Eating the Enemy: Tailgating 2011 with opponent inspired food.

Submitted by justingoblue on

In the process of drinking a few Irish Car Bombs with a ND fan friend of mine last week, I decided on doing a tailgating version of what monumental does with his wallpapers and theme the weekly food and drink menu to the opponent. This is what I have come up with so far (the other schedule is Pitt, who I also follow closely and included in my menu) and would love some suggestions for improvement.

9/03: WMU/ Buffalo

Bell's Kalamazoo Stout and buffalo wings.

9/10: ND/ Maine

Guinness, Jameson Irish Whiskey, Bailey's and corned beef with Dubliner cheese. (No way to handle lobster as well, but that's too bad.)

9/17: EMU/ Iowa

Bell's Two Hearted Ale and Domino's pizza with spicy rubbed corn.

9/24: SDSU/ ND

Jose Cuervo Silver and fish tacos.

9/29: USF

Daiquiri's (Appleton Estates) and Cuban sandwiches.

10/1: Minnesota

Absolut and Swedish meatballs (paying tribute to the heritage of many Minnesota natives, but I would love some help identifying a unique Minneapolis food or drink)

10/8: Northwestern/ Rutgers

Goose Island 312 and deep dish pizza (sorry NY style, you lose).

10/15: MSU/ Utah

Bell's Third Coast and bison burgers

10/26: Purdue/ UConn

Hendrick's martinis and blue crab (reaching on this one as well, but trying to go with a New England theme since nothing from Purdue was obvious to me).

11/05: Iowa/ Cincinnati

Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold and Skyline chili with spaghetti and cheddar (girlfriend's hometown, so no corn).

11/12: Illinois/ Louisville

Jim Beam Old Fashioned's and fried chicken (Northwestern got the good stuff... except Portillo's).

11/19: Nebraska

Corn whiskey and a farmers breakfast.

11/25: WVU

Moonshine and pork rinds (anyone have a hookup?)

11/26: OSU

Great Lakes Burning River and buckeyes

12/3: Syracuse/ BTCG Opponent

Completely stuck; can someone from upstate NY chime in? Or, if we play Wisconsin, it'll be Leinenkugel Creamy Dark and cheddar fondue.

Anyway, this is just my attempt to keep fall on my mind in late July. Sorry if this is a stupid idea or if people have been doing this for years, but it kept me occupied and I am looking forward to it.

 

BlueDragon

July 24th, 2011 at 1:09 AM ^

Pitt?  Are they Penn State's little baby brother?

Anyways, the Nebraska breakfast sounds good to me.  I don't know if I'll get crab for Homecoming, but I'l be at that game so if you're around, justingoblue, we should get together and chill for awhile.

rockydude

July 24th, 2011 at 1:30 AM ^

This is a fun idea. Maybe I will have to try and come up with something similar myself. Wisky is also known for their sausages, but you can use some good dogs for Illinois or NW as well. I'm stretching, but for the Cuse, in that upstate NY region, they eat beef on Kimmelweck, which I believe is a rye bread. Hope I remember to make a similar menu, come game time . . . 

justingoblue

July 24th, 2011 at 1:36 AM ^

That's a good idea about the bread. It's kind of a stretch either way so maybe I'll do a Michigan themed one for Pitt's last game if I can't come up with anything better from Syracuse country.

And yes, Chicago hot dogs would be a good idea. Just remember, no ketchup for Northwestern or Illinois week.

MAgoBLUE

July 24th, 2011 at 2:04 AM ^

This is awesome but you've gotta find a way to get lobster for Week #2.  You can get them shipped fresh from Maine.  If I was on death row my last meal would be a Maine lobster with a bunch of melted butter and a beer.

bklein09

July 24th, 2011 at 2:19 AM ^

I know that one very popular food item in Minneapolis is known as the juicy Lucy.
<br>
<br>It's basically A hamburger with all the toppings stuffed inside. Cheese, Inions, mushrooms, whatever you want.
<br>
<br>Tons of Restaurants in minny have variations of that on the menu. Seems like a good choice for a tailgate.

Hyphen

July 24th, 2011 at 12:45 PM ^

 

I was going to suggest the juicy Lucy as well. I'm currently living in Minneapolis and I can vouch for both the popularity and deliciousness of these stuffed burgers. Good MN beer includes brews from Summit and Surly breweries.

 

Edit: For Syracuse, I would recommend white hots (also really a Rochester food, as are garbage plates) which are quite good.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_hot

Also, half-moon cookies. Not unique to Syracuse either, but popular in upstate NY. My parents who hail from this region always got these for me when I was a kid, and I loved them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half_moon_cookie

 

 

hail2mich

July 24th, 2011 at 4:55 PM ^

The black and white cookie! Two races of flavor living side by side. The thing about eating the Black and White cookie is you want to get some black and some white in each bite. Nothing mixes better than vanilla and chocolate and yet somehow racial harmony eludes us. If people would only look to the cookie all our problems would be solved.

 
Peace!

swamyblue

July 24th, 2011 at 3:25 AM ^

WMU: Nothing too spetacular...Brats, Burgers, Itailian Sausage, ect...but there are a couple of favorites in the works: Ma's Gumbo and supposedly a mystery guest is bringing Lobster Bisque.  We'll see!  We've had mystery guest before and it's turned out so so.  Lobster Bisque...that's a fairly tall order.

ND:  Now we're getting somewhere...

Starting from the top-left (clockwise):corn on the cob w/roasted corn to garnish, grilled shrimp, grilled garlic ribeyes, and grilled swordfish steaks (Note: All meats are heavily seasoned and marinated)

Baked potatoes, broccoli, and a variety of salads are on deck as well. This was a trial run a few weeks ago...Confession, I don't cook.  In fact, I've been known as the guy who could potential burn jello.

Can't wait for Purdue's menu.   =]

 

bluebyyou

July 24th, 2011 at 7:11 AM ^

For the Purdue game, corndogs, which seem to be pretty popular in Indiana, met be an addition.  Another food item that is very popular at races at Indy that might also work are turkey legs, large enough to be from turkeys that must have been huge.

Fhshockey112002

July 24th, 2011 at 12:14 PM ^

My job recently moved me to Syracuse NY.  Their are really two options.  

1.) Syracuse is home to Dinosaur BBQ some of the best BBQ outside of Kansas City.

2.) Anything Irish, Syracuse was founded by a good amount of Irish immigrants and still has a large sectio of the city.  They actually have inverted stop lights so that the Irish Green is above the British Red... 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipperary_Hill

justingoblue

July 24th, 2011 at 12:58 PM ^

Having lived in both Tampa and Cook County (though not within the city limits...yet) I can definitely say that Tampa has a lot of Cubans who make very good sandwiches and that Chicago pizza is superior to all others. You do have a point about the lobster, but would you rather get excited about UM/ND or Pitt/Maine? I was taking the game into account on that one.