Super Bowl Food - Paula Grabs The Gusto With A Steak Sandwich; Tyler Enriches Us With A Shrimp And Oyster Po'Boy Plus My Surprising Chicken Wing Guru

I took a look at Paula and Tyler's shows this week to see what football food they were making. Either menu would be pretty amazing. I think I'll concentrate on their sandwich offerings.

Tyler’s Ultimate with Tyler Florence

Ultimate Po' Boys

Shrimp and Oyster Po' Boys

Sweet Potato Matchsticks

Sweet Potato and Praline Pie

Tyler didn’t mention football specifically, but his tribute to New Orleans IS very appropriate for this year’s Super Bowl. His Ultimate Po’Boy would be a great addition to a Super Bowl party feast. In fact, it would BE the feast. He also made sweet potatoes two ways – as skinny, skinny fries and a pie (no store bought crust for him), but today I’m focusing on his po’ boy.

Tyler starts with his sauce - a rémoulade. He mixes together two cups of mayo, 1 cup of sour cream and some “good Creole” mustard He adds hot sauce, “Not enough to blow your head off”, with some cornichons that have been chopped with parsley. He mixes it all together with salt and pepper. Yum. (Add some julienned celery root to that and you have a pretty great version of a céleri rémoulade. That’s reason enough to party...as far as I’m concerned.)

Tyler says peanut oil is his “frying fat of choice”, but first, to flavor the oil, he adds some “woody” herbs to the COLD OIL – sage, rosemary and thyme. Fantastic idea!!! But, Tyler, tell the folks that if they wash those herbs (which I wouldn’t bother with), they HAVE to be dry before you can even THINK of deep frying them!

Tyler also adds an entire head of garlic, with the cloves separated but the papery skin still on. He doesn’t really say on the show, but the recipe tells us to heat the oil up to 365ºF and then remove the herbs.

Tyler fries up his sweet potato matchsticks first. Then he turns his attention to the shucked oysters and peeled shrimp. He adds buttermilk to the seafood with some hot sauce. Again, he says don't add not enough to blow your head off. He puts them back in the fridge.

Tyler is making it really hard for me NOT to talk about the Sweet Potato and Praline Pie. Take a look at it, it’s easy and completely fabulous. And frankly, even though I wouldn’t tell a Southerner, you could sneak some pumpkin in place of the potato and it would be awesome too.

Back to the oysters and shrimp. Tyler pours some spice mix into a shallow bowl and mixes in 2½ cups of cornmeal. He drains the seafood with a sieve to get rid of the extra buttermilk. He gets the oil read as he tosses a few shrimp and oysters in the cornmeal mixture. He turns them over and over to be coated nicely. Tyler drops them carefully into the oil and cooks them for 4 minutes “tops”.

(Oh gosh, praline sugar is going over the pie. Really check THIS out. It looks like a pecan pie now.)

During the commercial, Tyler finished frying all the seafood. The good thing about making this into a sandwich is that the oysters and shrimp don’t have to be super hot.

Tyler slices the French long(ish) roll open, leaving a “hinge” at the back. He smears on a generous amount of rémoulade before piling on the shrimp and oysters. He tops that with lettuce – “the official vegetable of New Orleans” – and tomato slices. He folds the whole thing over and gives it a SLIGHT press. He cuts it in the middle, slightly diagonally and voila. Awesome.

The “killer” sweet potato fries look amazing too and that pie…that pie.

At the end of the show, Tyler does acknowledge the coming football game. He says “I hope your team wins. Have a great game.” But I think his choice of menu leaves no doubt as to whom he’ll be rooting for.

I need to take a run around the block, before tackling Paula’s grilled steak sandwiches, because I have a feeling they’ll be suitable for a league of linebackers. Okay, let’s see.

Paula’s Best Dishes with Paula Deen

Company's Coming

Michael's Grilled Steak Sandwiches

Peppery Coleslaw with Orange Chili Vinaigrette

Crunch Onion Rings

Cherry-Chocolate Coffee Float

Oh goodie, Paula’s in the kitchen with hubbie Michael. They're cute together. She starts with onion rings. Oh, how I love those, but we’ll go right to the steak sandwiches. (Her recipe is a good one, though. The batter has “a sleeve” of saltine crackers and Michael is wearing pink onion goggles.)

I love how Paula says YISS (for yes). And EET (for it).

Jimmy Sikes, Michael’s friend from Vie-Day-Yuh, (Vidalia) is coming over (down? up?) to help him grill. Seriously, can foreigners understand Paula?

Michael sets about marinating the flank steak. Paula and he mix together 2 cloves of minced garlic, 1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 tablespoon Dijon, 1 1/2 teaspoons of oregano, a teaspoon of Lady and Sons seasoning and ¾ cup of vegetable oil. They pour it over the flank steak and marinate it for a minimum of an hour or overnight. (I would completely leave out the oil and add a tablespoon or two of red wine vinegar.)

Paula rubs the marinade over the steak, while telling us all about Michael’s muscle car - a 1969 GTO Judge. (WHAT IS a muscle car?)

They’re serving the steak sandwich with a cole slaw. Take a look, but let’s get on to the steak sandwich.

Jimmy has arrived. I wonder if he has a muscle car too. Oh, Jimmy isn’t just a weekend barbecuer. He’s the owner and grill master of Sikes Cookers. I’m guessing that gorgeous grill they’re cooking on is one of those.

This is funny. The Food Network put the directions up on the screen: “For a flank steak 1– 1½ inches thick, grill 4-5 minutes on each side.” I wonder if the FN thought we needed subtitles to understand these Southerners. 


Jimmy and Michael put the meat on the barbecue and a huge flame spurts up. ­­

The rolls for the sandwiches also go on the barbecue. (I always forget to do that.) The guys bring in the steak and the rolls to be assembled in the kitchen.

Paula finishes mixing up the cole slaw. Michael says he loves it when Jimmy visits, so Jimmy can show him how to cook on his new grill, which he absolutely loves. (Probably not as much as that car, though.)

They spread chipotle sauce on the toasted bread. I forgot to mention that, here it is. They pile the meat on, add some thickly sliced tomatoes and fold it over. The onion rings and cole slaw look really good with it.

Dessert didn’t look half bad either – a cherry, coffee and chocolate float, y’all. (Each serving had about a pint of ice cream, along with the espresso, cherry syrup, chocolate syrup and whipped cream.) It doesn’t have to be espresso, y’all, it can be regular coffee. Paula signs off with, "Best dishes and love to y’all."

Okay, WHO DOESN’T LOVE PAULA??! Nobody says we have to cook her food, but what a complete doll she is!

More Food Network Game Day recipes that look good:

Sunny’s Interstate Chili

Baked Tortilla Chips - I only saw the first few minutes on the first Mexican Made Easy, but I liked how Marcella made these. Her Guacamole looked good too, but I would use a red onion instead of a white.

The January/February Food Network magazine has TONS of great snack recipes. Believe me, I didn’t think I needed another food magazine either.

Bobby Flay has an amazing sounding Blue Cheese Sauce.

And Alton Brown has a fantastic method for making chicken wings. (Yup, that’s right, he’s not my favorite.) All of you Alton Brown fans have seen this before (from The Wing and I Good Eats episode), but it’s new to me. Alton STEAMS the wings first, sets them uncovered in the fridge to dry out the skin and then roasts them in a hot oven. Sounds like a plan to me.

Have a great Super Bowl. Enjoy the snacks and the commercials. The game? I don’t even know who the Saints are playing, but do you think it would help my football comprehension if I made Gina’s punch?