Michael Nagrant

Nothing sends Americans running for packets of Lipton's Onion Soup mix and tubs of sour cream quite like the Super Bowl. Dubbed "California Dip," Lipton unveiled the recipe on the back of their soup boxes in 1958. Unlike similar 1950s housewife culinary insanities such as the neon-green Jello mold or using Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup as a universal casserole binder, the craze never lost steam. It's estimated that Americans still consume over 220,000 packets of the soup mix each day with sales particularly strong from mid-November to Super Bowl Sunday.

Even those who might consider themselves more enlightened in all things culinary end up muddling frozen chopped spinach with cement-mixer-thick bricks of Philly cream cheese or, at best, heading to the local Hooter's chain for a take-out wings platter. Since I revere Hot Pockets and Tostino's pizza rolls as if they were foie gras and white truffles, I'm not even in the culinary-enlightened category. On the other hand I have thrown a lot of Super Bowl parties, and I've road-tested a lot of recipes in the last ten years. Only a few have survived, and so for your partying pleasure, I unleash the best.

Hot Wings

Legions of well-endowed women with a hankering for sporting tight neon-orange running shorts can thank Teressa Bellissimo, co-owner of the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, with her husband Frank, who on October 3, 1964 threw some chicken wings and tossed them in Frank's Red Hot sauce for her son Dominic and his friends. Ever since, most of us have had to endure a trove of soggy heat-lamp imitations. Nothing could be easier than making your own.

12-14 medium-size chicken wings (great excuse to visit local meat meccas like Moo and Oink or Peoria Packing on Lake Street for your supply)

6 cups vegetable oil such as canola

1/2 stick unsalted butter

4 tablespoons of Frank's Red Hot sauce

1-1/2 tablespoons of cider vinegar

1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder

Heat vegetable oil in a deep fryer to 375°F. (If you only have a deep heavy-bottom sauce pan and a thermometer that'll do too.) Drop wings in hot oil for about six minutes or until most of the oil bubbles subside. Transfer wings to a paper towel to get rid of excess grease.

In a separate pan, melt butter over medium heat, then stir in vinegar, garlic powder and red hot sauce.

Drop wings in and roll `em around in the sauce like Rex Grossman at the bottom of a pileup, then remove and transfer to a plate for eating. Serve up with Marzetti's blue-cheese dressing and celery stalks.

Though if you want to keep it straight Martha Stewart, mix up 1/2 cup of Hellmans mayo, 1/4 cup of plain yogurt and a 1/2 cup of King's Island roaring forties blue cheese from Whole Foods for your own dressing.

Chi-cinnati Chili

Greek immigrants Tom and John Kiradjieff began serving Cincinnati chili in 1922 at their hotdog stand located next to a burlesque theater called the Empress. The basic recipe that includes finely ground beef boiled with sweet spices like chocolate, cinnamon and allspice was tweaked and popularized by former Empress chef Nicholas Lambrinides when he launched Skyline Chili.

In 2004, my good friends Aamir Burki and Alex Strum (a Chicago transplant from Cinci) cooked it up and introduced it to me through a recipe from Alex's father Barry. In Barry's typewritten recipe for his daughter, he wrote "Never forget where you came from." I'm originally from Michigan, and after living in Chicago for five years, I'm a brash headstrong Midwesterner. I figured I could do better, so I modified the recipe using the same basic spice profile, and incorporated traditional chili techniques like browning the beef, which I believe imparts a richer flavor.

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 cups water

1 cup chicken stock (Swanson Natural is great)

2 medium sized onions diced finely

2 8-ounce cans tomato sauce

5 whole allspice

2 teaspoon cayenne

1 teaspoon ground cumin seed

4 tablespoons sweet ancho chili powder (love Spice House in Old Town)

1/2 ounce Scharffenberger unsweetened cocoa powder

2 pounds ground beef

4 cloves garlic whole

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 large bay leaf, whole

5 whole cloves

2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce

1-1/2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Brown beef! Do not grey meat. In other words take meat out of fridge, put on paper towels, let it come to room temp and blot out excess moisture. Heat a pan until super hot, throw in the olive oil. If the oil smokes, you're ready to go. Only brown a quarter of the meat at a time. If you throw all of the meat in the pan, it will steam and you will get grey meat.

Once you brown the meat, add onions and sauté for two minutes.

Add garlic, tomato paste and spices, and stir to coat meat.

Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer uncovered for about two hours. In the last hour, pot may be covered after desired consistency is reached. You may have to add more salt, adjust to taste.

Serve over spaghetti as they do in Cinci and/or rock the grated cheddar, freshly chopped onion and a fat dollop of sour cream.

Christina's Crab Dip

In addition to loving pizza rolls, I also frequent chain restaurants. Joe's Crab Shack is a favorite haunt. It should be noted the only location of Joes in the city proper closed a few years ago and the Schaumburg restaurant is now one of the closest locations. Yes I am committed...well to IKEA anyway, which happens to be within spitting distance. This is an approximation of their crab dip, one of my go-to appetizers. As a culinary control freak, I rarely let my wife Christina near the kitchen, but it turns out she makes this way better than I do.

8 oz. cream cheese - softened

6 oz. can lump crab meat (Trader Joe's has big blue cans in their refrigerated case)

3 green onions - root ends trimmed, dark green ends trimmed, minced

3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons grated fresh Parmigiano Reggiano (If you use a green can, know that the hottest places in hell are reserved for you)

1-1/2 tablespoons diced red bell pepper

2 tablespoons dry white wine like Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc or Vermouth

2 teaspoons chicken soup base

2 teaspoons diced roma tomatoes

1/2 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning

Fold together all ingredients, except 1/2 cup parm

Spread evenly into an oven-proof baking dish

Microwave on fifty percent power for four minutes

Sprinkle top with 1/2 cup parm

Transfer dish to the oven and broil until parm cheese bubbles

(2007-01-30)

Also by Michael Nagrant

Big Greek Breakfast
Those who might bemoan the ebb of old-fashioned Chicago patronage need only look at Greektown to change their mind. The Near West Side neighborhood is one where waiters still beget restaurateurs who beget waiters who beget more restaurateurs, a place where family and immigration isn't a random mingling of bloodlines, but a concrete strategy in the business plan. Meli Café (301 South Halsted), a fantastic breakfast and lunch spot, and the newest addition to the Halsted strip, serves as the perfect business case
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Mass Appeal
I don't make New Year's resolutions, but I've got no problem making them for others. Sure it's already three weeks into the year, but I'm gonna make a resolution for chefs, and as I've learned, they're not always the most scrupulous bunch. It's a good bet that whatever personal resolutions many local chefs made for 2007, they've already been violated like Ned Beatty's character in "Deliverance." So I propose a new resolution, which requires no abstinence from sin or substance--I'd like to see local food stars commit to making well-prepared, well-farmed and creative food affordable in 2007
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Outside the Lunchbox
Local caterer, chef and entrepreneur Greg Christian is taking a different approach to reforming school lunch with his Organic School Project. He's working alongside parents, administrators and Chartwell Thompson, the food-service provider contracted to administer Chicago Public Schools' cafeteria program, to make a change
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Strawberry Fields Forever
I started drinking in elementary school, but unlike most young drinkers, I was lucky enough to avoid the Wild Irish Rose, Mad Dog 20/20 and Boone's Farm. Though I would revisit these malted fruity classics in college, my tipple of choice was a Beaujolais Nouveau
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Smitten by the Bite
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The Final Meal
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A Spark of Love
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Zen Again
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Get Sum
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Cutting Edge
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This Cow Don't Moo
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Tapeworm Tour 2006
(2006-10-24)

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