The Smoking Musket Tailgate Menu: Hurricane Preparedness

I had a fantastic menu planned this week. Fried green tomato sliders, hush puppies, pimento mac n cheese… but Hurricane Florence had other ideas for our Saturday.

As the East Coast prepares for massive storms and flooding, many people have stockpiled canned goods, non-perishable items and other supplies to survive this attack from Mother Nature. Some people may see this as a reason to eat bland food, but I see it as a way to have some fun in what amounts to a tailgating environment.

The idea behind all of these recipes is that you don’t have the power to cook, so you’re using a propane-powered grill or camp stove. On top of this, I’m assuming that you’ll need to get rid of some foods that are in your fridge that will perish.

Chilaquiles

This fantastically delicious breakfast will make use of some of the foods you’ll have in your fridge that you may need to use if the power goes out.

If you’re worried about other food items spoiling, this is a great breakfast to add bacon, sausage or cheese too! Also, this is a perfect place to add the canned chicken, tuna or beans you’ve purchased for the storm.

The good thing is that all you need is a cast iron skillet or frying pan to cook these, which are great to use on a grill or camp stove.

Camping Coffee

This is as much of a survival hack as any, how to make fresh, hot coffee when you lose power. Since we have devolved to automatic single-serve machines, this is a great trick that requires very little preparation.

Simply pack a serving of ground coffee beans into a coffee filter and tie it up with twine or string. Preserve them in an airtight container (plastic storage, zip-top bag, or even the empty coffee can) and pull one out when ready to make your coffee.

You can boil water very easily on a camp stove or even your propane tailgate grill, either in a kettle or an open pot. Boil the water and remove from heat, then pour over the coffee bag in your mug. Simple, quick, and life-saving.

Hot Ham & Cheese Sandwiches

The first thing everyone buys when preparing for a storm is bread. It’s a sustainable food source that can be used to fill you up in a variety of ways. Now, I’m sure you already had a loaf of bread at home before buying another loaf or three at the store, and you may even have other varieties of bread at home you can use for this.

The foil enclosure keeps heat in, but also disperses the surface heat so the entire loaf is cooked. This will give you what is kind of a grilled cheese and kind of a sandwich melt, but totally delicious. You can use the whole loaf, or make individual sandwiches for you and the family.

Foil Packs Barbecue Chicken and Vegetables

It’s very likely you’ll have frozen foods in your freezer that you’ll be scared will go bad. I’m here to tell you that if you keep your freezer shut for during a short power outage (no longer than three days), your frozen foods should be fine. That thing is insulated and already frozen. However, if your only freezer is part of a refrigerator, it might not hold that long. This recipe is a great way to cook frozen chicken and any fresh vegetables (or frozen, I suppose).

Now, if you have a tailgate grill, you can totally cook the chicken and veggies directly on it, but there’s a lot of cleanup after that. These foil packs will keep everything juicy and the grill clean. If you have a single burner, you can put these on top of a skillet and cook them. You can use a tasty barbecue sauce of your choice, or, you can use a traditional Eastern Carolina barbecue sauce.

Here’s a quick, tangy, vinegar bbq sauce:

• 3 cups apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons Texas Pete
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons black pepper
• 1 tablespoon each: crushed red pepper flakes, onion powder, garlic powder, salt,

You can make this without heat, just put all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk until the sugar dissolves.

S’mores Dip

When you’re camping, or have just an open flame to cook on, s’mores are almost a necessity. Now, you can totally still make your own individual s’mores, but this dip gives you s’more action for your s’mores.

This specific recipe calls for an oven, you can make this on a grill or camp stove. If using a stove, you may want to just keep the pan higher above the flame to make sure it cooks the entire surface. You could also put a baking sheet on top of the flame, then the skillet on that, and cover the skillet in aluminum foil.

Though this menu was assembled slightly in a sarcastic tone, these really are inventive ways to keep your friends and family fed during this emergency. Please take all necessary precautions to cook safely and sanitarily.

Remember, Mountaineers don’t lose tailgates and be safe this weekend!