If there's one thing that can bring together Americans of all ages and stripes, it's the promise of consuming obscene amounts of cheese and hot sauce (oh...and football.) The ritual of laying out the perfect Super Bowl spread is both an art and a science, says Dan Pashman, host of WNYC's The Sporkful podcast and author of Eat More Better: How To Make Every Bite More Delicious . He joined Boston Public Radio to share some choice tips on how to get the most out of your game day snacks.
The Key to Perfect Wings? Shape And Seasoning
America's romance with chicken wings is no casual affair: in 2012 alone, the nation consumed an estimated 1 billion wings on Super Bowl Sunday. It's a game day ritual that's important to get right, which Pashman says has a lot to do with the shape of the wing itself.
People often opt for the showy, well-loved mini drumstick shape. Big mistake.
"The flat part of the wing, which is the part with the two parallel bones, has a higher meat-to-bone ratio than the mini drumstick," Pashman explains.
The flat wings, admittedly, are more difficult to eat than their drumstick-shaped counterparts. But there's hope. Pashman recommends a technique he learned from competitive eater Crazy Legs Conti : the appetizingly named "meat umbrella."
"You hold the flat wing vertically so the two parallels bones are sticking straight up. You squeeze, and press down so the meat splits open, almost like you're opening an umbrella upside down," he says.
What about hot sauce? If you prefer a seasoning that doesn't singe your eyebrows off, don't be ashamed. Once confined to the Axe-body-spray-soaked universe of college frathouses, the practice of eating as many of the hottest wings you can possibly get your hands on—no matter how painful or unpleasant—has regrettably migrated to the average American living room. But it doesn't have to be that way.
"Eating isn't supposed to be about feats of strength, it's about pleasure," Pashman says. If you want a feat of strength, he continues, "Who don't you just have someone punch you in the face?"
Nacho Etiquette, Beyond The Double Dip
Another contentious Super Bowl snack is the nacho chip. First of all, there's the hygiene debate surrounding dipping technique—specifically, around the move abhorred by germophobic guests everywhere: the 'double dip.'
On the off-chance you're not familiar with the 'double dip,' we'll let the cast of Seinfeld explain.
Pashman's take? Get over it.
"There are germs all over the place all the time. It doesn't bother me when someone double dips," he says.
The real faux pas, according to Pashman, is the selfish nacho nosher, or the person who monopolizes the best parts of the nacho plate—the cheesy chips—and cruelly leaves the undesirable, too-soggy or too-dry chips behind.
The solution is to employ what Pashman calls the "ethical nacho sandwich": "You take one cheesy nacho dip, put a soggy one on top, and put a dry one on top of that and you eat it as a sandwich," he says, thereby insuring that dry, soggy, and cheesy chips are evenly distributed between all guests.
Hosting a Super Bowl party of your own? Stressed about hosting selfish nacho noshers in your midst? Hear more from Dan Pashman by tuning in to the audio link above.
