Smoking Musket Tailgate Menu: What does Delaware eat?

Delaware State has a football team. Our beloved Mountaineers are playing them this Saturday. The excitement around this matchup put it at the noon timeslot on a regional sports channel. That’s about how much excitement I have for this tailgate menu.

I have to be honest, nothing about Delaware food sticks out to me as tailgate food, except for a Thanksgiving dinner sandwich thing. Which would be great for a night game. Alas, we’re kicking off at noon and need brunch. Luckily, the biggest agricultural product in the state is poultry. Delaware is also known for its blue crabs. Chickens produce eggs and crab meat is great, so we’re going with it.

Here is my Smoking Musket Tailgate Week 3 Menu:

Caramel Apple Dip

Apples are a major produce item in Delaware in late summer and fall. Apples themselves are great for breakfast, but this dip will make the fruit and veggie haters want to eat them. Also, the weather is starting to turn to fall and that means it’s time to be a basic white girl. In all seriousness, this dip will be a good start to your day.

Recipe

Chesapeake Crab Strata

I thought long and hard about how to incorporate crab into a breakfast/brunch dish, but I think I found a winner. Strata, for those of you who don’t know, is an egg and bread casserole of sorts. This incorporates crab and Chesapeake seasoning into the egg and bread mixture. You can use croutons, like this recipe, or you can use day-old bread or whatever (I’ve also seen English muffins used). The trick is to put the bread product in the dish first, then top it with cheese. Then, you pour in the egg and meat mixture.

For what it’s worth, cheese and seafood are rarely used together, but a mild cheddar cheese or creamy goat cheese would work well. You can use whatever cheese you want, though.

You can make this the night before or prepare it the night before and cook it on-site.

Recipe

Cranberry Jell-O Shots

Don’t ask me why I chose cranberry because I don’t know. I just figured it worked. Jell-O makes a cranberry flavor and so does Burnette’s vodka. If you can’t find cranberry vodka, use a “red” flavor like raspberry or cherry. Now, some people say that you should use a cup of boiling water and then a half cup of vodka and half cup of cold water. This is an option. However, this is West BY GOD Virginia. Use a full cup of vodka.

As always, red eyes, mimosas or Bloody Marys are acceptable for morning tailgate drinks, but the Jell-O shots are to increase the fun for a game that, to be honest, shouldn’t be very exciting. So drink and eat up!