Super Bowl Super Sub--Goes Well With Beer

About author / Amy Powell

World traveler; gourmet 30 minute meals; lover of exotic ingredients; winner on FoodTV's Chefs vs City; graduate French Culinary Institute. Her recipes will tantalize your taste buds.

While planning a menu for this year's Super Bowl party, I was at a bit of a loss. Years of potlucks and parties have left me with a feeling that I have done and eaten it all, more than a few times over. But when you set out to change things up a bit, this is one day where the realms of nouvelle cuisine just do not quite seem right.

So without much to go on in terms of mixing up the menu, I figured the best way to assure I would not offend anyone was to take an extremely scientific survey of popular Super Bowl foods, compile the information regarding important elements of a Super Bowl menu, and then see where I could go from there. I surveyed men and I surveyed women. I quizzed football fanatics, avid commercial and half-time watchers, and those who will just be showing up for the food. I surveyed young and old, fat and thin, Seahawks and Steelers.

This was a long and revealing study from which I could come to one definitive conclusion. Whether you are watching the game or not, no matter what team you support, whatever food you serve has one requirement: 'Must go well with beer.' Bratwurst and beer. Pizza and beer. Seven layer dip, chips and salsa, subs and pretzels. Whatever the menu is, it always ends in one thing: Beer.

But when it comes to football food that goes well with beer, the first that always comes to mind is that bizarre American classic, Buffalo Chicken Wings. Although there is no actual buffalo in this spicy chicken dish, its creation on a cold winter night in 1964 at the restaurant The Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, spurned a sensation that took the recipe straight to the must-have list of every Super Bowl menu. Spicy hot sauce smother the wings and, when paired with a zesty blue cheese sauce, the recipe takes a typically overlooked portion of the bird to greatness.

Since people don't usually fight over the wing portion of a bird, it is my assumption that we can take that same pairing of zesty sauces, transform it into a less messy and more presentable dish that is worthy of the finest domestic six-pack to wash it down. Although it may sound less than appealing, it is the combination of hot sauce and butter that makes for the irresistible and spicy coating that has taken the Buffalo wing to fame.

Thinking along those lines, I grilled boneless, skinless chicken breast, chopped up the meat and tossed it with my own "Buffalo" sauce for the main filling of a giant party sub. The sub wouldn't be complete without its blue cheese accompaniment, so I tossed a pile of shredded cabbage with blue cheese buttermilk dressing to stuff into and complete my giant spicy, crunchy Buffalo Chicken Sub.

It is food enough to feed an army of famished football fiends. It is substantial enough that a few chips and dips are enough to round out the meal. But however you furnish the buffet, this sandwich is spicy; so regardless of whatever other tidbits you serve to eat, Don't Forget the Beer!

Serves/Makes: 10

• 2 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, butterflied
• salt and pepper
• oil

***Blue Cheese Coleslaw***

• 1/2 large green cabbage
• 1/4 pound blue cheese, Maytag or other domestic
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• salt and pepper, to taste

***Buffalo Sauce***

• 1/4 cup habanero hot sauce or Tabasco sauce
• 1/4 cup Asian garlic chili sauce
• 4 teaspoons rice vinegar
• 1/2 cup butter, melted

***Accompaniment***

• 1 large loaf French or Portuguese bread