Week 10: Tailgating Train as Nebraska Cornhuskers take on Purdue Boilermakers
By Kelli Anne
Purdue Boilermakers roll into town against the Huskers tomorrow. And I say “Roll” because their “official” mascot is a locomotive. A train is made up of many moving parts, much like a good tailgate. I would say most important is the Engine – or the people. And the rest of the cars are pieces to the puzzle like the location, the food, and the atmosphere. Below are some FAVORITES of our Husker group and a NEW jello shot with a boilermaker theme.
In week 10 of the season and I’m focusing on side item recipes. The first one is a Spicy Pretzel recipe from my dear friend Mary F. People always ask her to make it for tailgates (see them behind the N?) and she graciously gave me permission to print the recipe for everyone to enjoy (Thanks Mary!)
Heat oven to 250 degrees
1 bag pretzels – spread in a 9×13 pan
Mix the following: 1 Cup oil
1 packet dry ranch dressing mix
1 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper ( a dash or 2 more if you like things a little spicier)
1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
Pour the mixture over the pretzels and stir them up to coat them all. Place pan in oven and stir every 15 minutes. Continue to stir pretzels until total bake time of 1 hour and 15 minutes has passed. Take out of oven and cool before serving.
Another great side idea is baked beans. The sweet or hot of it can go with just about any tailgate food, be it smoked pork, burgers, brats or chicken. I managed to talk my good friend and huge Nebraska Cornhuskers fan, Justin F., out of his famous tailgate recipe to share with you (Thanks Justin!) This recipe is intended for a good sized tailgate. Just cut in half for a family dinner portion.
JUSTIN’S YUMMY BAKED BEANS
The combination of the spices and the bacon make these beans AMAZING.
3-4 cans baked beans, drained
3/4 Cup BBQ sauce any kind
1/2 Cup brown sugar
1/2 Cup chopped onion
2 Tablespoons liquid smoke
Thick cut bacon cut into bite sized pcs (enough to cover to top of the beans)
A couple of cut up link sausages, I prefer hot links & have used Andouille
Mix the first 5 iterms together and place in a large oven pan. Top the beans with the bacon pieces. Bake uncovered in the oven at 350 for 1 hour.
Etiquette tip: This is the Caboose part of this train for week 10. When attending a tailgate, make sure to plan ahead to help tear down. This is especially helpful when everyone goes into the game. There is a certain knack to taking down canopy tents. Make sure you pay attention to not get your fingers caught up. Help the host pack things and lift the heavy stuff back into the truck/bus/trailer (guys this is YOU). A lot of people also stay at the tailgate while some people go into the game. These are what I call tailgate sitters. Thank goodness for them. The great thing about sitters is that it’s all still set up after the game for everyone to enjoy a little more while waiting for traffic to ease on out of town. Just remember to have plenty of water and non-alcoholic beverages around for the designated drivers.
Purdue Pete started out as an advertising logo for the bookstore in 1940 has become one of the most recognized athletic mascots. He became the “official athletic mascot” in 1956. BOILERMAKERS is the name coined by a reporter in 1891 to describe the winning football team and has become the reference for the athletic team. The Boilermaker drink is a shot of whisky and a beer. You can take the shot of whiskey and chase it with the beer or you can drop the whiskey shot into the beer, aka “depth charge” and drink it down all at once.
Photo courtesy of PurdueSports.com http://www.purduesports.com/trads/purdue-pete.html
There are not many jello shot recipes with whiskey (for good reason) but the TAILGATE DIVA took on this challenge. I’m not a fan of whiskey but I am a fan of Fireball. It’s Halloween season so I added in some seasonal flavor and came up with a Halloween Fireball Jello shot.
FIREBALL Halloween Shot: Mix one small package of Orange jello with 1 cup of hot apple cider. Stir until the jello dissolves. Add in 1/2 cup of Fireball whiskey and 1/2 cup more apple cider. Stir until mixed and pour into jello shot cups and chill overnight. You can enjoy the taste of the cinnamon goodness and let it warm you up on chilly days.
Sep 6, 2014; West Lafayette, IN, USA; Purdue
Lagniappe: (that’s LSU for a lil something extra) The Purdue tradition of the Big Bass Drum. It is 10 feet tall and is handled by a crew of 4 band members and has 2 beaters. It boasts its original 1921 frame at 8 feet in diameter and a four foot span between the two heads. A photo favorite of all Purdue fans.