Eat'em and Beat'em

You're probably wondering where Rabid Giant fits in (or maybe not)?  I'll start by saying that I follow just one sport: American Football.  This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who knows me.  Sundays between September and February are all spoken for.  In addition to being a rabid Giants fan (see what I did there?) the Fantasy Football Gods call to me.  Fantasy has made me a greater fan of the game.  I know more players.  I watch more highlights.  I check more stats.  I both love and hate players and teams I never followed before.  I subscribe to twitter and rss feeds to get the latest on injuries/trades and status updates for every team in the league.  It's obsessive, and the only consolation is that I don't do the same for Baseball/Basketball/Hockey...so there's a considerable break (for my wife and family) between the end of January and the following August.

That said, it started with the Giants, which makes sense for a guy whose family all came from NYC/Jersey.  Grandpa watched the Giants (and the A Team; "Don't worry, none of them are going to die.  They have to come back next week.") and may have instilled some core degrees of respect/passion early on in my life.  Finding kindred spirits in the Jerz was not difficult.  My friend Don and I were frequently horse after watching a game screaming both at good plays and terrible ones.  It comes with the territory of being an extreme fan of any sport. 

Regardless, when season tickets for the Giants became available, I lobbied hard to grab them up.  The new stadium would be my stadium.  I went halvsies with Sara's dad for the PSLs and ponied up enough dough for 2 seats.  Sara surprisingly agreed.  She understood that these tickets would be a part of our as-of-yet unborn son's life (and now daughter's) for years and years.  And, in what I regard as a product of "mommy brain" (read: extreme pregnancy hormonal confusion) she wholeheartedly agreed that this should be part of our family's tradition...right next to splitting the holidays between Christmas and Hanukkah and worshiping New Orleans it's food, it's music, it's culture.  That was three years ago, and I haven't looked back.

Why was it so important for those tickets?  What I am about to describe is the driving force of why I need to be at those home games.  This thing, IT, by itself, may be as important as the game if not more so (certainly this season).  The Tailgate (capital T) is amazing!  A former co-worker, let's call him R. Keren...no no, too obvious...let's call him Roger K., introduced me to a massive 50-person tailgate diverse in age and economic level, but all as obsessive as I am about the New York Football Giants...and good food.  People are awesome...and we all come to cook.  In fact, we regularly have 2 or 3 professional restauranteurs/chefs cooking with/for us in the lot.  One, in fact, was extremely successful on a cable cooking show, taking the top prize in 2011.  Needless to say, you don't bring hamburgers and hotdogs to a tailgate where professionals in the food industry will be watching.  You bring lobster.  One year, I believe that, of the 8 home games, 2 didn't have lobster.  We lobster raced in the parking lot...then split the bastards with a knife and tossed them onto the grill.  What's better than that?  How about grilled octopus (twice last year) and individual crock pots of french onion soup.  Needless to say, and most importantly, if you want to fit in you've got to bring your "A" game.

Well, a couple years ago, at a game where the Giants would take on the wretched Philadelphia Eagles Game, Brian, at the tailgate, said the most astounding thing: "have a cheese steak, because you have to eat'em to beat'em."   The proverbial light bulb went on in my head...I need to come up with a recipe that is somehow tied to the other team or team's home-town for every home game I attend.  Roger was in, and the Eat'em and Beat'em cook book idea was born.  Since then, Roger and I have researched "typical" or special dishes in the opposing team's cities.  We've prepared smoked-salmon mini quiches for Seattle, fried ravioli for St. Louis, soaked pork medallions in cherry sauce for the Washington Redskins (see what I did there?), and cut the casings, and used the meat in bratwurst for chili against the Green Bay Packers (complete with "squeaky cheese" curd topping imported from a Wisconson dairy farm).  This shit is serious.  So, in the next couple of months, I'll fill you in with what we decided to go with, and I'll provide credit where credit is due for those individuals who helped me/us come up with the recipes.  And, if you've got some connections in the publishing world, now is the time to hook me up.  I figure that the cook-book can only fly with NFL licensing, and that don't come cheap.  Roger's and my goal is to generate a cook-book with a couple of decent recipes for each of the 32 NFL teams which may include an entree/finger food, dessert, and drink.    Maybe all three...maybe two of the three.  He and I have amassed about 25 unique recipes prepared and/or served at games over the course of the last 3 years, so it's coming along. 

THIS WEEK: This weekend the winless New York Giants will be hosting the wretched Philadelphia Eagles.  Logic screams "cheesesteaks" and, don't worry, one of the tailgaters typically buys a fantastic cut of meat, freezes it, shaves paper thin slices off it, and serves it to us on game-day.  Real steak and real cheese.  That base is covered.  This week, I've planned to make Shrimp Salad sliders made from Philadelphia cream cheese, chives, garlic, yellow mustard, celery and carrots to be served on mini pretzel rolls.  Obviously, drink of choice will likely be something brewed from the oldest American brewery: Yuengling.  I prefer the Black and Tan typically, but I anticipate that the tried and true lighter lager will pair nicely with the seafood.  Regarding a dessert, and I won't have the opportunity to make it (though I have the recipe), a pistachio/green cupcake with cream cheese frosting (obviously).  The nicest part of this meal is that 90% of it can be prepared at home.  Chill the shrimp salad the night before and, presto...you'll be able to Eat'em and Beat'em on gameday!  Next week I'll let you know how they went and what's planned for the coming weeks.

I should add the disclaimer that the idea of an NFL-themed Cook Book based on the premise of different recipes for all 32 NFL teams, and the name "Eat'em and Beat'em" are copyrighted by Roger Keren and Herbert Scott August, 2013.    Please note that under U.S. copyright law, my self-published work (the content of this blog) is protected as soon as it's written (i.e. pen to paper). Copyright is based on Roger's and my creative authorship and is not dependent on any formal agreement with a book publisher or self publishing company.  The concept is wholly the brain-child of Roger Keren and myself (with the proper acknowledgments), and that if I see your book with a similar name/theme, prepare yourself for some kind of legal challenge.  But it won't come to that, because you just want to see us succeed, see us interviewed on the Daily Show, and grilling up a storm on the Today Show with Al Roker.

More to come on the successes or failures of the recipes, recipes used in the past, and advancements in this book idea.  HOW EXCITING!  Fuck you Julie and Julia author Julie Powell for making it look so easy to make money off of a food blog!  I love you and hate you.