“What went wrong? What didn’t? – It was just one of those days. Not my day really.” Mary Pierce

Better food than the game

I was looking for a quote that best explained this Super Bowl. This is all I could come up with. My food was the best thing about watching it. My God! What happened?

I don’t mind a loss but I had this overcoming feeling that I should have been wearing a black suit and offering my condolences after 10 minutes.

So no tears, no should of, could of, let’s just get into the food.

I hope that you went out of your way to entertain and add to the experience after all it only happens once a year. Did you bring the Tailgating experience home since it wasn’t aloud at the SB? Did you place your friends into a food coma by half-time?

Here’s what we did.  Taking inspiration from both teams I planned two mains based on the their cities. Seattle is coffee town but knowing that I didn’t want to just serve coffee I rubbed a brisket with espresso, cocoa, and an assortment of spices. The only thing I could come up with for Denver was an omelet and that wasn’t going to happen so because of the altitude and temperature I went for chili.  Lastly I did something I love to do; Bacon Wrapped Chicken Legs stuffed with Cheddar filled Jalapeno. That’s my spin on chicken wings. I love chicken wings but doing them for a crowd is time consuming and you have to make a lot!

So the brisket was rubbed the night before with the following: Brown sugar, Paprika,  Fine Ground Coffee, Salt, Chili Powder, Granulated Garlic, Granulated Onion, Black Pepper,  Ground Coriander, Allspice  and Cocoa.

The chili was a combination of pork belly, ground beef, sausage, onion, and a small beef roast cubed and marinated overnight in Guinness, garlic, and chili powder.

The brisket was put on the smoker 8 hours before the game, and the chili was put on the fire 5 hours before. Both had hickory wood added for full flavor.

The chicken legs were put over the fire about 45 minutes before serving time and turned and watched for flare up and burning.

Everything was a success except the game. Win or lose, I like a close game. This was anything but close.

So Payton, remember what Yogi Berra said. “If you come to a fork in the road, take it.”

Let me know what you did for The Big Game? Share at TheArtisanalGrill.com or message me on Twitter @ArtisanalGrill or on Facebook. I’ll post and share.

Be well and eat well.

Scott Tait