Small sliders score big points with tailgaters
For those keeping score, hamburgers remain the most popular fare for tailgating, according to the just-released Weber GrillWatch Survey. Yet based on recent conversations with folks attending the Daily Herald's Barbecue Workshop at Hearth & Home in Mount Prospect, sliders have been gaining ground and may be poised to upset the perennial favorite.
"Which would you rather have? One big burger, or a few different sliders?" asked Michael Pennisi, the Carpentersville teacher who won the Daily Herald's Cook of the Week Challenge in 2012. Pennisi, along with 2013 Challenge champ Daniel Rich, of Elgin, demonstrated tailgating recipes at the workshop.
Traditionally sliders are small beef hamburgers, typically 2½- to 3-inches. White Castle popularized the tiny burgers in the 1920s. In recent culinary history, the term slider has expanded to include everything from bison and crab to pork and perch.
These smaller portions make perfect sense for football parties - whether in a parking lot or in a backyard - because you can hold them in one hand, leaving the other hand to hold a plate or a beverage. Hosts can up their game by having a variety of sliders available to hungry fans.
Pennisi's Pirate Chicken Sliders start with chicken thighs, which he pounds slightly to even out the thickness. After a brief soak in coconut milk and soy sauce, the meat meets the heat. Once nicely charred, the thighs get dipped in Pirate Sauce - habaneros blended with grilled mango and pineapple - and topped with grilled plantain slices. I like to think Pennisi, a teacher at Schaumburg High School where the Saxons play, named his sauce for his cross-district rival and my alma mater Palatine High School and their Pirates, but he insists the sauce pays homage to pirates who would dock on tropical beaches and forage for food.
Bahn Mi Blitz Pork Sliders are on the game table at Melissa Brooks' house. Rich tapped the Rockford mom to join the starting lineup at the workshop, and she demonstrated how easily these Korean-inspired sammies come together. Thin slices of pork tenderloin bathe in fish sauce, sugar and lime juice before getting grilled. Carrots, daikon radish (if you have it) and jalapeños pickled in a vinegar solution that tops the meat once it comes off the grill. She serves these sliders on toasty rolls slathered with garlicky-lime mayo and garnished with cucumber slices.
I've scouted the prospects and recommend adding grilling guru Jamie Purviance's Spicy Chicken Sliders with Blue Cheese Dressing (think Buffalo chicken wings without the bones and with a bun!) and Spice-Rubbed Pork Loin BLT Sliders to your menu. The Pork BTL sliders can be cooked at home and warmed in a foil packet on the grill while other items are cooking.
Challenge champ Rich makes a strong case to put grilled pizzas into the football food playbook. Make the dough at home and put the pizzas together onsite, he said. He made it look easy, rolling out five or six pies with a variety of toppings at the grilling event. Rich shapes the dough on a corn meal-coated wooden pizza paddle so it easily slides onto a preheated pizza stone resting on grill grates.
Tailgate trivia
63 percent of tailgaters cook on portable grill models
31 percent take along a full-size model
50 percent don't ever make it into the game
$122: the average amount of money spent on a tailgate party
8 percent of tailgaters put veggies in their top three foods, up from 4 percent last year
Source: 2014 Weber GrillWatchSurvey