Game days are a great excuse (like we needed one) to eat some hearty, tasty grub. Don’t just grab some chips and pizza. Do it up right! Borrowing from our sister site, RealFoodTraveler.com, we’re sharing some of the most popular game day recipes. Keeping it local, we also have two BONUS recipes from Colorado favorites.
Bacon Bites
Excerpted from What Can I Bring? by Elizabeth Heiskell.
Copyright © 2017 Oxmoor House. Reprinted with permission from Time Inc. Books, a division of Time Inc. New York, NY. All rights reserved.
“So here it is in all its glory . . . our most talked about, sought after, and begged for recipe. We love these served in mint julep cups or silver goblets. Although this recipe calls for just three simple ingredients, there are a few tips that will make you a pro. Always line your rimmed baking sheet with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Watch the bacon bites, and, if they are cooking too fast on the bottom, roll them over so they can caramelize evenly. As soon as they are done take them off the pan, otherwise they will superglue themselves to the foil. Once they are cool you can stack them in an airtight container and they will keep for two days.”
Serves 22 Hands-on 15 minutes Total 1 hour
Ingredients:
2 cups packed light brown sugar
22 bacon slices
22 very thin breadsticks (from a 3.5-ounce package)
Method:
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spread the brown sugar in a large pan or baking sheet. Wrap 1 bacon slice around each breadstick, starting at 1 end of the breadstick and barely overlapping the bacon. Roll the breadsticks in the brown sugar, pressing to adhere. (At this point, you can cover and refrigerate overnight, if desired.) Place breadsticks on an aluminum foil-lined 12- x 7-inch baking sheet.
Bake in the preheated oven until bacon is cooked through and almost crisp, 35 to 40 minutes. Immediately remove the warm sticks from baking sheet, and place on wax paper. (They will stick like glue if not moved immediately.) Cool to room temperature.
Screamin’ Good Carnitas
Excerpted from Stock the Crock by Phyllis Good.
Copyright © 2017 Oxmoor House. Reprinted with permission from Time Inc. Books, a division of Time Inc. New York, NY. All rights reserved.
“This is a sure hit for any event. I have friends who served these carnitas at their big family Christmas get-together. People kept telling them all afternoon that they’d never enjoyed a Christmas dinner more!”
5 qt. Serves 8 Prep: 20 minutes Cook: 8 to 10 hours Crisping: 20 to 25 minutes
Ingredients:
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1⁄2 tsp dried oregano
1⁄2 tsp ground coriander
1⁄2 tsp ground cinnamon
4-pound boneless pork butt roast
2 cups chicken broth
2 bay leaves
1⁄2 to 3⁄4 cup orange juice
Optional toppers – salsa, sour cream, fresh tomatoes, chopped red onion, chopped shredded lettuce, fresh cilantro, chopped guacamole, sliced black olives, hot sauce, jalapeño chile slices, and radish slices.
Method:
- Grease the interior of the slow cooker crock with butter or nonstick cooking spray.
- In a small bowl, mix together the salt, garlic powder, cumin, oregano, coriander, and cinnamon. Rub the spice mixture all over the pork roast, holding it over the cooker so any get-away spices fall into the cooker. Lay the rubbed roast in the prepared crock.
- Pour the chicken broth down along the sides of the cooker (you don’t want to wash off the rub). Lay in the bay leaves.
- Cook on Low 8 to 10 hours, or until the pork shreds easily with a fork. Remove and discard the bay leaves.
- If you’re home, turn the meat over after it has cooked 4 hours. If you can’t do this, the flavor will still be good.
- Remove the pork from the crock and use 2 forks to shred it.
- Place the shredded meat in a bowl. Stir in the orange juice. Add some of the liquid remaining in the crock to moisten the meat as much as you want.
- If you have time, preheat your oven to 400°F. Spread the meat on 1 or 2 large, greased baking sheets. Bake it for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the meat begins to crisp on the bottom and around the edges. Then broil it for 5 minutes or so, drizzling it with additional sauce so it continues to get crispy but doesn’t burn. Serve the pork as filling for tamales, enchiladas, and/or burritos, with desired toppings. Or, serve it on buns or over white rice.
Beer Battered Mini Franks with Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce for Game Day
From Abeles & Heymann makers of fine kosher sausages and koshermoms.com
Ingredients:
1 package of mini franks (They use Abeles and Heymann’s mini-franks, but you can substitute any brand you choose.)
1 gallon canola oil for frying
1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for coating
½ cup cornstarch
1 tsp kosher salt
3 tsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
12 oz beer
Method:
Mix the flour, cornstarch, salt, sugar, baking powder and beer in a bowl, whisk together till a smoothe batter forms, making sure to get all the lumps out. Refrigerate batter for 30 minutes.
Heat oil in the deep fryer to 350 degrees (alternatively if you do not have a deep fryer, you may use a heavy bottom, deep pot on the stove).
Lightly coat the mini franks in flour. Using a large skewer, dip the flour-coated franks into the beer batter, then drop into the fryer. Flip the franks around in the oil with the skewer so they do not stick to the bottom of the fryer. Only fry a few franks at a time, turn the franks in the oil occasionally to ensure they are cooked evenly. Remove when they are puffy and golden brown. Repeat the process until the entire package is fried. Lay beer battered franks on paper towels to drain. Serve with honey mustard dipping sauce.
Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce
Ingredients:
1 part honey
1 part dark brown sugar
2 parts your favorite spicy brown mustard
Method:
Mix together till combined
Southern Style Cuban Sandwiches
Excerpted from The South’s Best Butts by Matt Moore.
Copyright © 2017 Oxmoor House. Reprinted with permission from Time Inc. Books, a division of Time Inc. New York, NY. All rights reserved.
“Nothing beats the ‘scooped out’ method of pulling the soft center portion from the bread (feed it to the birds). Not only does it save on calories, it also makes the sandwich all about the delicious pork—and less about the bread.”
Serves 4 to 6 • Hands-on: 20 minutes • Total: 30 minutes, including sauce
Ingredients:
1 (12-ounce) French bread loaf
Chipotle Rémoulade (recipe below)
1 pound sliced smoked pork (without sauce)
4 (1-ounce) provolone cheese slices
1 cup sweet-hot pickles
Method:
Cut the French bread loaf in half horizontally; scoop out the soft bread from center of each half, leaving a 1⁄2-inch-thick border. (Reserve the soft bread for another use.)
Spread the inside of bread shells with the Chipotle Rémoulade. Layer the bottom shell with the smoked pork, provolone cheese slices, and sweet-hot pickles. Top with remaining bread shell. Cut into individual sandwiches.
Chipotle Rémoulade Traditionally, rémoulade is a mayo- and mustard-based sauce used as a condiment throughout Cajun country. But why limit this zesty condiment to just one region? A bit of canned chipotle pepper and its adobo sauce creates a sauce with new intensity and flavor.
Ingredients:
3⁄4 cup mayonnaise
2 TBS Creole mustard
2 TBS sweet-hot pickle relish
1 canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, chopped (Editor’s tip: freeze the remaining peppers and sauce for future use)
1 TBS chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1⁄2 tsp lemon zest
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1⁄8 tsp table salt
1⁄8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Method:
Stir together the mayonnaise, Creole mustard, pickle relish, chopped chipotle pepper, parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Cover and chill up to 3 days before serving. Makes 1 cup.
BONUS: Two Colorado recipes for game day!
Bacon Guacamole from Toro and Tamayo By Chef Richard Sandoval
Serves 4
Ingredients:
4 slices bacon
2 ripe Hass avocados coarsely chopped
2 TBS plum tomatoes, minced
1 TBS red onion, minced
1 serrano chile, minced
2 TBS cilantro, minced
2 TBS fresh lime juice
Kosher salt
Garnish:
3 TBS crumbled fresh cotija cheese
1 TBS crushed pork chicharrónes
1 TBS chopped cilantro
Serve with:
Crispy Tortilla Chips or Pork Rinds
Instructions:
- Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat, turning occasionally, until crisp and browned, about 8 minutes. Transfer it to paper towels to drain. Coarsely chop the bacon.
- Mash the avocados, tomato, onion, chile, cilantro and lime juice together in a medium bowl with a large serving fork. Be sure to keep the guacamole chunky. Season it generously to taste with salt.
- Put the guacamole in a serving bowl. Top it with bacon, cotija cheese, crushed chicharrónes & cilantro. Serve it immediately with chips or pork rinds.
Note: The guacamole can be covered with a piece of plastic wrap pressed directly on its surface and refrigerated for up to 8 hours.
Cricket Cooler from The Cherry Cricket
The Cherry Cricket is just as excited as fans for the big game around the corner and is celebrating by sharing a recipe that brings the iconic Denver spot into game-day festivities. Make Batched cocktail:
Ingredients:
2 liters of house vodka
60 ounces of strawberry purée
1 liter of elderflower liqueur
16 ounces of lemon juice
50 ounces of lemonade
8 liters of water
Directions:
Combine all ingredients and serve.
-Compiled by Courtney Drake-McDonough, Publisher & Managing Editor, InGoodTasteDenver.com
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