Philadelphia International Airport, southern New Jersey and more. It sounds like a chain and out-of-towners grow even more perplexed by the fact that these “crab” fries don’t even contain crab. Despite this obvious omission, for locals they are synonymous with hot summer nights watching the Phils and cool fall afternoons with the Eagles. That being said, if you are not from Philly and you saw ES  put up a recipe about sprinkling some Old Bay on french fries, I know we would get even more complaints than we do about our potty mouths. So, here’s my updated take, with some much needed crustacean added in.

Polenta Crab Fries w/Horseradish Cream Sauce

Polenta Fry Ingredients:
2 c chicken broth
2 c  whipping cream
2 tbsps Old Bay
1 c yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup all-purpose flour (sometimes I add a little more if mixture is too wet)
9 oz canned crabmeat
3/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup butter or margarine

pepper

You can use instant polenta if you want, but for this recipe I went from scratch.

In a large saucepan, combine chicken stock, 1 c of cream and the butter and bring it all to a rolling boil. Reserve 1 cup of the cream and mix this separately with the polenta to prevent clumping. Slowly whisk in the polenta and cream mixture and then turn the heat down to medium low.  Slowly add  the flour and continue cooking and stirring until polenta is all incorporated and pulls from edge of the saucepan. At this point, mix in the parmesan, a dash of pepper and Old Bay before taking it off the heat and adding the crab.

This mix is a little stiffer than most polenta, but spread it out on a cookie sheet, smooth with a spatula and refrigerate for 50 minutes or so. You’re in the home stretch now and the polenta should be easy to cut into whatever fry shape you prefer. Spread some olive oil over each fry and pop them in a 450-degree oven for 10 minutes, flip ‘em, and  go another 10 minutes.

While the fries are cooking, you can whip up a quick horseradish cream sauce. To be honest, I always use Alton Brown’s Recipe.

In the end you can set out the fries, which will have tons of texture and Maryland crab flavor, along with a small bowl of the spicy cream sauce. Even if your team is playing as badly as my Eagles, at least the food will be good!

* You can also use fresh crabmeat if it is available for you but canned is fine for this dish. I tend to use the less expensive backfin crab meat here and save the claw and lump crab for other dishes since there is so much else going on in this recipe

(Photo: mollyjade)

When I was in high school, we had a tradition every Thursday night before Friday football games.  Myself and a few of my  friends would finish up with practice and show up sweaty and famished at my house. For some reason my Mom not only condoned this, but encouraged it by offering to feed the huddled masses. Dinner was always the same on these nights; grilled cheese with bacon, lettuce and tomato on wheat bread. This tradition has permanently seared in my palate the sweet, smoky combination of late-season tomatoes, gooey cheese, thick bacon and chewy homemade bread as the perfect complement to fall days and Friday night lights.

Grilled cheese is somewhat difficult to pull off at a tailgate and even harder to bring when you are invited somewhere. Can you imagine the reaction to showing up to watch a game with a tray of soggy, lukewarm BLT grilled cheeses? From then on you would definitely be the asshole in charge of bringing the soda and chips. Because of that, I  have tinkered with a homemade grilled cheese/BLT dip over the years. It hits all the right notes, though early in the process I realized that lettuce just wasn’t a good fit so I switched to the dip staple: spinach. This has been my go-to takealong for last-minute tailgates and game-watching.

Grilled Cheese BLT DIP

Ingredients:
4 teaspoons instant beef bouillon granules
8 teaspoons dried minced onion
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
2 16oz  cream cheese
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 package frozen spinach
1/2 cup water chestnuts                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            10 slices bacon cooked and cumbled
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
16 oz gruyere                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      3/4 c sundried tomatoes

Get your bacon cooking and while that is crisping up, dice the water chestnuts and tomatoes  and then rinse/drain your spinach. As with most dips, the more water you can wring out of the spinach at this point, the better. In an oven-safe dish, mix the cream cheese and all your other ingredients.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

By this time, your bacon should be finished. Let it cool while you grate the gruyere. After that, crumble your bacon and mix it with all of your other ingredients before sprinkling gruyere over the top of the entire dish. Pop it in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until the gruyere is melted and the whole dip is warm and bubbling.

You can always mix everything and warm it up once you arrive at your destination.For style points, finish things under the broiler to get the cheese bubbling and a little darker.

Serve the dip with bread cubes, rye crisps, crackers, or anything else you think will work. However people get this dip into their mouth, it definitely will be a staple at future football get-togethers.

(Photo: Chris Breeze)

This has been an odd year to be a football fan. With college football ending last January and the NFL lockout lasting through the summer, sports fans have heard incessant talk about the sport but seen very little of it until the last few weeks of preseason games. Because of this, I was ecstatic that I was able to spend last Saturday at the home opener for the Penn State Nittany Lions. I am from Northeast Pa. and Saturday pilgrimages to Beaver Stadium are practically a birthright. The early morning wake-up; the drive through pristine mountains and countryside until the stadium appears on the horizon; thousands of tailgaters sharing food, drinks and stories…..there is nothing quite like it.

Tailgating was in full swing at 9am, the university band was blaring, crowds were cheering and even the first kick-off was returned for a touchdown. There was really only one thing missing at last week’s game: fall weather. At kickoff the temperature was peaking at 90 degrees and felt even hotter with 100,000 of my closest friends packed around. Besides an opening day win, the only thing that made the heat easier to bear was the vendors climbing up and down the stadium stairs with water and fresh-squeezed lemonade for sale. Which got me thinking.

Spiked Basil Lemonade

I wanted to make this as simple as possible so I  made a pitcher of fresh lemonade, grabbed some fresh basil from outside and pulled out bottles of limoncello and rum.

The lemonade is simple  as well and I made it slightly sweeter than normal to balance out the rum. You can make as much as you want with the proportions of: 1 cup of sugar : 1 cup of water : 1 cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice. I prefer making a simple syrup with the water and sugar so that it dissolves fully, then adding the lemon to that.

For the drink itself, I muddle 2 basil leaves, add a jigger of limoncello, a jigger of quality rum and then fill the glass with lemonade and ice before stirring.

Simple, enjoyable and familiar just like an afternoon of college football.

(Photo: Justin Henry)

Stats, spreads, percentages…um, let’s talk about what really matters during the Super Bowl. Commercials, the half-time show and of course — food! All the other stuff is extraneous, unless of course you win the pool, in which case football is great.

As for the food, the Super Bowl calls for a dessert sophisticated enough to bring to an event, but crowd-pleasing enough to…well, please a crowd. Enter the Super Bowl Cupcake.

The streusel on top framing that thick cloud of maple cream cheese frosting is not your everyday streusel. That my friends, is crushed bacon wrapped in some cayenne and brown sugar for a sweet and spicy flavoring, then paired up with some crushed almonds for added nutty goodness. This is the kind of killer combination that will make you glad you publicly declared to eat better for your New Year’s resolution.

Bacon Streusel Maple Cream Cheese Cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcake

· 1 cup sour cream
· 1 teaspoon baking soda
· 2 cups flour
· ½ cup Dutch process cocoa powder
· 1 cup unsalted butter
· 1 cup granulated sugar
· ½ cup light brown sugar
· 1 teaspoon salt
· 2 eggs, plus 2 egg yolks
· 1 tablespoon vanilla

1. In a bowl, mix sour cream and baking soda together; set aside. Sift flour and cocoa powder; set aside. Using a mixer beat butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. Add in salt and beat until combined. Add in eggs and beat until combined. Add in egg yolks and vanilla and beat until combined.

2. Turn off mixer and, using a sturdy spatula or a wooden spoon, add in sour cream mixture and flour mixture, alternating in thirds. Fold in each rotation, beginning with the sour cream and ending with the flour mixture, mixing each rotation until just combined. Fill cupcake liner two-thirds full. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 20-25 minutes.

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

· 1 cup cream cheese, softened
· ½ cup butter, softened
· 2 cups powdered sugar
· 1 teaspoon vanilla
· 4 tablespoons maple syrup

1. Using mixer beat cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy on medium low speed. Add powdered sugar and beat until smooth and creamy. Add in vanilla and maple syrup and beat until combined.

Bacon Streusel

· 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
· 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
· 3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
· ½ cup slivered almonds
· 8 pieces of bacon

1. In a bowl whisk black pepper, cayenne, brown sugar almonds. Transfer mixture and cooked and cooled bacon to food processor bowl fitted with a blade and pulse in three 2 second bursts. Alternatively, place contents in a Ziploc and crush with a rolling pin.

Top cupcakes with frosting, then bacon streusel. Enjoy the game…or at least the food.

More cupcake goodness from Sweet Fiend:
Mudslide Cupcakes
Chocolate Turtle Cupcakes
Chocolate Ginger Cheesecake Cups

All cupcake recipes in Endless Cupcakes

A couple of weeks ago my Eagles were knocked out of the NFL playoffs and before that, my beloved PSU Nittany Lions embarrassed themselves in the Outback Bowl. Thankfully, while I drowned my sorrows last week, BS provided us with a look at overpriced NFL beer and provided me with some time to regain my composure so that I could return reinvigorated for the final 2 weeks of the 2010/2011 season.  The forecast for the games this weekend isn’t too promising and where I live we are expecting single digit temperatures. Needless to say, I will not be heading out to watch any games, but instead thought I would make a big pot of the ultimate winter comfort food….chili.

I don’t know if I have ever come across a bad bowl of chili. There are so many different ways to prepare it and they all end up being pretty delicious. While doing a little research for this post, I confirmed that the word chili is Spanish and the first recorded use was in 1604. The rough translation was: “a bunch of tasty shit stewed together for awhile.” Partly inspired by ML’s recent post about game meat, and the fact that I had access to locally hunted venison, I decided to go with a venison chili. This chili recipe started out a few years ago, straight from a Field and Stream recipe, but with small changes each attempt, I came to this week’s incarnation:

Venison and Ginger Beer Chili with Lime Cream

Ingredients:

2 pounds of venison, medium dice
1/4 pound of slab bacon, diced
2 medium yellow onions, diced
1 medium red onion, diced
3-6  serrano peppers seeded and diced (or not seeded, depending how hot you like it)
1 red bell pepper seeded and diced
1 yellow bell pepper seeded and diced
1 green bell pepper seeded and diced
2 tsp hickory salt
3 cloves of garlic minced
1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar
4 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 teaspoon molasses
1 bottle Ginger Beer
1 cup Tamarind jam (optional)
1 24oz can whole plum tomatoes
1 24oz can crushed tomatoes
32 oz kidney beans

I know it sounds a little busy but it has a great depth of sweet, smoky and spicy flavors mixing together. In a deep soup pot, brown the venison in batches. Separately in a large pan on medium heat, render the fat down in the bacon before setting it aside and sweating out the onions, chilis and peppers. Stir the vegetables frequently and scrape the bottom of the pan. Cook everything with a dash of salt for 10 minutes or so before adding the garlic and vinegar. After that bubbles a little and comes up to temperature, add your spices and cook for another few minutes. In your soup pot, mix everything together and simmer on low heat. Add the honey, molasses, ginger beer and tomatoes. Stir well and bring to a boil before reducing heat back to a low simmer.

Sometime I also add a lime cream on top of the finished chili. Just mix together 1 c light sour cream, 1 tbsp of lime zest, tsp of lime juice, some cumin and cracked black pepper.

Have you ever wondered how much more beverage you actually get when you pay for a large drink instead of a small? At Seattle Seahawks football games, the answer is — nothing.

In the video above, an enterprising Seahawks fan takes an early lead in the 2011 Drink of the Year race by simply showing that the stadium’s $8.50 “large” cup of beer hold exactly the same amount of liquid as the $7.25 “small” cup.

Bravo! Now this is what the Internet is for!

(via Eater)

The playoffs are here and the Super Bowl is not far behind, which means it’s increasingly difficult to avoid football no matter how hard you try. Whether it’s a game blaring at the bar Saturday night, co-workers talking about how the weather will affect the Philly game or friends inviting you over for a Super Bowl party; the NFL is about to launch a full-scale assault on America.

We are well aware that many ES readers may not be football fanatics. If you are one of those people who doesn’t watch or can barely stand football, I apologize. You probably have read these Gridiron Grub posts only if the dish sounded/looked good, which is fine because, well, it’s free. But my point is — whether you love sports or hate them, January is the time to start seriously upping your appetizer repertoire. Because nothing saves a bad football game like a good dip

So Feed Us Back: What’s your #1 killer go-to gameday recipe? Share a link or a recipe below.

And of course, we’ll show you ours. Here are our favorite party recipes bound to please foodies and footballers alike:

Bacon and Bean Nachos
Chipotle Guacamole
Cuban Mixto Sandwich
Fancy Jalapeno Poppers
Fish Tacos and Chips
French Onion Soup Sandwich
Peach Bourbon Wontons
Southside Park Slope Sandwich
Stuffed Mushrooms with Spinach, Cream Cheese and Ricotta
Sugar Cane Shrimp
Sweet Potato Pizza
Tequila Mango Salsa
Texas Caviar Dip
Tofu Buffalo Wings
Zucchini and Chickpea Spring Rolls

Well the holidays are over and the east coast is in the process of clearing out from the first significant snowstorm of the year. Because of this snowmageddon/snowpocalypse, or whatever else weatherman say to get us to stay tuned in, my beloved Eagles moved their game from Sunday to Tuesday night.

It is a move that did not go over well. Even Gov. Ed Rendell came out and called America a nation of wusses. To be fair this is the same man who years ago admitted that when he was a Philadelphia-based district attorney he offered cash to anyone who could reach the field with a snowball. Despite the snow being cleared, the Iggles must not have been told that they were supposed to play Tuesday night because they barely showed up. Their lackluster effort ensured that the high point of the night would be the pierogi we had thawed out for dinner.

It is a shame that not everyone is familiar with the pierogi, or Polish dumpling. I happened to  grow up in an area with a mix of some pretty strong ethnic communities — pierogi, borscht, halupki and kaszanka were all part of our diet. At Christmas, one friend’s family would spend an entire day making hundreds of different pierogies with traditional fillings such as potato and cheese, mushroom, minced pork, sauerkraut, blueberries etc…

This year, a few of us decided to make some ourselves to have for the holidays and freeze for the coming months. Thankfully they turned out well, so Tuesday I broke them out for an easy dinner to have while watching the game.

The Dough

The dough for pierogi is surprising simple and easy to work with, though it does take a little elbow grease. We used the 321 method our friend Katie had been taught. 3 cups of flour, 2 eggs and 1 cup of sour cream. This somehow ends up being fairly sticky and still dry which is an odd combination but with a little kneading and 20 minutes in the fridge, you are ready to roll. We quickly found out the key is to roll the dough to a uniform thickness of about 1/16 of an inch. Any more or less and the final product was either too doughy or didn’t hold the fillings well enough. With the rolled-out dough, you’ll cut circles about the size of a cocktail shaker, which was our weapon of choice that day.

The Fillings

We decided to start with 5 lbs of potatoes and ended up making 3 different fillings but had the same base for each: a mix of potato, the potato water, milk and unsalted butter. Essentially you’re going to go through the same process you would with making mashed potatoes except for one small difference. You still boil and drain the potatoes, warm the water, milk, butter and go ahead mashing but you will want to add less liquid than you do with mashed potatoes so that you have a slightly denser end result. Add some salt and pepper to taste near the end and you’re set.

We divided the filling base into 3 equal parts and added:

1) 1 1/2 cups of fresh grated Cotswald cheese (a cheddar with spring onions and chives)

2) 1 1/2 cups caramelized onions and chopped bacon

3)1 1/2 cups pickled jalapenos and mild cheddar

We went with a little less than a tablespoon of filling per pierogi and folded the dough over the filling in half circles before pressing the edges with a fork. In addition to the many pierogi we inhaled that night, we also let some chill on a cookie sheet before freezing so that they would not stick to each other.

Tuesday night, a package of frozen bacon and onion pierogies were what accompanied the Eagles loss. To prep, I boiled them for 3-4 minutes and then switched them over to a nonstick pan on medium heat with some butter and a little minced garlic until they got nice and crispy.

You can have your drink of choice but we had a few shots of Berechovka, an herbal bitters that a Czech friend introduced us to a few years ago. Anise, cinnamon and other herbs are used in the liqueur and it paired well with the crispy pierogi and the tangy taste of disappointment.

(Photo: LivingPhillySports)