The sun scorched tundra of Tiger Stadium is still 41 days away from opening kickoff of the 2003 season. Its the deadest part of summer. Major League baseball is still a couple of months away from being interesting. ESPN is showing lumberjack competions and strong man contests. 500 Direct TV channels show nothing new. I watched The Iron Chef on the Food Channel. SO - I thought about all the great food that people cook when they tailgate. I was wondering what everybodies favorite tailgate food is. I love it all from burgers, chicken and sausage to full course gourmet meals. What is your favorite Tiger Tailgate Food? And how do you make it? My personal favorite is shrimp served either open face on French bread or as a poboy with a special sauce. For this you need to have a butane burner like the kind you use to boil crawfish if you are going to do it as a tailgate food. Take a few sticks of butter and melt it in a large pan. Add a generous dollop of Worcestershire Sauce and a good bit of Pick-A-Pepper Sauce. Put 3 or 4 cloves of crushed fresh garlic in the pan. Add black pepper and Tony Chacheries seasoning according to your taste and maybe a smidgeon of cayenne pepper. Saute a large sliced onion until it turns soft and then add a pound or 2 or more depending on how many people you are feeding of peeled headless shrimp. Saute the shrimp until they are lightly cooked. Slice loaves of French bread in half and lengthwise making 4 open slices from each loaf of French Bread. After removing the shrimp and onions from your sauce dip each piece of French bread into the sauce on the open non crust site of the bread. Make sure that a generous amount of the sauce soaks into each slice of bread. Then cover each slice with the shrimp and sliced onion mixture. Now here is the tricky part. Making this at home I just put the open faced rench bread with the shrimp and onions in a toaster oven until the bread is toasted. To do this outdoors I have found that using a large iron Dutch oven works best. Lightly coat the Dutch oven with enough cooking oil to prevent sticking. Place the shrimp covered French bread slices into the Dutch over and cover the pot. Use a very low flame and heat until the bread is toasted. Usually 5 to 10 minutes or about the amount of time it takes to drink a cold beer. If you are feeding more than just a few people make sure you have plenty of butter to make the sauce because each slice of French bread soaks up a lot more of it than you would think. Sorry I didn't include exact specifications of the quantity of ingrediants but I cook by tasting and I keep adding stuff until I feel like the taste is right. So what is your favorite?
Well -- can't go wrong when my dad makes steaks and this "special" BBQ chicken that he only makes tailgating (totally different from what he makes on the grill at home). But -- if we're not cooking I like to stick with the good ole' standby of a giant box of Popeyes.
Rub choice top sirloin steaks with Tony's and regular old yellow mustard. Grill them over a charcoal fire with soaked mesquite chips added. Pre prepare potato salad and baked beans using your favorite recipe. For those of you driving in from Lafayette and other points west, stop at T-Sue's in Henderson and pick up a couple loaves of hot french bread. SON!
Jambalaya, Jambalaya, Jambalaya. Try making a shrimp and tasso jambalaya when you get tired of chicken and sausage--damn good stuff. And when I don't feel like hauling out a cooker for day games or rain games. . . I barbeque a pork butt the day before. Cook it till it soft, pull it apart and simmer it in sauce all night in the crockpot. Makes the best pulled-pork sandwiches you ever ate. I like it on french bread with cole slaw on the side.
Pot au feau My favorite tailgate food is pot au feau, a big pot of something cooked a long time: Chicken and sausage,andoille Gumbo, Crawfish ettoufee or Turtle Soup. Growing up in SW LA, I get excited when I can sample food from the tailgators from Duson, Mamou, or Acadiana areas. That's my favorite type of tailgate food.
I love Hot bodeau (dont know how to spell it) but it is a Sausage filled with spices rice and chicken that only Bayouers get!
I enjoy an opponent-themed menu, such as alligator sauce piquante for the Florida game, chicken for the South Carolina (and Auburn?) game, etc. Sometimes that is difficult, though, because elephant and rebel are often hard to come by. And you really have to marinate them a while for them to be tender.
def. a couple of drunken chickens, maybe some pork roast, def. jambalaya, and a 5th of crown. damn i can't wait..........40 days!!!!
