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It’s fun when a team’s nickname or mascot leads perfectly to a type of food. The Jayhawk basically looks like a rooster, so poultry it is!
Once again, WVU has a noon kickoff. The tailgating might not be a big thing over in Lawrence (I don’t know, to be honest; I’d love some feedback), but if you’re hosting a gameday party at your house, these recipes are sure to please.
Here is my Smoking Musket Tailgate Week 4 Menu:
Hissy Fit Dip
In a slight departure from my original plan, this dip uses breakfast sausage. Now, if you’re deadest on eating chicken, you can use chicken breakfast sausage. It’s actually pretty flavorful, but not the same savory flavor as pork breakfast sausage. This recipe uses three types of cheese—cream cheese, Velveeta, and muenster—which means your mouth will be very happy with you.
I suggest making this the night before and then heating it up wherever you’re hosting this party. It can take about an hour to cook, so that’s better done at home than on a grill or in someone else’s oven. However, I suggest using Triscuit crackers for this, but tortilla chips would be fine.
Pro tip: Add about a half pound of crumbled bacon for extra flavor.
Buffalo Chicken Hash
Now we get to the main course and the protein of choice for the game. For those who don’t know, potato hash is a sneaky good way to reuse previously cooked potatoes and meat. This week, I combined the idea of a hash with Buffalo chicken wings to find this recipe.
The key to good hash is crispy potatoes, so I’d increase the fat used in the pan by also using a tablespoon of butter, but do what you want. This recipe can be increased depending on how many people you have, but you should bet on a few pounds of potatoes (see my pro tip). You can also adjust the spiciness based on the hot sauce you buy. Do not but “wing sauce,” as this will drown your potatoes and make them mushy; get the real Frank’s Red Hot or Texas Pete.
Cook the veggies first, then add the butter and potatoes. If you’d like larger portions of chicken, you can use the canned shredded chicken (or leftover chicken, if you have it). Make sure it’s all crisp and browned, then top with blue cheese!
Pro tip: Use canned diced potatoes or thawed frozen potatoes instead of fresh so you won’t have to boil them.
Michelada
Every morning tailgate needs a good cocktail to get you ready for the game. This one will also help cure your hangover of Friday night. A Michelada is basically a Bloody Mary with beer, so you can use the recipe to make the non-alcoholic portion, or you can buy a good Bloody Mary mix. Again, you can spice this up as much or little as you want. Also, the beer choice isn’t super important, but a Mexican-style lager or an IPA would best.
Hopefully, this is our final nooner of the season, but we’ve become real experts at this, so maybe it won’t be the worst thing if we have to go for another round. For now, enjoy the chicken and enjoy Mountaineer football!