A football-inspired dinner tows a fine line. It’s more than appetizers and beers, but it’s got to keep that lighthearted tailgate energy.
We asked the advice of Chef James Burton and Chef Summer Key, to help us plan the perfect Cincinnati Bengals Super Bowl dinner party menu, and here’s what they had to say:
🔪Chef James Burton of The Pizza Bandit
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
“Although I am a sad Packers fan, I am very excited to see the Bengals finally make it into the Super Bowl,” Burton said. “I’m happy for all of my friends and family who are Bengals fans and getting to see their happiness these past couple of weeks, especially watching the AFC Championship game with my dad and grandpa who are both Bengals fans and have lived through some major disappointment. Seeing the joy on both of their faces was simply priceless. I was able to make it to Cincinnati for the Bengals vs. Packers game this season, which was quite a wild game, so it’s pretty cool to say you saw a team in the Super Bowl play live the year of a run.”
Chef Burton is a master in culinary creativity. He creates unique pies using unexpected pizza ingredients for The Pizza Bandit on a weekly basis, including a regular Pizza Bandit fan favorite, the Pizza Bandits Cincinnati Chili Pie.
Though he might be in the kitchen sporting a Packers jersey, Burton said he’s happy to present this Super Bowl-quality dinner party menu for the Bengals fans in his life. Some items on his menu include:
- Queen City Sausage and Rhinegeist “Franze’' Bier Dip
- Pizza Bandit’s Cincinnati Chili Pie
- Tiger Striped Adult Milkshake
Queen City Sausage and Rhinegeist “Franz” Bier Dip
- Ingredients (makes enough for the whole crowd)
- 1 pack Queen City Sausage bratwurst
- 1 can Rhinegeist “Franz”
- 1 Large yellow onion
- 1 bunch fresh parsley
- 1 tbsp beef base or 3 bouillon cubes
- ½ of 8 oz bag shredded sharp cheddar
- ¼ cup whole grain mustard
- 2 tsp ground white pepper
- Salt to taste
- 1 med-large crock pot
Directions
- Begin on a cutting board with your parsley, brats, and yellow onion. Finely chop the parsley first and set aside. cut off both ends of yellow onion, halve, peel outer skin, dispose, and julienne, set aside. Lastly cut all of your brats in half lengthwise, then quarter (about ¼” pieces)
- In a hot, oiled pan on your stove top place your cut brats and yellow onion. At medium heat brown the onions and brats, until onions are soft and browning
- Once onions are browned, add ¾ of 1 can Franz (Oktoberfest style beer) reduce beer by half. It is during the reduction stage that you finish the other quarter of your Franz, because that’s just how we do it around here. C’mon, ITS GAME DAY!
- Once the beer is reduced by half remove from heat and add to the crock pot. Add in both blocks of cream cheese, mustard, pepper, beef base into pot.
- On low heat, let this go for roughly 1½ - 2 hours or until cream cheese is soft and begins to melt together with the other ingredients.
- Once cream cheese is soft, reduce heat to the “warm” setting and stir in sharp cheddar and parsley.
- Add salt to taste and enjoy!
“Reason for choosing: I brainstormed this dish with the intention of blending two huge staples in Cincinnati. Each of these two businesses have paved their way to success in the Queen City, with putting the love and effort needed into their product. I’ve had the pleasure to work alongside Rheingeist in the past and I thoroughly enjoy everything they are doing. This dish also highlights the rich German heritage and history of Cincinnati.”
Pizza Bandit’s Cincinnati Chili Pie
- Ingredients
- 1 plain pizza crust of your choice (Can be premade, pre rolled, a dough ball, or you can make the dough yourself, all will work)
- 1-4 cans of your favorite Cincinnati chili (Depending on size of crust you want to use)
- Mozzarella/ provolone cheese mix
- 1 pack of your favorite hot dogs
- 1 white onion
- Yellow mustard
- Finely shredded yellow cheddar
- Oyster crackers
Directions
- On a cutting board get your hot dogs and white onion ready. First dice your white onion and set aside. Next cut your hot dogs into coins and set aside.
- On a tossed or rolled dough spread chili evenly across leaving about a ½” crust line.
- Add a light amount of mozzarella/provolone mix, just enough to cover but don’t over do it.
- Add your sliced hot dogs and white onion making sure to spread toppings evenly.
- Time to bake your pizza! Please follow baking directions for your specific crust, baking times and temperatures will vary.
- After the crust on your pizza has turned a nice golden brown, and the cheese has started to caramelize, take it out of the oven and cut into slices.
- Once cut add a yellow mustard drizzle, a generous amount of shredded cheddar, and top it off with some oyster crackers.
- Enjoy!
“Reason for choosing: This is one of the (first) and most popular pizza specials we have had at The Pizza Bandit. What’s not to love? It doesn’t matter who you are if you have lived in Ohio, especially southern Ohio, you’ve had Cincinnati chili and I’m betting you enjoyed it. Chili may be the most defining food from Cincinnati, no debate necessary.”
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
Tiger Striped Adult MilkShake
- Ingredients: (Serves two)
- 4 scoops United Dairy Farmers peanut butter ice cream
- 2.5 oz of your favorite chocolate liquor
- 2 cups 2% milk
- Hershey’s Chocolate syrup
- 2 Pepperidge Farms Pirouette cookies
- Whipped Cream
Directions
- In a blender add in your UDF ice cream, liquor, and milk.
- Blend on medium until smooth consistency
- While the milkshake is blending, take your chocolate syrup and stripe your empty clear drinking glass.
- Pour boozy milkshake mix into glass, finish with whipped cream, stripe whipped cream with chocolate syrup and garnish with Pirouette cookie
- Enjoy!
“Reason for choosing: United Dairy Farmers (UDF) is an American chain of shops offering dairy products as well as coffee and gasoline. UDF was started by Carl Lindner Sr. and his children in 1938. The first United Dairy Farmers store, at 3955 Main Avenue (now Montgomery Road) in Norwood, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati, opened on May 8, 1940.”
🔪Chef Summer Key of Key Ingredient Catering
“This big event for our home team is near and dear to me because my father was a huge Cincinnati Bengals fan,” Key said. “I lost him suddenly too soon and I know he would be so excited to see his team make it so far this season. He loved football. Even if they didn’t win. He passed young, he never got to see all my passion and drive I have poured into my career as a chef. I definitely received my work ethic from my father. He worked hard and set a good example. I would love to make this menu for him to celebrate the big game. He would have loved every minute watching and celebrating. I love you Dad, Who Dey.”
Here’s Chef Summer’s example menu for your Bengals dinner party inspiration which most hosts will be able to pull off their own version. Plus, she shares the secret ingredients for her signature Tiger Sauce recipe.
- Ruben dip with slow braised corn beef, sour kraut, shredded Swiss, cream cheese, Russian dressing drizzle with rye crostini.
- Meatball platter
- Ground lamb meatballs with chimichurri and crumbled feta
- Buffalo chicken meatballs with wing sauce and blue cheese
- Pork meatballs in Pineapple and red pepper sweet and sour sauce
- Apple cider brined pork riblets with “Moonshine Moppin’ Sauce”
- (Moonshine Moppin’ BBQ Sauce is available at Kroger)
- Pimento cheese stuffed filet burger sliders with tomato bacon jam topped with Grippo’s BBQ chips (the official chips of the Cincinnati Reds) on a brioche bun
- Who Dey Smoked Chicken Wings with sweet and spicy Tiger Sauce (See recipe)
- Crab dip stuffed jalapenos wrapped in bacon
- Montgomery Inn BBQ brisket nachos with beer cheese
- Loaded Cincinnati chili tots with Cincinnati chili, shredded sharp cheddar, onion, and sour cream
Chef Summer’s Tiger Sauce ingredients:
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp crushed red pepper flake
- 2 tbsp orange marmalade (you can use orange or lemon juice and add a little more honey)
- 3/4 cup honey
- 4 tbsp butter
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup hot sauce according to heat level
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 3 cloves fine chopped garlic
- 2 chopped green onions
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- Cook sauce down for about 5 minutes to blend flavors. Add to 3 pounds chicken after smoking or frying.
- Top with sesame seeds for garnish.
Game time
What: Super Bowl LVI, Los Angeles
Who: Cincinnati Bengals vs Los Angeles Rams
When: 6:30 p.m., Sunday (Road to the Super Bowl begins at noon; Super Bowl LVI Pregame Show starts at 1 p.m.
Where to watch: Channel 2, WDTN and Peacock streaming service
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