Recipe Mutiny steals recipes from food blogs and recipe sites. Then we publish them. With credit (Naturally).
Tuesday, September 4, 2018
Don’t Lose at Tailgating: 10 Tips for the Win
If you’ve got some wicked face paint, beer, and a bunch of loud, sweaty dudes, you’ve got massive tailgate party potential—just add a sporting event and a parking lot. But you’re still likely to get stuck with 10 bags of pretzels, no bottle opener, and a cooler full of warm beer if you don’t plan properly. Follow our tips and you’ll be enjoying your party while the frat boys next door are busy trying to bum some fuel for their grill.
1. Research the site: Are you even allowed to tailgate there? If you want to grill, can you use an open flame?
2. Check the time: When do the gates open, and when do you want to be in your seat watching the event? Don’t try to make a slow-cooked pork shoulder if you only have a few hours before the game. If you have a two-hour window of time, choose fast-grilling items like sausages, shish kebabs, or flank steak. Remember that you’ll also need to factor in time to heat up the grill, especially if you’re using charcoal.
3. Finger food always rules: It’s easy to eat standing up and leaves one hand free for fist-pumping. Plus you’ll have less trash if you’re only using napkins. Hot dogs, chips and dips, cut-up vegetables, quesadillas—anything that doesn’t have to go on a plate is fair game.
4. Don’t cheap out on coolers: You should have at least two—one for food and one for drinks, so people aren’t rummaging around the bloody bags of meat to get a beer.
5. Don’t be a moocher: Essentials that are often overlooked are plenty of napkins, extra fuel, lighters, bottle openers, sanitizing wipes for whoever is handling the meat, extra bags of ice, trash/recycling bags, extra clean bags for leftovers, and extra water for hand-washing. Don’t forget basic grilling tools, too: tongs, foil for keeping things warm (plus it doubles as a grill brush in a pinch if you wad it up and rub it on the grill with your tongs), and a spatula. If you’re packing sauces, bring a silicone brush to layer them on.
6. Prep at home: That means more time to apply that face paint. Marinate kebabs, cut up vegetables for dippin’, make your dips and sauces, form your burger patties, and soak your wooden skewers (so they don’t catch fire on the grill). If you’re serving cocktails, mix up batches in advance so you’ll just have to add ice and/or club soda on-site.
7. Pack smart: You don’t want to end up with watery wings and contaminated side dishes. Use resealable plastic bags for marinating meats, as well as for fruit, vegetables, frozen things, sausages, and hot dogs. Use resealable containers for anything crushable—dips, sauces, and salads. If your containers don’t seal tightly, wrap plastic wrap around them. Pack the food cooler right: Raw meat goes on the bottom, vegetables on top. Given that, try to pack things in the reverse order that you will be using them—i.e., snacks on top, side dishes below that—so you don’t have to dig around.
8. Consider using your cooler as a warmer: If you can’t grill at your site, or just don’t want to deal with the mess, make hot food ahead of time—think slow cooker pulled pork or beer-braised brats—and keep it toasty by hacking a cooler. You’ll just need to make sure you have enough bricks to fit in a single layer in the bottom, usually between three to six, depending on the size of your cooler and of the bricks. About half an hour before you’re ready to head out, wrap the bricks in heavy-duty aluminum foil and bake them at 300 degrees for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, line your cooler with a layer of paper bags from the grocery store, or a bath or beach towel, then add a layer of foil over that and up the sides of the cooler. When the bricks are ready, place them in the bottom and put your hot food (in heat-safe containers!) on top of them. Fold the foil along the sides of your cooler over the top of the food and add another towel for further insulation, then pop the lid on and voila! You’ll have a way to keep your food warm for at least a few hours.
9. Don’t forget the most important thing: That’d be a beer opener, of course. But if you do leave it at home, here’s how to open a beer with (a) a pen; (b) a piece of paper; (c) your forearm; (d) a carabiner; or (e) another beer. And if you’re bringing a keg, here’s how to tap it.
10. The food’s also pretty important. Check out our full gallery of tailgating recipes with all the fuel you need for a good parking lot party, and see some highlights below.
Chowhound
Grating ginger means no muddling, and making a big batch of the base ahead of time means you can serve a dozen drinks in the blink of an eye, since all you have to do on-site is pour into cups and top them off with club soda. Get our Ginger Mojitos for a Crowd recipe.
Grilled Honey Sriracha Chicken Skewers with Blue Cheese
Ray Kachatorian
With all the flavors of your favorite buffalo wings in easy skewer form, these chicken thigh kebabs can be marinated and assembled ahead, and the easy honey-Sriracha glaze brought along in a separate container. Get this Grilled Honey Sriracha Chicken Skewers with Blue Cheese recipe.
Grilled Maple-Mustard Chicken Wings
Chowhound
If you want the actual wings, they do well on the grill too, but try a sweet and tangy maple-mustard sauce for a change. And bring plenty of wet naps. Get our Grilled Maple-Mustard Chicken Wings recipe.
Chowhound
Grilling the chipotle-rubbed skirt steak and grilling the quesadillas themselves means there’s plenty of smoky flavor in these easy handheld snacks. Get our Grilled Steak Quesadillas recipe.
Chowhound
Cooking shrimp and sausage on a stick is a neat trick, and the charred lemon is great squeezed over everything. Get our Grilled Shrimp-Boil Skewers recipe.
Chowhound
Sometimes the classics are just what you’re craving. In that case, try our tested-and-perfected cheeseburgers. Bring all the prepped-ahead fixings—like washed and dried lettuce, sliced onions, and the sliced cheese—in a disposable aluminum or reusable plastic container so assembling these is a snap. Get our Perfect Cheeseburger recipe.
Chowhound
Because it’s nice to have a little something fresh and healthy in among the meats and the chips and dips. This easy orzo salad is great at room temp and packed with flavor and texture from plenty of mix-ins. Get our Celery and Olive Orzo Salad recipe.
Chowhound
For dessert, these nutty, chewy, chocolate-drenched s’mores bars are a real treat, especially if you slip them on the grill for a minute to get a little warm and melty. Get our S’mores Bars recipe.
Related Video: How to Pack a Cooler the Right Way
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What Is the Difference Between Grilled and Caramelized Onions?
You know what’s a fantastic flavor booster? Onion! Whether grilled or caramelized, onions pack a potent yet pleasing punch to your palate. Up until a few months ago, however, I never really knew the difference between grilled and caramelized onions. Aren’t they the same? No. They are not.
I’ve always enjoyed the taste of onion, but, these days, I almost exclusively stick to the cooked variety. In fact, after encountering raw onions one-too-many times on a Chicago hot dog as a kid, I had to swear off them entirely (for the most part!). Why? I have a hard time digesting them. Without getting into too much detail, raw onions seem to always spark a battle against good and evil within my stomach.
Luckily, I learned that cooking onions removed some of the more…unpleasant digestive characteristics common to raw onions—at least for me. So, whenever I’d need a boost of flavor in my meal prep, I’d add some cooked onion. It’s great in Tuscan pasta, meatloaf, on brats, on burgers, or by itself as a side. In the past, what I did to cook them was simple: I’d either slice them up and sautee them in a pan with cracked pepper and olive oil, or I’d wrap them in foil and plop them on the grill. Once they turned translucent, I knew they were safe for my consumption.
The thing is, I began to take notice of the cooked onion served at restaurants, and they tasted…different. They were simultaneously sweeter and more savory. They were stronger. They were darker. They were referred to as “caramelized.” At first, I just thought a caramelized onion meant charring the onion. “That’s the darkness and sweetness,” I thought. Wrong! Embarrassingly wrong. Attempt after attempt, I couldn’t get it right. Instead of sweet, they just tasted burnt. Because I burnt them.
Enough! I had to find out what I was doing wrong. I couldn’t continue this trial and error in ignorance. So, I did what any normal person would do and headed to the Google. There, it became obvious that I was cooking too short and too hot. I came up with a meat-based analogy to help me remember what we’re dealing with. Here it is: Barbecued meat is to grilled meat as caramelized onion is to grilled onion. Whereas grilling in each case requires high heat and faster cook times, barbecuing and caramelizing require you to adopt a low-and-slow mantra. In order to move from grilled onion to caramelized onion, I needed to adjust my cooking temperature, and, therefore, cook times.
Grilled onions are cooked at high heat. Depending on how hot and how direct you get that heat, you may not need more than 5-15 minutes. If you like your onions to come out a bit crispier (or burnt) you just turn up the heat and/or leave them on for a few extra minutes. Each piece of onion will keep its integrity, but the color will be more translucent in nature (maybe with some browned edges), and the consistency will move from crisp (raw) to soft (the longer it’s grilled, the softer it’ll be). You’ll still get an onion flavor, but it will be a lot more mellow.
Caramelized onions are generally cooked at medium-to-low heat. Depending on how low and how indirect you get your heat, you might need to leave yourself about 45-75 minutes to properly caramelize an onion. Instead of charring or burning the sugar, you’re browning it. Actually, you’re oxidizing the sugar. This produces a sweeter flavor than either grilled or raw onions. It also turns the onions a brown color, throughout, and yields a jam-like consistency. The flavor will be richer and deeper than a grilled onion. Because of the immense water loss (via steam), one onion will not yield much once caramelized. A good rule is to assume every two-and-a-half raw onions will produce about one cup of caramelized onions.
In my experience, I’ve found caramelized onions to be fancy and flavorful. If you’re looking to kick a meal up a notch, I’d go with caramelizing onions over grilling them. Still, grilled onions have their place—like atop a brat! Curious about how you can take onions from grilled to caramelized? Check out these recipes:
In a Skillet
Perhaps the easiest way to to caramelize an onion is on the stovetop in a skillet or pan. It also gives you an up-close look at the many transformations the onions go through on the way to caramelization—in case you want to keep tabs on everything. Try this recipe.
In a Slow Cooker
If you want to ensure that your onions get cooked low and slow, and you just want to throw in the ingredients and forget about them until done, slow cooker cooking is for you. Check out this recipe.
On The Grill
If you don’t have a slow cooker, or you like to make everything on the grill, go right ahead! Set your heat to medium. Then, slice up your onion as you like. Next, place up to two onions in aluminum foil. If cooking more than two onions, use another sheet of aluminum foil. Cooking smaller batches will ensure more even cooking. Then, fold the foil upwards, into a bowl. Don’t close/seal it—you want steam to get out. Finally, put some olive oil or butter atop the onion, and place it on the top rack, or on medium-to-low indirect heat. Give it about 45 minutes, then check to see the coloring. Cook for additional time, per your preference. The lower, and slower you go, the sweeter they’ll be.
When I’m in a pinch and need to get food on the table in a hurry (almost always), grilling an onion is just fine by me. But when I want to impress folks and have a little bit more time to prepare, caramelizing never lets me down. As with most things food, it’s all about personal preference. But next time you decide to cook an onion, remember: You have a choice. Now that you’re fully informed, it’s up to you to choose wisely.
Related Video: Caramelizing vs Sweating Onions
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Kick Off Football Season with These 14 Greasy and Great Pub Grub Recipes
“Woooooo!” (chomp, chomp, slurp) “Ah, man!” (chomp, chomp, slurp). These are the raucous and sloppy sounds of football season, when following the game means fried food and beer at your favorite bar with friends. But sometimes you want to scream for your team in the comfort of your home — with the same spectator spread. You don’t need to get a deep-fryer to enjoy all the greasy goodness of wings and potato skins without leaving the house. Try out some of our great pub food you can make at home.
Buffalo Chicken Tenders with Blue Cheese Coleslaw
Chowhound
If there’s ever a time when it’s not childish to order chicken tenders, it’s game time. Do it in the privacy of your home, and do it better than your favorite bar does, using Panko bread crumbs and a coleslaw that satisfies the craving for creamy, cheesy sauce to complement the spicy-hot meat. Get our Buffalo Chicken Tenders with Blue Cheese Coleslaw recipe.
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A little sweet, a little salty — sweet potato fries are the new French fry. Make a nice mayonnaise dip with dill and horseradish, or a honey mustard variety. Just don’t use ketchup, please. Get our Sweet Potato Fries recipe.
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Crispy, thick-cut bacon crumbled and mixed into mashed avocado is just the first, and best, step that makes this guacamole dip recipe crazy good. The other two steps are the additions of fresh diced tomatoes and smoky chipotles in adobo sauce. Get our Bacon and Tomato Guacamole recipe.
Buffalo Cauliflower with Blue Cheese Dressing
Chowhound
There’s another, healthier option when you’re craving buffalo chicken or shrimp. This cauliflower is still kinda meaty, and its coated in garbanzo bean flour, garlic powder, pepper, salt, and then baked. On top of that is the honey-hot sauce and blue cheese dressing. It’s awesome. Get our Buffalo Cauliflower with Blue Cheese Dressing recipe.
Chowhound
It’s quesadilla time! These are made heftier with the use of skirt steak as the protein, and Monterey Jack mixes with cheddar for stringy goodness inside. With sides of guacamole, sour cream, and salsa, one of these could be your whole game-time meal. Get our Grilled Steak Quesadillas recipe.
Chowhound
Seriously, what could be a better surprise when you bite into a burger than a hidden well of ooey, gooey, melty, stringy cheese? Nothing, that’s what. Burgers are where it’s at for pub entrees, but where ever you’re at, that’s where the place to be is, if you’ve got this burger going on. Get our Juicy Lucy Burger recipe.
Chowhound
Pouring gravy over your fried potatoes is quite Canadian, but it’s not unAmerican. We suggest our favorite munchies from all of North America, including our Mexican-inspired favorites. Did we mention there’s cheese in there? Fried potatoes, cheese, and gravy a great munchie make. Get our Cheesy Potato Tots and Gravy recipe.
Chowhound
Wings are one of the most basic requirements to accompany your other duties of watching football and drinking beer. These wings are marinated in buttermilk, hot sauce, and garlic powder before being broiled to get that crispy skin and juicy meat inside. Get our Basic Buffalo Wings recipe.
Chowhound
The broiler is your friend when you want that pub classic, potato skins. When done right, they’re crisp on the outside and all soft and warm inside, topped with melted cheddar cheese, quality crumbled bacon, and then a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of scallions. No need to mess with the classic. Get our Easy Potato Skins recipe.
Chicken, Guacamole, and Bean Nachos
Chowhound
This is a simple recipe that requires you to either make the bean dip, salsa, and guacamole beforehand and roast a chicken and pull off the chunks, or buy all those things pre-made at the supermarket. Guacamole is ridiculously easy to make at home, but no shame if you buy a rotisserie chicken. Get our Chicken, Guacamole, and Bean Nachos recipe.
Pepperoni Pizza Jalapeño Poppers
Chowhound
There are several ways to do poppers, but a pizza style jalapeño popper isn’t usually on the list. That’s cool. Once you try it, this game-time appetizer will be a top pick. Get our Pepperoni Pizza Jalapeño Poppers recipe.
You need at least one snack food you can grab and munch on without letting your eyes leave the screen. This is flavorful, crunchy, and easy to make. Get our Honey Mustard Snack Mix recipe.
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Impressive diehard Eagles fan with this classic sandwich. Get our Easy Philly Cheesesteak recipe.
Related Video: How to Make Boneless Stuffed Wings
— Head Photo: Dave Phillipich/Biz Bash.
— Amy Wisniewski wrote an earlier version of this article on Sept. 8, 2011.
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What’s in Season in September?
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