A Kosher Super Bowl
There’s nothing more American than going to watch a football game at a sports bar with friends. Recently I have done this with a little less frequency now that I have Noa (age 5) and Maayan (age 2) to hang out with. But a few years back, after morning games of touch football in New York City, I was going every Sunday to watch my beloved St. Louis Rams take on the rest of the National Football League.
It is a rite of passage to watch football on Sundays, ordering heaps of bar food, while watching these modern day gladiators pummel one another. Keeping kosher, I always felt like I was missing out on the full experience of the munchies. I could not partake in the many different plates of delightful finger foods that my friends were devouring.
Luckily, there is one day a year where instead of gathering at the sports bar we gather comfortably at home. A place where my own kosher kitchen transforms into a “sports bar” and I am able to indulge my need for fleishig finger food.
That day is fast approaching, the first Sunday of February, Super Bowl Sunday.
In my 36 years of life there are a number of foods I have never tried. Shellfish, Pepperoni pizza (the fake stuff is not the same thing), and Big Macs are a few of the “delicacies” that have never crossed my lips - and I am okay with that. But the one thing my wife, who started keeping kosher about 15 years ago, tells me she misses most, is the one thing I have always thought of as the single most treif item in the world. Bacon! So for my Super Bowl Party, I set out to find the one dish that could bring together my favorite official sport (football), my favorite unofficial sport (eating), and the one ingredient that a "kosher pigskin" fan cannot have. The result is one of the simplest, most delicious recipes I have ever tried: Pigskin Puppies.
On Super Bowl Sunday, it is okay to call a time-out on etiquette and table manners. While the players get down and dirty on the field, get down and dirty with your food. Forks and knives are for dinner -- halftime is for your hands.
For some more great Super Bowl Party menu ideas, check out some of JoyofKosher's game winning recipes in our Super Bowl Menu.