Ask A Sacramento Expert: Best Easy Tailgate Food

Football is back in full swing Sacramento! This means it's time to tighten up your fantasy teams, get out your team jerseys and drink lots of beer for seemingly no reason. Naturally, when you think of football, you think of food, which to many translates into tailgate parties. Tailgating traditionally takes place in stadium parking lots as fans break out the barbecues, giant sandwiches and ice cold beverages. You don't always have to be at a game to tailgate with the best of them. Die-hard tailgaters make it happen wherever the grub can be found. You can test your game-day skills by following these easy-to-make recipes designed specifically for this article and tailgating which, let's face it, can be a sport in itself.

Jason Azevedo
Mighty Tavern
9634 Fair Oaks Blvd.
Fair Oaks, CA 95628
(916) 241-9444
www.mightytavern.com

Jason Azevedo is a Sacramento chef who made himself known locally for two things, first of which is being the founder of Testa Duro Salumi, which specializes in hand-crafted sausages and delicious cured meats. The second thing you can associate Jason with is successfully pulling off multiple pop-up restaurants around town. If you've ever had anything to do with a pop up, you know they are a lot harder to pull together than they look. Now, Jason is the the chef at Mighty Tavern where he was recently one of the Sacramento News and Review's nominees for "Best Chef." Mighty Tavern offers a simple yet classic dinner menu and a brunch menu which can only be described as redonkulous with menu items like ricotta pancakes and duck confit hash. As for tailgating food, here's what Jason had to share.

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Bratburger

• 2 lbs ground pork 
• 1/4 cup salt
• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• dash of nutmeg
• tsp ground ginger
• 1 tbsp heavy cream

Directions:

Mix until everything is incorporated for about 4 minutes (use a mixer if you've got one, or go with the hands), and then portion out eight 4-oz patties. Grill over medium heat, top with thin slices of red onion, whole grain mustard, and melt gruyere while they are on the grill. Now double down and get a kaiser roll!

Hatch Chili Dip

• roast 2 lbs of green hatch chiles (peel, and clean out seeds and charred skin) small dice
• 1 lb of marscapone cheese
• 2 tbsp mayo
• 1 bunch cilantro
• zest of 1 lime
• 2 tbsp salt
• 1 tsp onion powder

Directions:

Blend the cheese, mayo and seasoning in a food processor for 3 minutes. Take out and fold in the rest of the ingredients.

Bacon Glazed Meat Pops

• chicken legs
• 2 lbs bacon ends
• 1 red onion (small dice)
• 2 tbsp bourbon
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup apple juice
• 1 tbsp cayenne

Directions:

Chop bacon into half-inch pieces, in a cold pan render until almost crispy. Add onion, and cook down until translucent. Add brown sugar and cook for 15 minutes. Add bourbon, apple juice and seasoning. Lightly oil or spray chicken legs and cook on the bbq over medium heat and season with salt and pepper. When the legs are about 3/4 cooked, dip them into the glaze. Finish on grill until cooked on low heat.

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As a hospitality professional Andy Soto has worked every facet of the industry. He currently leads the team at Spectrum Restaurant Consulting. He started writing a hospitality blog in 2009 and restaurant writing for Sacramento Press in 2010. In 2011 Andy became a Sacramento Restaurant Examiner for Examiner.com. His work can be found on Examiner.com.