The perfect game day menu:
- Beef Chili Colorado Tacos
- The flatbread that reminds me of Hot Pockets
- Pizza dip!
- Pastel Azteca (the origin story of enchilada pie)
- Chocolate Meringue Cookies
Howdy, it’s Courtney Hill, the Head Recipe Developer here at Milk Street. Here in Boston, we’re soaking up the last of the late-summer sun and enjoying the crisp, cool air of September. With the season’s change comes the return to school, but I’m not here to talk about school. I’m here to talk football.
My mother is a former librarian, quiet and studious, and I inherited her devotion to books. My father is a retired economics teacher and coach. His enthusiasm for the former I failed to inherit, but as for sports, I’m all in. I grew up under the Friday night lights of small town Texas football. Those nights are obviously about the sport, but they’re also about the marching band, the cheerleaders, the fans in school colors, hollering from the stands, blaming the coaches when the team loses or glorifying them when victorious. Friday nights are about Frito pies and squishy stadium seats that buffer the cold, hard metal stands. Community.
Every week, my mother and the other Coaches’ Wives (yes, it is a title, Coach’s Wife or Coach’s Kid) hosted a post-game dinner for players, students and families. Each week had a theme, like chili, tacos, dips or loaded baked potatoes. I took those nights for granted— adult me now realizes how much organization and prep went into it beforehand, and how much cleaning(!) went into it after.
Every week, my mother and the other Coaches’ Wives (yes, it is a title, Coach’s Wife or Coach’s Kid) hosted a post-game dinner for players, students and families. Each week had a theme, like chili, tacos, dips or loaded baked potatoes. I took those nights for granted— adult me now realizes how much organization and prep went into it beforehand, and how much cleaning(!) went into it after.
So this time of year brings me back to those football games where we ate to get warm, our scorched mouth exhalations mingling with the cold air. To satisfy those cravings, I look to our Beef Chili Colorado Tacos, which works as a taco or baked potato filling; Pizza Without a Crust, “pizza dip” to us in the office; and Turkish-Style Stuffed Flatbreads with Butternut Squash and Cheese, which remind me so much of Hot Pockets.
As for the post-game party, I picture Tlayudas on the table, alongside Pastel Azteca, the origin story of enchilada pie. Just as easily, I picture a bubbling vat of Syrian-Style Meatball Soup with Rice and Tomatoes, the broth soothing a throat tired from yelling. And I’m sneaking Chocolate Meringue Cookies until the stomachache finally wins.
I haven’t been to a high school football game in decades, and I try to be more careful about what I eat now, but I do still crave those memories of the band, the concession stand and staying up past bedtime. And every so often a recipe here at Milk Street gives me a knowing little nod and a wink, a memory evocative of those Friday nights. We don’t have a Frito pie recipe, but that one I can make by heart.
As for the post-game party, I picture Tlayudas on the table, alongside Pastel Azteca, the origin story of enchilada pie. Just as easily, I picture a bubbling vat of Syrian-Style Meatball Soup with Rice and Tomatoes, the broth soothing a throat tired from yelling. And I’m sneaking Chocolate Meringue Cookies until the stomachache finally wins.
I haven’t been to a high school football game in decades, and I try to be more careful about what I eat now, but I do still crave those memories of the band, the concession stand and staying up past bedtime. And every so often a recipe here at Milk Street gives me a knowing little nod and a wink, a memory evocative of those Friday nights. We don’t have a Frito pie recipe, but that one I can make by heart.
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