It’s Homecoming in Morgantown! The week of festivities will wrap up with a football game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders on Saturday at noon. As we all know, noon is not the ideal game time for a tailgate, but our team has done fairly well in noon games, so I guess that’s a plus. Our tailgate menu usually tries to bring flavors of our opponents to our mouths, but I think this week we should focus on the great state of West Virginia and highlight some things that we all love.
Here is my Smoking Musket Tailgate Week 6 Menu:
Biscuit and Gravy Casserole
If you don’t like biscuits and gravy, I’m not even sure you’re a Mountaineer. This is a staple of any blue-collar breakfast and it’s the star of the show today. A casserole is a great way to make this Mountain State delicacy without having to do all the work of making the gravy and homemade biscuits.
Now, before you think this is all easy, I’ll say that you’re right. In fact, you can make this all tonight, keep it in the fridge and then cook it on the grill tomorrow at the tailgate.
Cut the biscuits into eights and layer them on the bottom of a large baking pan, pour the just-barely browned sausage on top, then cover it all with cheese. Next, pour in the egg mixture. Finally, cover with the prepared gravy mix. To cook, preheat your cooking apparatus to 350 degrees, cover the pan and cook for about 45 minutes.
Pro tip: Put about a half cup of cheese in your egg mixture because cheese is great.
Chorizo con Papas
Ok, so here’s a trip to the Southwest for ya. Chorizo is a spicy Mexican sausage and the fat from cooking the sausage will make for very crispy potatoes. Again, this could be made the night before and heated up on the grill.
Start by heating your oil in a skillet, then brown the chorizo. Be careful, as good chorizo can be more volatile than bacon and splatter you in the eye. No shirtless cooking on this one! Once browned, remove it from the heat, set it on a paper towel-covered plate and leave about two tablespoons of grease in the skillet.
This recipe calls for one tablespoon, but we’re gonna take this up a level. Now, put the skillet on medium-high heat until the grease begins to bubble. Now, add the onions and potatoes and get them really crispy, about five minutes. Then, turn the head down to medium and sauté for a couple minutes longer, or until you can easily pierce a potato with a fork. Cut the heat, add the chorizo back into the pan with some salt, pepper and chopped cilantro, then mix well to combine it all. Serve with tortillas for a quick-and-easy breakfast taco.
Bacon Cheddar Dip
We’ve used a couple of other pork-based meats for breakfast, but let’s use the king of them all—Bacon! This is another dish you should prepare the night before. It uses cream cheese, sour cream, cheddar cheese and lots of bacon.
Start by preheating your oven to 375 degrees. While it’s warming up, combine all the ingredients into a bowl and mix well. The recipe calls for a cup of REAL crumbled bacon, but no one will be mad if you add more. Then, plop it all into a baking dish and bake for about 30 minutes. You can cover this and heat it up on the grill the next morning.
Pro tip: Add some more bacon to the top of if you’re reheating at the tailgate.
Now that you’ve got your menu, you can focus on inviting all of your friends to the tailgate. Whether you’re in the Blue, Gold, Brown or Green lot, you’ll be able to welcome old grads and young lads alike for a Homecoming breakfast feast.