I love to tailgate. I have been a New York Jets season ticket holder on and off for several years. I try to go to as many games as possible not just for the football but also for the tailgating experience. It started when I was younger and would go just to eat as much food and drink as much soda as possible and has evolved into much more.
Tailgating is now about good food and session beer. I always arrive the full five hours before the game that The Meadowlands allows. Saturday was a great example of this. The Jets were playing the Giants for their third preseason game as they do every year. I wanted to avoid all of my regular tailgating food and go for something different. My friend Chris requested shrimp so that was an easy first course. I like to keep shrimp simple so I just skewered and seasoned them, especially good when you forget your grill utensils at home. Paired with the awesome cocktail sauce from Caldwell Seafood, and you have an easy appetizer.
Later on it was time for real food. I had some boneless rib-eyes that I had pre-seasoned with salt and pepper and some potatoes that I had cooked with fresh garlic and onions. Not your normal tailgate food. Flipping a steak with plastic forks is not exactly an easy task but I was still able to pull off a perfect medium rare which can sometimes be hard to do on my tailgate grill.
Over the years we have built up our equipment and now have what I think is the perfect setup. Everything fits in my car and we have everything we need. The first and most important part is what has come to be known as the tailgate box. It has everything that we used to forget in it. It includes plates, paper towels, napkins, lighters (always need multiple with the Meadowlands wind), forks, knives, garbage bags, and a few other important things. Without this you are going to have a bad time. I am happy to say that I have never forgotten the tailgate box since we started using it.
The Setup
I have had my grill for many years now. I use a Weber Q on a foldable stand. It takes either small or full size propane tanks and has a single rectangular burner. It is big enough for all the food you could want at the average tailgate and has built in spots for utensils (as long as you remember to put them back after cleaning them). Propane is much easier than charcoal and has made tailgating even in bad weather a good experience.
The best investment we have made so far though is the tent. I got it in the middle of last season and it has proven to be great. It is a simple, sturdy, 10’ x 10’ tent. We always had bad experiences with cheap tents not holding up in terrible Meadowlands wind, but this one has proven to be able to handle almost any weather thrown at it.
No tailgate is complete without beer and the key to a successful tailgate is session beer. For those who don’t know, session beers are lower in alcohol so you can easily have several of them without falling over. Since my favorite session beer, Carton Boat Beer, is not yet available in cans, I have to take what I can get. The go to choice last year was Yards Philadelphia Pale Ale, a hoppy pale ale clocking in at 4.6% abv. For only $25 a case directly from the brewery, you can’t go wrong. For this game I had a six pack of that and some leftover Cricket Hill Colonel Blides which is only 5.5% abv. Over the course of 5 hours, I like to be able to enjoy several beers and these allow me to do so.
Good food, good beer, good friends.
If only there was good football to watch, but that is a story for another day.
Until the next one.
Vaarwel!