Football season is here! That means we need to turn our culinary attention to food items that go well in front of the TV. Now as far as I’m concerned just about anything this side of fondue is acceptable. However there are those of you that are more discriminating than I.
I am but a simple man with simple tastes. Just toss me a sandwich with some chips, a two liter bottle of ice cold root beer and I’m good until halftime. But for those of you who want more I do have a few ideas.
Thinly sliced flatiron purchased when cross rib roasts are on sale makes delicious, and economical, beef steak sandwiches or French dip. Ask the butcher if you can have a chunk of flat iron priced as cross rib roast. It shouldn’t be a problem since they will have a bunch of them when the cross ribs are on sale. Then slice it thin (about a half inch) and fry it quickly. Serve in a hoagie bun or make some nice homemade rolls or French bread. Yummy! Or take that same flatiron and slice it as thin as possible, fry or grill it quickly and roll it up in large flour tortillas with cheddar cheese, sour cream and salsa. I wouldn’t even mind a big plate of beef stroganoff on rice made with the same cheap, tender and tasty flatiron slices. However that probably wouldn’t qualify as a game time entrée.
As a rule football food has to be eaten without the use of utensils. The only exception that I am aware of would be chili. Then the chili would have to be dumped onto a large plate of French fries, deep fried tatter tots and or onion rings topped with shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, green onions and jalapeno slices.
Of course the ultimate in football food, next to ribs, has to be hot wings. Man I could eat a five gallon bucket full. Just put me in front of the tube on college football Saturday with a mess of wings and a bucket for the bones and get out of the way.
I made some the other day for the first time. They were easy and boy were they good. I got a bunch of fresh wings at work that were close to going out of code and reduced to sell. Normally I don’t buy wings because they can be quite expensive when you consider that over half of them is bone and that it takes about five pounds per person per game.
Anyhow I got a bunch of wings that were priced right and cut them into three pieces. Just take a sharp knife and cut through the joints. Save the little end pieces for stock. Season up some flour with salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder. Then coat the wing pieces in flour and deep fry until they begin to turn brown then pull from the fryer and drain. You can use a large frying pan with about an inch of oil, on top of the stove on medium high heat. Mix a stick of melted butter into a medium size bottle of Franks Original Red Hot Sauce. Then dip the partially browned chicken in the sauce and butter mixture and place on a large sheet pan. Bake in a 375-400 degree oven for about fifteen minutes or until done. Makes about five pounds. I tell you what those are some good wings.
I ran out of hot wing sauce before I got all my wings coated. I mixed up some ketchup, molasses, Tabasco sauce, garlic and onion powder, salt and pepper to make a little barbecue sauce and then coated the rest of the floured up partially cooked wings. I then placed them on a sheet pan and finished cooking them same as the hot wings. They turned out really good too!
My kids whipped up some potato salad made with beautiful Idaho red potatoes and baked beans and some nice tender biscuits. Man we ate good that night and there wasn’t even a game on. We will be ready.