How to Throw a Perfect Tailgater

How to Throw a Perfect Tailgater

You’re ready for the big game, right? Which big game you ask? Does it matter? The car is packed with coolers full of food and drink, which means you’re ready to tailgate at any big game, or concert or heck, maybe you’re just going to drive to the beach or your favorite park and have a cool weather picnic. But not just a picnic, because tailgating requires a bit more than a picnic. Tailgating requires actually cooking on site. Setting up the grill, or perhaps electric appliances as I’ll explain below, and preparing delicious food in a not-so-fancy environment. Crack open a beer and check out some ideas for the perfect tailgater.

Let’s start with that beer. You’re saying, wasn’t he just going on about cooking? Yes, but anyone who’s ever tailgated knows that you can’t start cooking, you can’t even start setting up the grill, until you have a drink in your hand. I visited The Savory Grape in East Greenwich where they suggested three different brews.

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First there’s the Berkshire Brewing Co.’s Oktoberfest Lager. Berkshire Brewing Co. is located in nearby South Deerfield, Massachusetts where they produce unfiltered, unpasteurized beers with no additives or preservatives. Their Oktoberfest is brewed using German hops and yeast. Get some while it lasts. Next up is Brooklyn Brewery’s Brown Ale. Brooklyn makes some outstanding beers and their Brown Ale is made with a blend of six malts and three different hops for loads of malt, caramel, chocolate and coffee flavors. The third beer The Savory Grape recommended was Heavy Seas Beer’s Smoke On The Water Smoked Porter. It’s made for things cooked on the grill which is where we’re going next.

Next up, meat. Yes, yes, I’ll throw in some vegetables here, but really this outdoor party is about serving large portions of meat to your friends and family. Let’s start with the grill and a favorite of my family, kebabs. Why kebabs? Because, first of all it fulfills the all-important meat-on-a-stick need (no utensils necessary to eat!) and secondly, you can get those vegetables in. Buy a beef round roast or boneless leg of lamb for this, cube it up, cutting away most of the fat and then marinate the meat overnight in a bowl with quartered onions, salt, pepper and ground cumin (to taste) and either orange juice or, for a different flavor that’s not as acidic, pomegranate juice. The next morning put the meat on skewers, spearing those onion quarters along with chunks of pepper and mushrooms in between each piece of meat. You can even make a few vegetable-only kebabs if you like. Take these to your tailgate and grill away.

The other thing that’s perfect to throw on the grill this time of year is sausage, and the perfect place to get some high-quality fresh-made sausage is the soon-to-be-open Persimmon Provisions in Barrington. I spoke to co-owner and Chef Champe Speidel about what he’ll be offering once the artisan butcher shop opens on November 16th. Speidel said they will offer four varieties of house-made sausage each day, changing the types of sausage depending on what meats their cutting. He plans on having a garlic pork sausage available most days, and said they would make a venison sausage with juniper and cranberry that would be a good item for the colder months. Buy some sausage, cook it on the grill, then put it inside a nice bun, maybe with some mustard if you like. You could grill some peppers and onions, or the ones from the kebabs would work well here too, if you sliced them thin.

Lastly, two brilliant suggestions from Chef Joe Hafner. The first is a brisket recipe that got me excited as soon as he described it. Hafner starts with bacon and just builds great flavors onto an inexpensive and delicious cut of beef. The second suggestion was how to reheat the brisket. In the recipe below, Hafner recommends placing the finished brisket in a disposable aluminum pan which can then be placed on the grill to reheat. But then Chef had an electronics epiphany—for around $20.00-$30.00 you can buy a power inverter for your car, basically a box that converts from a car’s round DC power sockets to a standard household three-prong AC socket. With this in your car you can plug in a crock pot and keep the brisket safe and warm in there. Hafner didn’t stop there with his suggestion. He started offering other small appliances you could tailgate with: deep fryers (make Buffalo wings on location!), blenders (soups!), coffee makers (coffee!). The sky’s the limit.

And isn’t that really what tailgating is all about? Making the most elaborate and delicious dish you can, while also showing up the cars on either side of you? Now get out there and show them how it’s done!

Tailgating Brisket

Ingredients:

4 slices bacon, chopped

3 - 4 lbs. beef brisket

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 medium onions, sliced thin

4 (12 oz. each) bottles lager (that Berkshire Brewing Co. Oktoberfest could work here)

6 Yukon Gold Potatoes

1 large parsnip, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces

6 carrots, peeled and cut crosswise into 1 inch pieces

10 whole cloves of garlic, peeled

1 sprig fresh thyme

1 bay leaf

2 Tbs butter, at room temperature

2 Tbs all-purpose flour

1/2 cup minced fresh parsley

 

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cook bacon in an oven-proof Dutch oven or roasting pan over medium heat. Drain crispy bacon. Remove all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon grease from the pan.

Pat brisket dry. Season generously with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat Dutch over medium-high heat and sear brisket on both sides, turning only once. Remove brisket.

Add onions to the pot. Saute, stirring often, until golden. Add one bottle of the beer to the onions. Bring to a boil, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.

Return brisket to the pot. Add bacon and remaining beer. Bring to a boil, cover, and place in the preheated oven. Braise for 2 hours.

Remove Dutch oven from the oven. Stir in potatoes, parsnips, carrots, garlic, thyme and bay leaf. Cover and braise an additional 45 minutes, until vegetables and brisket are tender.

Remove brisket and vegetables to a platter with a slotted spoon.

Combine butter and flour until smooth. Bring the pan juices to a boil on the stove-top. Whisk in the butter and flour mixture, stir until thickened. Taste and re-season if needed.

Slice brisket across the grain and place in portable foil pan. Drizzle with the pan sauce and surround with the vegetables. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve family-style.

Reheat brisket or keep warm, serve with lager, horseradish, and potato rolls!