With the first two home games this season starting at 6:30 p.m., that means two long Saturdays of tailgating are on the schedule. Amidst all the partying and drinking, some delicious and filling grub is in order. Take a tip or two from these culinary kings of the tailgate for some successful dishes your crew will remember long after the beer wears off.
Have a favorite tailgate recipe you’d like to share with us? Email [email protected].
Ryan Herringshaw
Turkey & Andouille Gumbo
“There’s no better way to do gumbo, in my opinion,” Ryan Herringshaw says. The LSU fan recently relocated to New Orleans for graduate school, but he drives up for games and uses a crawfish pot to make 30 quarts of his famous gumbo.
Central to its appeal: two whole turkeys, which Herringshaw smokes himself for added flavor, about seven or eight pounds of Andouille sausage, and habaero peppers in the stock to add heat. Most of the steps, including the roux, are done before game day.
“We’ve cooked a pretty wide variety of food, but this gumbo is definitely a crowd favorite,” he says.
Brad Suggs
Pastalaya
Online message board Tigerdroppings.com provided the inspiration for Brad Suggs’ pastalaya.
“I wanted to just break away from the regular jambalaya and gumbo,” Suggs says. “I saw this [on Tigerdroppings.com] and decided to give it a try.”
Most of the work is done in advance, prepping three pounds of chicken breasts, two pounds of sausage and plenty of onions, bell peppers and celery. Once all the ingredients start browning onsite at the tailgate, Suggs adds stewed tomatoes, plenty of seasonings and a pound of regular spaghetti noodles to soak up the liquid.
“It was a huge hit [last season]; everybody is requesting it now,” Suggs says.
Michael St. Romain
Deer & Wild Hog Chili
The Friday before a home game, Michael St. Romain cooks dry beans in a pot all day and gets his seasonings, onions, bell peppers and garlic together. Saturday morning the wild game comes into play.
“We deer-hunt every year and catch a few wild hogs sometimes, so we grind that in with the deer meat,” he says. “It makes a good combination.”
He makes nearly four gallons of chili, which goes quick among friends at his tailgate spot near the LSU Veterinary School.
“It’s just something that’s been handed down through my family and seemed like a good thing to do on a cool day out there—just having a beer while you are cooking chili,” he says.
