Letters & Opinion
Photo by Jacob Mathias
Food Swings
The Pointer
jmath438@uwsp.edu
The World Series is just over a month away, and regular season football has just started. What does this mean for you? Amazing tailgating and game food is a must.
Now, what I like to do is prepare food that is known in the opposing teams city because, let’s face it, Green Bay isn’t exactly a culinary giant and you can only eat so much cheese before you’re bound up tighter than me in skinny jeans. Also, I don’t have any food prejudices, so we can eat food from Pittsburgh, just don’t cheer for Big Ben and we can stay friends.
The Packers play the Bengals this Sunday. You may or may not know that Cincinnati is known for its chili, with the heavy hitter being Skyline, a city landmark. However, there is one problem with Cincinnati chili. They put it on top of-wait for it-spaghetti. Now, I don’t know why they do this, but clearly this habit should not be supported or repeated for any reason.
So, in light of the culinary abhorrence that is Cincinnati chili, we will focus on staple game foods that are delicious and enjoyed by everyone.
First in line is the ultimate game food, weighing in at about five ounces each, your favorite sausage, the bratwurst. A favorite among Wisconsinites, the brat is a monumental food in the world of tailgating and sports in general, except golf, because apparently they don’t have tailgaters.
When preparing bratwurst, always buy the raw ones from the butchers, never the prepackaged, pre-cooked crap from Johnsonville. This allows you to boil and grill in your own flavor without the salty overtones that come from the prepackaged stuff with a shelf life of Michael Jackson’s remains.
First combine one tablespoon salt, pepper, and thyme, half a slivered onion, two teaspoons hot sauce (preferably Tobasco) and two cans of beer. Bring all of this to a boil.
Then, add the bratwurst to the beer and seasoning mixture and simmer until the brats are cooked through; this takes about 10 minutes. This step can be done the day before the game if time is a factor.
When ready to grill, remove brats from their boil and let set to preserve juices. While this is happening, heat your grill. The one rule with grilling is this. Always use charcoal. If you use gas, I will find you and bad things will happen to your food.
Anyway, make sure your charcoal is glowing, not smoldering. Preheat your grill for at least ten minutes so it is very hot. After preheating, place the brats on the grill, and for Pete’s sake, do not move them. Sear the brats for 4-5 minutes, or until golden brown, flip and repeat.
Serve on brat buns with any combination of ketchup, hot horseradish mustard, sauerkraut, jalapenos and pickle relish. I like mine with all of them, but I won’t judge you ketchup soloists out there. Actually, I will, but I won’t say anything out loud. Remember, live to eat.
