Its Tailgating Season

by The Smoker King

Get ready fellow tailgaters, football season has arrived once again. Go BIG 12! That means lots of barbeque, football games, and unforgettable memories. Being a Texas Tech Red Raider, I have thrown many tailgate parties, and I am excited and sad to say that this will be my last football season I will get to experience as a student. I will graduate in December of 2005. But believe me, there will be many more to come after college.

Throwing a great tailgate party is lots of fun, but it is hard work too. If you are in charge of the party, make sure you take the time to plan out what you are going to cook, what supplies you need, and who is going to do what. In the past, I have made the mistake of trying to do everything myself. The only thing that accomplishes is me being worn smooth out. It is important to recruit lots of friends to help out. After all, if they want to eat and hang out at your tailgate, they can pitch in too. Another important thing to do is to collect money from everyone who is coming before the tailgate. If you wait until after the game to try to collect money, good luck. Another thing, don’t put a jar out at your tailgate that says please pitch in. You will find that people will put a total of 20 bucks in the jar throughout the tailgate, and some punk will steal the jar at the end. Thank you whoever you are.

Being a cook at a tailgate entails lots of hard work. To make it easier, prepare as much of the food as you can ahead of time. That way you can sit down and hang out with your friends some instead of running around frantically trying to get everything done on time. A great and simple snack that everyone loves is a jalapeno popper. You can make many of them ahead of time and have them ready to pop on the grill when a snack is needed. If you have a hot fire, it can be quite tricky to grill many of them at the same time without burning yourself or burning the poppers. I use this grill basket to cook them.

You can grill about 20-25 at a time with one, and you won’t burn yourself. I think they are typically used to grill fish, but they work great for just about anything. My grilled tequila lime chicken recipe is a great recipe for cooking chicken that will be used in fajitas. I have had no complaints yet. Maybe everyone is modest.

If you are fortunate enough live near the coast where you can buy good shrimp, then try this grilled shrimp recipe. Everyone will love it. It gives the shrimp a sweet and spicy flavor that everyone will love. Make sure you have a bunch of shrimp because they will go fast.