Super Bowl Sunday Sausage

About author / Pamela Chester

Mom of two; graduate French Culinary Institute; kids cooking program instructor; Master's degree in food studies. Creates kid friendly foods and loves her slow cooker.

As one of the biggest food holidays of the year, Super Bowl Sunday is a time for sharing an exciting football game with your family, along with some delicious eats. This year, why not include your kids in America’s proud annual football tradition? You can enlist their help in preparing a sumptuous Super Bowl Sunday feast to enjoy together, featuring foods from both team’s cities — Green Bay and Pittsburgh. Of course, if you have an allegiance to one particular team, then perhaps you’ll want to stick with just the foods associated with that city.

Either way, for game day, you want simple, delicious food that doesn’t require much attention. Skip any fancy party fare for a menu of down home cooking that can be prepared well in advance. The last thing you want to be doing during an exciting play is be futzing around in the kitchen.

A meal centering around that tailgating classic, sausage, is perfect. You can honor the cuisine of either city with the Midwestern staples of bratwurst and kielbasa. Sausage is perfect for the Super Bowl because once cooked they will hold up well for several hours in a slow cooker or if kept to a bare simmer on the stove, and it’s an ideal food to serve in appetizer portions.

You can also uphold tailgating traditions and grill your sausage. Now in many parts of the country, your outdoor grill may be covered over with a foot or more of snow, so if you are not one to grill in all kinds of weather, cooking brats or kielbasa over open flame might be out of the question. An alternative is a large grill pan or indoor electric grill. But the easiest method by far is to use the slow cooker to keep ‘em warm.

Wisconsin is land of the bratwurst, so if you are a Green Bay supporter, this is a menu must. For an appetizer that gives a nod to the “Cheeseheads” of Wisconsin, try port wine cheese spread (available in many grocery stores), or simply cut up some cheese and serve with crackers.

Purists insist on slow grilling bratwurst, but another easy way to do them is to pre-grill and then simmer in a beer and onion mixture until ready to eat. Served with crusty hoagie rolls (not hot dog buns), stone ground mustard, ketchup, and warm sauerkraut, brats are delicious winter fare that’ll stick with you well into overtime. No wonder they’re dished up at so many tailgates!

Anyone who has spent any time in Pittsburgh knows that there is a section of the city called “the Strip,” that is a famous row of butcher shops featuring fresh meats, including homemade kielbasa. This Polish style sausage is a perfect game-watching food. You can slice it into coin-sized pieces, and simmer for hours with beer and onions, just like the brats. They’re a perfect party treat that is easy to serve as an appetizer with the addition of decorative toothpicks. Alongside the kielbasa, serve another Pittsburgh treat: potato Pierogie, which are like little mashed potato dumplings, and make for another kid friendly appetizer, especially when served with sour cream and applesauce for dipping.

So gather your kids around the TV and enjoy the Super Bowl XLV with some of these tasty local treats!

Serves/Makes: 6

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 pound yellow onions, thinly sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 6 bratwurst
• vegetable oil for oiling grill rack
• 6 good-quality hot dog buns, lightly toasted

***Creamy Horseradish Sauce***

• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup minced unpeeled Granny Smith or other tart apple
• 2 tablespoons prepared horseradish (not horseradish sauce)
• 1 teaspoon caraway seeds, crushed

Serves/Makes: 4

• 1 pound kielbasa sausage, cut into 4- to 5-inch pieces
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 1 large green bell pepper, cut into strips
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 4 hoagie rolls, split