Super Bowl food

Okay, there will be just six of us, and here's what we're eating. Our guests know what I'm fixing and they're all bringing a dish of their own, which is part of the joy of combining sports watching with indulgent eating! This doesn't have to be JUST for Super Bowl, but could be for any small gathering. We have a small house, so six is about the max for an indoor thang.

I'll be making: Smoked pork ribs, Fried carrots and cabbage, Potato salad and baked beans. I've peeled the membrane from the back of the BB ribs, and they are sitting in a dry rub of paprika, garlic, brown sugar, ginger, chili powder, pepper, salt and cayenne. Some of my friends consider it pointless to leave meat in a dry rub for any time and that's fine with me. I think it makes a subtle difference, and it's part of the process that makes me happy. I have four BB rib racks. This rub is a slight permutation on Meathead's Dry Rub from the website Amazingribs.com.

First, I use some sea salt -- about two tablespoons and sprinkle it on both sides of the ribs.

1 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp garlic powder
1/4 cup smoked paprika
3 tbsp ginger powder
2 tbsp black pepper (I just typed black powder, and I wonder if that would've been good; long ago my ancestors supposedly seasoned meat with
gunpowder)
2 tsp Cayenne powder
2 tsp celery seed
1 tsp mustard seed

That will sit for a couple of days on the ribs in a plastic ziplock in the fridge.

I am soaking a small bag (1 lb. bag of navy beans).
Tomorrow, I'll dice a red onion, dust it with a little salt and carmelize it with butter in a cast iron pan. Slow cooking is the deal here, stirring it often until it's a deep and luscious brown. I'll deglaze the pan with an IPA beer.
To this I'll add:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 4-oz can of tomato paste
1/4 cup molasses
2 tsp mustard seed
1 tbsp garlic
1 tsp ginger
1 qt. chicken stock
two ham hocks

heat all that up and simmer for an hour or so, until the ham hocks can be separated into the soup. Add the beans and move it to the oven at 350 degrees. I would love to have salt pork, but we can't get that here, so ham hocks have to do.

Bake until it is the property tenderness and consistency. The fluid should cover the beans initially. Add or remove moisture as necessary.


I'll make potato salad the day before.

Peel and cut in quarters six potatoes. Boil in salted water until just barely tender. Not the kind of tender that you would use for mashed potatoes. much firmer than that. Run under cool water to stop the cooking.

3 large eggs - hard boiled
about 3/4 cups mayo
2 stalks celery, split down the middle and chopped
1/2 cup pickled beets
some beet juice
1 tsp celery salt
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp dry basil
salt to taste

Cut up the potatoes, eggs and gently mix. Add the rest of the stuff and taste it to see how much salt. Dust it with paprika because that's what your Mama did. Chill.

Super Duper Bowl morning, I'll fire up the Weber with a water bowl up and a water bowl down and add seasoned sea grape wood to the store bought charcoal briquettes. I want these ribs to slowly smoke and make a nice crust. I will make a whole big deal out of it and sit out there and tend them and probably get a tad inebriated, but our friends will forgive me because they will be in the same space. It will take about four hours. When you can bend them in half and make a crust crack, they are probably done.

Just before kickoff, I'll make the fried carrot and cabbage.

1 head of cabbage, sliced
four medium carrots, slivered
six slices of bacon, pre-fried
two cloves garlic
salt and pepper to taste

I use a wok for this. It's a simple and tasty dish we have a lot. Cook the bacon until done and remove them. Add the carrots and cook them in the bacon grease until they're tender. Add the cabbage and garlic. Let the cabbage brown and even burn now and then. Add the crumbled bacon, salt and pepper and serve.

I know my Mom will bring Deviled Eggs. Not sure what everyone else will bring, but it will be fun and entertaining. GO KC!


What is your tasty treat for a small gathering??

a reply to: argentus

Bacon-wrapped chili dogs.



edit; thanks for the future recipe!

a reply to: argentus

Some of my friends consider it pointless to leave meat in a dry rub for any time

Then they should be fine with not eating it afterwards.

a reply to: Liquesence

I'm thinking of withholding the beans until they admit the dry rub was beneficial.

No offense but with all the recipes this site has turned into Good Housekeeping.

a reply to: argentus

Pork ribs do not need to be marinated for that long. Or at all even.

a reply to: argentus

With a black powder rub, who needs beans?

Just put some plastic on the bed/chair/couch.

a reply to: strongfp


Richard? Is that you? Kidding, I'm kidding. As I said, my buddies, like you, think that is nonsense, but I guess it's part of the personal protocols that make me happy. I have tried BBQ in a myriad of ways, and a 24-hour dry rub consistently produces a result that I find pleasing.

a reply to: Liquesence

Really! Fire when ready!

a reply to: UFO1414

That's the first time I've heard that particular complaint here. I'm so sorry you were forced to read all my verbose blather.

originally posted by: UFO1414
No offense but with all the recipes this site has turned into Good Housekeeping.

Yeah, remember when this site was actually about conspiracies? I do. Then it turned into a cesspool about US politics. Wonder why the membership dwindled? I'd take recipes any day. At least it's positive. Keep them coming ATS.

originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: argentus

Bacon-wrapped chili dogs.

edit; thanks for the future recipe!

Don't leave me hanging DB! Give me the recipe! mmmm ...
Bacon-wrapped chili dogs.

a reply to: TortoiseKweek

No-bean chili, just a basic meat sauce covering kosher dogs wrapped in bacon that were oven-cooked.

Cut the dogs in thirds after the oven cook and toss them in a crock pot with the chili sauce.

Take them out and cover with diced spring onions, cheese, and sour cream.

We're going to make nachos: seasoned ground beef, beans, homemade pico and guac ... lots of melty cheese. Then we're getting some fresh tomatillo/avocado salsa and tamales from the butcher shop to go with. It'll just be the three of us, so we don't need a huge menu.

a reply to: argentus

That Potato salad sounds awesome! Thanks for sharing, will have to try out one day.

My Gran & Mom made a simple one:

Skin and peel potatoes, cut into cubes
Par boil and then let rest for a while, then drain and pour cold water over. Put in fridge
Chop up raw onions and put them in vinegar (don't ask me how long, I guess until it's partially pickled so maybe overnight)
Next day, mix potatoes with onions (drain them from vinegar first), then add mayonnaise and some lemon juice, mix well. Let settle for a few hours.
Mix before serving and add fresh parsley on the top.

I'm from a Lebanese family, that's how we did it and I loved it!

a reply to: argentus

WAIT...Y’all don’t do wings for the Super Bowl??
I thought that was a required dish?

a reply to: DBCowboy

Thanks DB, that sounds awesome, especially the sour cream part! I never knew ATS members had this much food knowledge. Damn you guys are going to fill a hard drive with recipes, lol!! Nice!

edited to add: Where's Flyingclaydisk? He's always got something good brewing? Come join the convo Flyingclaydisk

a reply to: TortoiseKweek

My family's version uses sweet pickles and some of the juice for the pickle part.

The thing I never understood about potato salads is how they can always smell so awesome and taste so awful.

a reply to: JAGStorm

We get wings from our local wing joint every Friday. So wings for the Super Bowl seems like overkill.

a reply to: ketsuko

Sometimes my Mom would add diced pickles, and although it gave a variety, it was never what we considered traditional potato salad. We loved the original version and I still do to this day.