Novice Tailgate plan

[Idahorn2]

Some of us up here are going to the MPC Bowl to root against Thug U. Not really giving a damn about the game, we are doing a tailgate. I like to cook alot and we have appropriate equipe, so I volunteered....

Never having put on one of these affairs, I thought I would outline my plan and see if I could get some real pros to critique it. Maybe I can avoid some pitfalls.

My gear is pretty sturdy because I use it for rafting up here where a few of the rivers are fairly big. Basically I have three tables-- a metal roll-top, a Roll-a-Table, and a marine plywood.

The metal table will hold the small propane grill and the two burner propane stove. We can keep the chili hot and the queso warm in Dutch ovens on the stove; also use it to heat water for hot chocolate (which will be supplemented, for some ‘gaters, with Cherry Heering and Kirschwasser). We can heat tortillas on inverted Dutch lids. Will have a camp pot for coffee if the cold gets too bad.

Will use the propane grill for warming the smoked sausages and for cooking the spare Polish sausages, if needed. Folks can eat their chili as is or with a grilled Polish in a bun. Will run both stove and grill off one propane bottle.

Plan to use the Roll-a-Table for condiments, breads (tortillas and buns), cheese, onions, japs, various plastic spoons, plates, bowls, and cups.

The taller plywood table (which doubles as a seat on a raft) will be used for the bar. One of the 100 qt coolers will fit easily underneath and we sure won’t need much ice up here. Various libations will be repackaged in innocuous containers to maintain a superficial legality. Shiner will be served in colored plastic cups, Gin/Tonics and Bloody Mary’s will be thinly disguised.

My Big Top tarp is not suitable for parking lots. We have sufficient chairs for a few folks to sit and chat.

It is all pretty easy to pack and unpack, although I don’t recall packing it all up while inebriated in the past. We don’t have a TV for watching other games, but there may not be any.

It seemed this first effort should be pretty simple. If we do it again, might try a brisket from the Big Green Egg.

If the Rose Bowl tailgate I went to on the Pasadena golf course in January is like normal camping, this tailgate will be like Advanced Base Camp on Everest (slight hyperbole there). Whoever thought up (ESPN?) a night bowl game in Boise on the last day in December should be shot. We had three inches of snow on the ground last Friday and the temp was 14 degrees at 2 pm.

Tear this plan up, I’m quite sure it must have, at least, semi-major flaws.

 

[LonghornGirlie]

Looks like a great plan to me and you are a hearty tailgater to brave that kind of weather. I'll let the guys comment on the cooking plans.

One thing that is glaringly missing is a plan for trash management. I'm not sure what the Boise Stadium offers and it varies greatly from venue to venue. Texas basically does not provide any trashcans at all, although they do send a crew around on Sundays to pickup trashbags so you aren't expected to haul it away. I've found that the large paper lawn bags that you see for leaves make very good temporary trashcans. Much better than big plastic bags because they don't have to be anchored to anything, are self-standing and very visible, so that people will actually use them.

Generally speaking, I'd try to stay away from bottled beer and prefer cans where possible. No reason to risk broken glass if you don't have to. Same thing goes for the hard liquors. If you buy a big enough bottle, you can almost always find it in plastic.

Depending on how anal the local police are, you might want a box to "hide" the liquor in rather than the bottles being out in the open on the bar. You are smart to put everything in cups and give them plausible deniability. We have yet to be at a venue that wouldn't let you drink at all, so long as we are reasonably subtle and nobody gets sloppy or beligerant.

If you are going to be doing mixed drinks, take an extra smaller cooler for clean ice for the drinks. Just a cheap styrofoam one from the gas station will do. Don't forget to buy ice just for the drinks, in addition to whatever you want to cool down the beer (like you said this isn't a big problem up there... dealing with ice is one of the major issues of tailgating down here... we found an ice delivery service a couple of years ago and it changed our lives. We buy over 1000lbs of ice for every tailgate).

You can't have too many paper towels. A first aid kit is never a bad thing to have around. Its handy to have an extra hard plastic container for dirty knives, utensils and such. Don't forget a cutting board if you are doing any meat that needs to be cut. Save yourself some trouble and buy cheap plastic tablecloths (no, not to be all fancy but just so you can throw them away at the end after people have slopped chili and sauce and whatever all over them).

Good luck and have fun!

 

[Idahorn2]

Thanks LHG, very helpful thoughts from one of the real experts. The further I get into this the more it bears comparison to rafting.

On the Main Salmon and the Snake, there are all sorts of strict rules on various wastes- we even have to carry our own porta potties (called "Groovers"). I had planned to take my 'dry box' which is a big (1'x4.5'x1.5') aluminum box that seals up and is used to carry things like stoves, propane, bread, and other vulnerable equipment. I always pack it with kitchen garbage bags, an expedition first aid kit, and two or three rolls of paper towels and a waterproof shell for one when it rains. When we empty a cooler on the river, it is filled with bags of garbage. The dry box top has foam fixed to it and is used in the raft for another seat. I was planning on taking it for extra seating and now I will for sure.

An extra cooler for drink ice is a great idea; on a six day float, we don't have that luxury (we just mix drinks from the ice around that night's dinner). The Idahornski's have one of those hand operated blenders, but I don't think there will be demand for it. I have more coolers than Carter has pills, so this is easy.

We are partial to Shiner up here, but I never take bottled beer on the river because the bottles take up as much room empty as they do full. If we could get Lone Star in cans, we'd probably drink that, but....

Part of the plan is to put the hard alcohol in plain plastic jugs, labeled with initials.

I think all this will be fun, but we won't do it often because there are no occasions for it. Believe me, we are not BSU fans and we always have other games to watch on Saturdays in the fall anyway.

 

[LonghornGirlie]

You are very right to use the same thought processes for tailgating as you do for camping/rafting. We get a lot of our equipment at the Coleman's Outlet and now Cabela's. As crazy as Texas tailgating is, basically you have to pack for the day -- there is no way to make a run to the store.

We have some additional rules that really only apply to massive tailgates -- frankly I don't know what I would do if I wasn't planning on 100+. When you start getting in to that scale, the priority becomes disposablility. No plates, no utensils other than serving utensils -- all food goes in a tortilla or on bread. The only trash is paper towels and beer cans. You would be surprised how much this helps on trash.

Oh, that reminds me. Cheap aluminum baking/serving tins. They'll hold anything and can be tossed at the end of the day.

 

[12thStudStan]

Be sure to take some photos of your tailgate and post them here.

Some alcohol gel hand sanitizer might be a good addition to your list.

 

[Idahorn2]

Wow! or should I say "Torbush." The responses have been all I'd hoped for and more. All great suggestions. Technique is central to most enterprises and this is clearly one of them. The only concern I have is the weather. Mrs. Idahorn2 thinks we have too much food, but that is ok, it sure won't spoil.

One of my fondest hopes is to make it to a game in Austin sometime and go to the Hornfans tailgate. We looked for the blimp before the Rose Bowl, but we were on the wrong side of the Grandaddy.

Thanks.