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.