Tailgating Ideas – Don't Just Tailgate, Tailgate Better

Fix this delicious barbeque chicken for dinner tonight! Sprinkle seasoning on the chicken pieces and baste occasionally while on the grill and you’ll have a perfect bbq dinner! Serve with baked beans and corn on the cob.

Ingredients

• 2 packages Foster Farms Best of Our Fryer
• Salt and pepper
• Chili powder

Barbecue Sauce

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 2 tablespoons tarragon vinegar
• 3/4 cup catsup
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon mustard
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Instructions

Combine butter, molasses, garlic, paprika, vinegar, catsup, Worcestershire, mustard, salt and pepper in saucepan.

Simmer 20 minutes over low heat. Stir occasionally.

Rub chicken with salt, pepper and chili powder. Place skin side up, 3 inches from hot coals. Cook about 30 minutes on each side. Baste with sauce often.

Original recipe by The BBQ Grail can be found HERE.

Larry Gaian is the founder of The BBQ Grail. Follow him on Twitter @BBQGrail.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs fresh jumbo shrimp
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup catsup
• 3 dashes hot pepper sauce
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1/2 lb bacon, (or more)

Instructions

Shell and devein uncooked shrimp. In a bowl, mix next 5 ingredients. Marinate shrimp in mixture 30 minutes to 1 hour at room temp. Cut bacon into thirds or halves and wrap bacon around shrimp. Thread onto skewers. Grill until bacon is crisp, 10 to 12 minutes. Turn several times and brush with reserved marinade. Bacon drippings will cause the grill to flare up, so keep the water spritzer handy. Serve at once with lemon wedges.

Notes:

I came across a file with thousands of BBQ recipes. They look at least 10 years old and most don’t have any type of credit of where they came from. If you recognize a recipe please let me know so I can give proper credit.

Original recipe by The BBQ Grail can be found HERE.

Larry Gaian is the founder of The BBQ Grail. Follow him on Twitter @BBQGrail.

Tailgating is, for me, in its simplest terms about enjoyment. It can be the enjoyment of spending time with friends, family and fellow fans of our team. It can be about enjoying the anticipation of a big game. In my book, tailgating is all those things but the enjoyment of the food is where it’s really all about for me.

I’ll be the first to admit that finger food normally doesn’t appease me all that much. As a matter of fact, I like to think of finger food as anything edible I can hold in one hand. I guess you could call that fingers food. But there is one small bite that encompasses everything that is great about tailgating food. It’s called the MOINK Ball.

If you go to a fancy restaurant, the chef may send out a small single bite appetizer meant to entice your pallet. It’s called an Amuse-Bouche, and literally translated it means “mouth amuser”. The MOINK Ball is a small single bite bit of mouth amusing or your tailgating events.

Why the strange name? There’s a long story behind it, but basically it’s a little bit of MOO (cow/beef) and a little bit of OINK (pig/pork) = MOINK. They are simple to make and I promise you, if done correctly, they will be the hit of your tailgating experience.

The Original MOINK Ball

Recipe Type: Appetizer
Cuisine: American
Prep time: 20 mins
Cook time: 90 mins
Total time: 1 hour 50 mins
Preferred Cooking Device: Smoker
Serves: 2

Moink Ball Ingredients

• 24 frozen (1 oz size) Italian Beef meatballs, thawed
• 12 strips thin sliced bacon
• Favorite BBQ Seasoning/Rub
• 24 toothpicks

MOINK Ball Glaze

• 1 bottle BBQ Sauce (use one you like that’s not overly sweet)
• 1 cup raspberry jam
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• Chipotle powder to taste

Instructions for MOINK Balls

1. Cut your bacon strips in half.
2. Wrap 1/2 slice of bacon around each meatball and secure with a toothpick
3. Season, liberally, with your favorite BBQ seasoning/rub
4. Set aside until MOINK Balls are to room temperature.

Instructions for MOINK Ball Glaze

1. Combine BBQ Sauce, raspberry jam, balsamic vinegar and chipotle powder in a sauce pan and eat over low heat. Stir until all ingredients are combined.
2. Set aside.
3. Bring your grill to temperature. If you are using a smoker set it up to cook at about 225 to 240 degrees. If you are using a charcoal or gas grill set it up to cook with INDIRECT heat at as low a temperature as you can get.
4. You need to cook the MOINK Balls slow over indirect heat. If you try this over direct high heat the bacon will flare and burn.
5. Cook the MOINK Balls until the bacon is almost completely done (crisp). This should take about 75 to 90 minutes depending upon your temperature.
6. Sauce each MOINK Ball with the glaze and return to the smoker or grill for another 20 minutes to set the sauce.
7. Serve immediately…and get ready for requests for more.

Larry Gaian is the founder of The BBQ Grail. Follow him on Twitter @BBQGrail.

One of the things that I’ve really enjoyed about being part of the Johnsonville Bloggers Panel is the opportunity to try more of their products.  For example, in the last post I talked about their No Ordinary Burger contest, and I even shared my recipe with you all.  Furthermore I’ve been thoroughly impressed by the amount of free info and advice that Johnsonville is putting out there to all of us.  Which is the inspiration for today’s post.

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Many people consider Memorial Day to be the unofficial start of summer.  And since it’s only a week away those of us who don’t have plans in place are most certainly working on them.

I think I’ll be attending a local minor league game, with a nice tailgate party beforehand.  If you’re tailgating like me, or even if you’re just having a big old fashioned cookout at your place, you’re probably coming up with some ideas on what to make.  If you’re the type to come up with your own recipe or if you already make burgers that knock it out of the park, you should check out this contest from Johnsonville:

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