Ideas for munchies during the football game?

[CreamyGoodness]

When I bought pretzel salt 2 years ago, I got it off ebay for like $2. It lasts forever, and rimming a glass with it makes the best margarita ever if you are into that sort of thing.

This just gave me an idea... what if you used the same pretzel dough to make a roll or a bun, and put a mini cheesesteak in it??

 

[Homercidal]

When I bought pretzel salt 2 years ago, I got it off ebay for like $2. It lasts forever, and rimming a glass with it makes the best margarita ever if you are into that sort of thing.

This just gave me an idea... what if you used the same pretzel dough to make a roll or a bun, and put a mini cheesesteak in it??

We were trying to come up with tailgate ideas the other day and I think we decided on chili this weekend.

But Cheesesteak Sandwiches would be AWESOME! I might even break with tradition and put some jalepenos on mine!

 

[Yooper]

We loved these pretzels so much- and they definitely tasted "pretzely" and not "bready". I think a cheesesteak sandwich with them would be awesome.

Homer, I bet the next time you come visit that I'll be serving pretzels and mustard!

 

[Homercidal]

We loved these pretzels so much- and they definitely tasted "pretzely" and not "bready". I think a cheesesteak sandwich with them would be awesome.

Homer, I bet the next time you come visit that I'll be serving pretzels and mustard!

Ok! I'm busy next few weekends, but maybe middle of October??

 

[Homercidal]

Ugh.. I hate myself. I have just decided that I NEED to make some of these pretzels for this weekend. Just have to make sure my lye solution is food grade. I've tried before without using lye and they were not very good.

EDIT: Nope, just 100% lye drain opener. For the price of food grade lye, I'll buy more. And I'll have plenty on hand for soapmaking and BOM BMAKING

 

[Yooper]

Ugh.. I hate myself. I have just decided that I NEED to make some of these pretzels for this weekend. Just have to make sure my lye solution is food grade. I've tried before without using lye and they were not very good.

EDIT: Nope, just 100% lye drain opener. For the price of food grade lye, I'll buy more. And I'll have plenty on hand for soapmaking and BOM BMAKING

There is a brand of lye at Ace Hardware that is 100% sodium hydroxide drain opening, but I used it in soapmaking and I read on a soap forum that it IS ok for food. That doesn't mean it's true, of course, but you might actually have a food-grade lye.

 

[Homercidal]

There is a brand of lye at Ace Hardware that is 100% sodium hydroxide drain opening, but I used it in soapmaking and I read on a soap forum that it IS ok for food. That doesn't mean it's true, of course, but you might actually have a food-grade lye.

I have used it for soapmaking, but 100% lye might mean 100% lye suitable for industrial purposes... I don't know. I think if they made it safe for eating they would have put it on the label. Or maybe they just didn't want to spend money and time to get an actual certification from the FDA??

2 lbs of Food Grade lye from Amazon is like $5 plus shipping. I think I can swing that.

 

[Yooper]

I have used it for soapmaking, but 100% lye might mean 100% lye suitable for industrial purposes... I don't know. I think if they made it safe for eating they would have put it on the label. Or maybe they just didn't want to spend money and time to get an actual certification from the FDA??

2 lbs of Food Grade lye from Amazon is like $5 plus shipping. I think I can swing that.

Meh, just tell your guests that not only can they enjoy the pretzel now, they won't have any plumbing problems later.

 

[Skagdog]

Rice crispy treat footballs for dessert, mmmm hmmmm.

 

[Skagdog]

Rice crispy treat footballs for dessert, mmmm hmmmm.

they Aren't such a mess once the icing dries..


For future reference.....

 

[k47k]

Utz Cheeze Ball keg

 

[Dan]

Yooper,

Maybe I missed it and apologize for that.. Would you post your recipe, lye and all. The Alton Brown post was great. But he wasn't able to post the lye part. Dang the law!

You are not held up to legality. And if you don't want the whole internet to see your instructions, just PM me please.

I know how to keep secrets, secret. Part of my job in the real world.

 

[Homercidal]

Yooper,

Maybe I missed it and apologize for that.. Would you post your recipe, lye and all. The Alton Brown post was great. But he wasn't able to post the lye part. Dang the law!

You are not held up to legality. And if you don't want the whole internet to see your instructions, just PM me please.

I know how to keep secrets, secret. Part of my job in the real world.

Yooper posted a link with the full instructions from Braukaiser (sounds vaguely German, no?)

Here it is again in case you missed it:

http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=Brezels_and_other_Laugengebäck

 

[Cape Brewing]

Eh-hem... excuse me everyone while I win.

Ummm Yoop... if you are still looking... it's not as much work as it seems, trust me, I do it for almost every single Pats tailgate. I usually triple the recipe

1 pound of ground pork
3 dried guajillos (tough to find so I bought a huge bag on Amazon for about $8 delivered to my house)
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 medium onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon paprika (not smoked paprika as Mexican chorizo is decidedly not a smoked sausage)
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
2 teaspoons salt

2 lbs shredded cheddar cheese
bag a' Tostido's Scoops or some other tortilla chips

A big cast iron skillet is really the way to go here.

- Stem, split and seed the guajillos.
- pan sear the peppers flat on the hot skillet (may have to weight then down with a bacon press or just a pot) until starting to blacked just a bit. you want them crispy.
- once out of the pan and cool, crumble them with your hands, place them in a small bowl and add the cidar vinegar. Let sit and rehydrate while you prep everything else.
- Drop onion, garlic and all of the spices into a blender
- Once peppers have sat for maybe 20-25 minutes... dump the whole bowl (peppers and vinegar) into the blender as well.
- Puree until very smooth
- In a big bowl, combine puree and ground pork (I grind my own from Pork Shoulders... you want a fair amount of fat!!) and mix really well
- place chorizo in large skillet and cook on medium and cooked through and the fat is started to pool up.
- sprinkle the whole thing with all of the cheese and cook on med-low until all of the cheese is melted
- serve with torilla chips as a dip

I'm tellin' you Yoop... you will not believe how many chics you'll get. Hit of the party I gar-un-tee. People will eat themselves into food comas.

 

[Cape Brewing]

Oh sorry... just some more winning below just in case...

Buffalo Chicken Won-Tons. These are a bit more work and probably something you wouldn't bring to someone's house but I do these at our tailgate as well and at the house for away games. HUGE hit.

- 2 large chicken ****ies... sorry... breasts
- 2 8oz packages of cream cheese
- 1 cup of GOOD Blue cheese dressing... the stuff you find in the produce section (Marie's is a good one). Do NOT use some store brand or something.
- 3/4 cup of hot sauce
- 2 cups shredded cheddar
- couple ribs of diced celery
- won-ton wrappers
- oil for fryin'
- Ritz Crackers

- cook the chicken however you want (I just pan fry it in a little oil). Once cooked, shred it and add to a decent sized sauce pan
- add cream cheese, blue cheese, hot sauce and cheddar.
- cook on low heat until everything is melted and gooey
- heat oil and inch of oil in a pan to 375 degrees
- place small dollop of buff chicken dip in the center of the wonton, sprinkle on some diced celery, wet two edges, fold over won-ton and seal it. you can fold over the corners if ya wanna be fancy about it too.
- deep fat fry in the oil for about 20 seconds on each side until starting to get golden brown (they cook VERY quickly)
- serve with remaining blue cheese as a dip.

... ALSO... serve remainder of the buffalo chicken stuff as a warm dip with Ritz crackers!

You can make all of the won-tons ahead of time (probably a good idea) and spread them out on a cookie sheet or something and then when you're ready to eat 'em, just deep fry 'em up quick. Like I was saying, they take less than a minute.

They are insane.

 

[Yooper]

Oh, that sounds so great. I'm going to have to try both, and of course I'll have to get the guajillos online because I live in lily-white Scandinavian land. We have lutefisk in the market, but nothing ending in "illo".

Or, I could wait until we get to Texas and I bet that I'd find guajillos, among other things.

I wonder if the wontons would "keep"? I mean, make them all up, fry them and all, and then put them all on a cookie sheet in the oven when I'm ready to serve them?

 

[Cape Brewing]

Hmmmm... I dunno... I think they might get soggy.

That's kind of a tough one to travel to someone's place with cause then you're cooking with oil in their kitchen... it's not a pain but.. I dunno... weird. We bring the turkey fryers to Gillette so deep fryin' is a common deal.

Dunno if you would be able to swing either for this particular bash but trust me... make both of these recipes at some point.

PS. Clay Mathews enjoys the company of men.

 

[Homercidal]

PS. Clay Mathews enjoys the company of men.

Careful now. There is a time and place for that.

 

[Cape Brewing]

LOL... c'mon... friendly joking.

these two recipes are probably the two biggest hits in terms of "munchie" stuff at our tailgate and at the house. They are always really popular.

 

[CreamyGoodness]

yknow what I have never made but would enjoy eating at a gathering of just about any sort... homemade knishes.

 

[Yooper]

Hmmmm... I dunno... I think they might get soggy.

That's kind of a tough one to travel to someone's place with cause then you're cooking with oil in their kitchen... it's not a pain but.. I dunno... weird. We bring the turkey fryers to Gillette so deep fryin' is a common deal.

Dunno if you would be able to swing either for this particular bash but trust me... make both of these recipes at some point.

PS. Clay Mathews enjoys the company of men.

I can try them at home, and see if they can be reheated. Great ideas, thanks!

(I don't care if Clay likes men, women, or horses. He's still amazingly hot.)

 

[Homercidal]

yknow what I have never made but would enjoy eating at a gathering of just about any sort... homemade knishes.

Knish? Isn't that some kind of Jewish NY thing?

 

[CreamyGoodness]

Knish? Isn't that some kind of Jewish NY thing?

Yeah it is, though I am not Jewish personally. I havent heard anyone of any religious persuasion say they dislike a good knish... with the exception of those people who dont like the chopped liver stuffed variety.

 

[CreamyGoodness]

I think you'd like them Homer. Mashed potato shell made by sauteeing or baking the outside krispy, with a soft mashed potato interior that can be accompanied by sauer kraut or chopped liver (or mashed potato alone). Serve with a nice brown mustard and a good pickle and I'm a happy guy.

 

[Homercidal]

All of the recipes I saw online showed a flaky crust with mashed potato, onion, and (insert other item here) on the inside.

I have no doubt I would like them, either way. I should really give these a go. They look like a sort of small Jewish pasty.

And since I'm not Jewish I can put BACON in there!

 

[Yooper]

And since I'm not Jewish I can put BACON in there!

Well, that's one way to look at it.

I'm not much of a flaky crust kind of person, but I love anything that has potatoes in it. That's why I'm so wild about my childhood favorite, pierogy. If you could make a potato/cheddar filling for the knish it would remind me of pierogy and that would be excellent.

 

[CreamyGoodness]

That you could. If you prefer authenticity, chicken skin fried crisp (gribenes) are pretty killer.

Can I just say that knishes are one of those things you take for granted as a New Yorker? You just labor under the illusion that everyone has had one, even though logically you know there are people out there who probably havent.

 

[CreamyGoodness]

Yoop, I would say that a good knish's exterior is more crispy than flaky.

 

[Homercidal]

I have zero chance of having time to make these for this weekend's tailgating, but they are on the list to try. We got 3 weekends straight of Bronco Football to go watch, so I should have ample opp. to get it done.

Pierogy is also on my list, but I had forgotten about them. I think a Saturday filled with cooking with the daughter is called for. She will make somebody a very fine wife someday.

 

[CreamyGoodness]

Best part is they reheat well, and you only need one hand to eat em.

Dang, now I want a knish...