8 pro tips for tailgating — plus recipes

With all the game days (and nights) over the next few months, tailgating is likely somewhere on your to-do list.

Kurt A. Kwiatkowski knows a lot about tailgating. As the corporate chef for culinary services at Michigan State University, he crafts new tailgate cuisine each year.

“Food brings people together,” he said. “What more of a fun way to do that than before a big event? The feel and the buzz around campus during the football season is almost electric."

Kwiatkowski offered up some advice to help keep tailgates safe and fun. “These are a few tips I follow if I set up small parties or am going to tailgate for an event, like a concert or something else,” Kwiatkowski said.

Tailgating tips:

• Have one cooler for your proteins and one for your other ingredients or condiments. Also, make sure your proteins stay cold, below 41 degrees. You can buy a piece of dry ice and put that in your cooler to insure things stay cold longer.
• Cook and heat up items as you go. Don’t cook everything at once and have it sit for too long.
• You need to keep hot food hot and cold food cold. Bring a simple chafing dish with sterno fuel to keep hot food hot or keep it right on the grill that you are using. Be careful to not burn or overcook what you are keeping warm.
• Keep it simple. If you keep things streamlined, you can focus on those items and make them great.
• For tailgating when it gets colder out, soup and stews are great ideas. They’re easy to heat up and will hold for a long time. If you have electricity at your tailgate, having a crock pot is always a nice feature.
• If you are doing burgers, have them shaped into patties, seasoned and ready to go on the grill. Make the patties larger and thinner so they will cook quicker. Only cook off what you are going to eat right away to keep the burgers fresh, juicy and delicious.
• With burgers, don’t poke or push down on any burgers you are cooking. If you do that, all the juices will escape the burger and be very dry.
• Plan your menu out ahead of time, and get things organized. If you are doing brats, you can have them simmered off and cooled back down ahead of time and heat them back up. The same goes for ribs, pulled pork and brisket.

Ready to add something new to your tailgating menu?

Kwiatkowski dished on his special recipe for Smokestack Pulled Pork. It's a no-hassle dish that works for early and late-season tailgates. Also, Rick Wyble, head distiller and president of American Fifth Spirits in Lansing, has provided two tailgating drink recipes. He says both drinks — the Bloody Capital and the Michigan Mule — are good choices for sipping during the autumn months.

Smokestack Pulled Pork from MSU’s Kurt A. Kwiatkowski

Ingredients:

5 to 7 pounds pork roast (preferably shoulder or Boston butt)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons BBQ rub seasoning

1-1/2 cup BBQ sauce

Directions:

Place the pork in a roast pan with the fat side up.

Rub the olive oil all over the pork, and then rub the 1/4 cup of seasoning all over the pork.

Cover pork with a piece of parchment paper and then foil and let the pork marinate for six hours.

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees and cook roast for about 6 hours or until the pork is falling apart.

Remove the pork roast from the oven and place the roast into a large mixing bowl or pan of the same size. You don’t need all the liquid that is in the roasting pan. Allow the meat to rest for about 15 to 20 minutes. While still warm, take two forks and "pull" the meat to form shreds.

After the pork is “pulled” apart, mix in 1/4 cup of the roasting liquid, the remaining BBQ rub seasoning and the BBQ, making sure to mix through. wrap and keep warm for service.

At service, feel free to have additional BBQ sauce for additional sauce as needed.

For the rub seasoning, you can go into any grocery store and buy a pre-made mix or use the recipe from Kurt A. Kwiatkowski below.

Simple BBQ rub mix from MSU’s Kurt A. Kwiatkowski

3 tablespoons paprika

2 tablespoons chili powder

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons coarse salt

1 tablespoon cumin, ground

1 tablespoon dry mustard

1 tablespoon granulated garlic or garlic powder

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon curry powder

1 teaspoon cayenne powder

Bloody Capital from American Fifth Spirits

Ingredients:

2 ounces Capital Gin

4 ounces tomato juice

1/2 ounces lemon juice

1 bar spoon minced garlic

2 bar spoons balsamic vinegar

1 dash Worcestershire sauce

3 dashes celery salt

3 dashes black pepper

1 bar spoon Bliss Hot Sauce

Directions:

Build all ingredients in an iced shaker. Shake and strain into iced highball. Garnish to your heart’s content.

Michigan Mule from American Fifth Spirits

Ingredients:

1-1/2 ounces Hue Vodka

Vernors

Splash of cranberry juice

Directions:

Fill rocks glass with ice. Add Hue Vodka and Vernors. Stir. Add splash of cranberry juice. Garnish with lime wedge.

Contact Anne Erickson at (517) 377-1006 or aerickson@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter at @AnneErickson.