Jackson native pens recipes for the perfect tailgate party

Recently Carbondale, Ill., home of Southern Illinois University, was named by Sports Illustrated as the worst college sports town in America. While we here in Cape Girardeau, home of Southeast Missouri State University, a perennial rival of SIUC, might take some satisfaction from such a ranking, I, for one, think our adversaries across the river have been given a bad rap.

Why?

Because one of the indictments made by the magazine against the Carbondale fans is that they are more interested in tailgating than they are in the game. Now I'm not much of a football fan (I tend to agree with acknowledged baseball devotee George Will that football combines two of the worst features of American life: violence and committee meetings), but I am a food lover, and as such I rank tailgating right up there with the Super Bowl. It seems to me that Saluki fans should be praised rather than blamed for their passion for this culinary aspect of the sport.

Joe Cahn, the self-proclaimed "Commissioner of Tailgating," would agree. He points out that tailgates are the last great American neighborhood. "Where else," he asks, "can you still find men playing ball with little boys or four generations of a family out grilling together?" Cahn should know. A retired businessman, he has spent the last eight years traveling over 200,000 miles to visit all 32 NFL stadiums and over 60 college arenas, not to watch games but in search of the best tailgate party. He's not the only one who has discovered that the best seats at the game are frequently not in the stadium but out on the parking lot. A recent survey found that over 50 percent of fans prefer the tailgate party to the actual game. In fact, some folks pay scalper's prices for parking passes.

No wonder, then, that the NFL sells $100 million of tailgating merchandise annually. One of its popular products is a keg-shaped grill. Not to be outdone, an outfit called "Grill-N-Chill" offers a system that combines a 23-by-17 inch grill, a 48-quart cooler, two fold-down tables, a 15-foot flagpole, a CD player and a bottle opener. It costs almost $3,000. If you don't have access to electricity, you can opt for a gas-powered blender that runs on a two-stroke engine. Called the Daiquiri Whacker, it sells for about $300. Or you can buy a pickup truck made expressly for tailgating. A California dealer has one with a grill, a blender, flip-down television screen and taps for two beer kegs. The sticker price is $70,000.

Given such developments, it isn't surprising that Michigan names someone the Tailgate All-American at the end of their season, or that Denver picks a "most valuable tailgater" each home game, or that fans start arriving at the world's biggest tailgate party, at the Florida-Georgia game in Jacksonville, four days before the game. Nor is it surprising that Jack Daniel's again this season is conducting a search for the country's best tailgaters. Contenders will compete in the Great American Tailgate Cook-Off in Houston, site of the Super Bowl. This is only the third year that Jack Daniel's has sponsored the event, but so far the winning tailgaters' team has always gone on to win the championship.

Clearly tailgating has come into its own since its inception a hundred or so years ago. (It's even branched out beyond football. The Santa Fe Opera, for example, opens its parking lot prior to performances for tailgate parties to which some patrons come in tuxedoes and evening dresses.) Some historians, chiefly those connected in some way to Rutgers or Princeton, trace the origin of tailgating to the very first football game, between those schools in 1869. They contend that the term was coined well before the invention of the station wagon by fans who, after a long trip to the game, had no choice but to cook and eat food in their carriages -- at the "tail end" of the horse. Historians at Yale, on the other hand, claim that the tradition began on their campus in 1904 when fans, needing refreshment after a long walk from the train station to the stadium, began bringing picnic hampers with them to games. The fundamental concept, however, probably goes back much further than that, to the traditional meal before the hunt or the gathering of tribes before battle in ancient times.

None of this is news to Nina Swan-Kohler. A native of Jackson, her love of football goes deep. She was introduced to the game at the age of 5 by her brothers, was a high school football cheerleader and played in the Southeast Missouri State University Golden Eagles Marching Band during half-time at Super Bowl V. Now a food professional, she has just published a cookbook called "Tailgates to Touchdowns: Fabulous Football Food."

Swan-Kohler notes that football fans are among the most devoted, loyal, and intense of any sport. Her cookbook shows them how to express that enthusiasm in culinary terms.

The 80-page, full color volume contains dozens of easy to tackle recipes from appetizers to desserts that are sure to please any football fan, especially those who love good food. They range from Kick-Off Brisket (served with Game Thyme Biscuits) to "Referee" Chili (with its black and white motif of chicken and black beans) to Touchdown Turnovers (flaky pastries stuffed with chocolate footballs). The book also includes lots of tailgating tips.

Swan-Kohler will be providing free samples of her recipes from 10 a.m. until game time Saturday at Houck Field House. Show up and you'll immediately be declared an eligible receiver.

Tailgater's Tex-Mex Chili Dip

This recipe, adapted from Nina Swan-Kohler's cookbook, "Tailgates to Touchdowns," is a cut above the usual store-bought dip. With a few flour tortillas and some shredded cheese, the recipe can also serve as the basis for a flavorful and satisfying quesadilla.

Ingredients:

1 pound lean ground beef or pork

2 cups chunky salsa

1 cup water, divided

1 package (1.61 oz.) brown gravy mix

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1 can (15 oz.) black beans, rinsed and drained

1-2 teaspoons finely chopped jalapeno pepper

Cilantro leaves

Directions:

Cook and stir ground meat over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Add salsa and 1/2 cup water and bring to a boil. Dissolve gravy mix in remaining 1/2 cup water and stir in cumin. Stir into boiling mixture and cook, stirring, until thickened. Stir in beans and jalapeno pepper. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Garnish with cilantro leaves. Serve with tortilla chips. For quesadilla, spread dip on flour tortilla, sprinkle with shredded cheese, cover with another tortilla and cook on a hot griddle for 2-3 minutes per side. Cut into quarters to serve.

Listen to "A Harte Appetite" Fridays at 8:49 a.m. Fridays and at 11:59 a.m. Saturdays on KRCU 90.9 FM. Write "A Harte Appetite," c/o the Southeast Missourian, P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 63702-0699 or by e-mail to tharte@semissourian.com.

Want to go?

Sample some favorite football tailgating recipes from 10 a.m. until game time Saturday with cookbook author Nina Swan-Kohler at the tailgate area outside Houck Field House.

'Referee' chili and spicy football cookies

Selected recipes from "Tailgates to Touchdowns," a new cookbook of tailgating recipes written by Jackson native Nina Swan-Kohler.

Black and White 'Referee' Chili

1 large onion, chopped (2 cups)

1 cup chopped celery

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 to 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

2 (14 1/2-ounce) cans or 1 carton (32 oz.) chicken broth.

1 (4-ounce) can chopped green chilies

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 (2.75-ounce) package country gravy mix

1/2 cup cool water

2 (15-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

In a 4-quart saucepan or Dutch oven, cook and stir onion and celery in oil over medium-high heat for 5 to 7 minutes, until onion is tender. Add chicken and cook until chicken is no longer pink. Add chicken broth, green chilies and cumin; heat to boiling. Meanwhile, dissolve gravy mix in water. Stir into boiling soup; cook and stir until thickened. Cool for 10 minutes to allow flavors to blend. Stir in beans and cilantro; heat through. Serve with peppered sour cream biscuits. Makes 8 servings.

Peppered Sour Cream Biscuits

3 cups low-protein self-rising flour

1/4 teaspoon garlic-seasoned black pepper

1 cup sour cream

2/3 cup milk

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine, melted

In large bowl, stir together all ingredients to form a ball. Turn out onto surface dustred with additional flour; knead dough by folding it in half 5 to 7 times. Roll out or pat dough to 1/2-inch thickness. With biscuit cutter, cut into 3-inch rounds. Place on baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Brush with additional melted butter, if desired. Bake at 450 degrees for 13 to 15 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown. Serve warm. Makes 12 biscuits.

Sweet and Spicy Football Cookies

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened

1 large egg

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

2 3/4 cup buttermilk biscuit and baking mix

1 cup white "chocolate" chips (6 ounces)

2 teaspoons shortening

In large mixer bowl, beat brown sugar and butter until creamy, about 3 minutes. Add egg, ginger, cinnamon and cloves; beat until light and fluffy. Add biscuit and baking mix, beating on low speed to combine. Chill dough for at least 1 hour. On surface dusted with additional biscuit and baking mix, roll out half of dough to 1/8-inch thickness. With cookie cutter cut out desired shapes. Place 1 inch apart on cookie sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes or until tops are no longer moist. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack to cool. Repeat with remaining dough. To decorate, place white chocolate chips and shortening in heavy-duty resealable plastic bag; microwave on 50 percent power for 3 to 4 minutes, massaging bag every minute until chips are melted. Cut off tip of one corner of bag. Pipe melted white chocolate onto cookies to resemble laces on football.