A consistent winner is probably the most expensive tailgate recipe that I use, because it starts with beef tenderloin. It is a great recipe and at $20 a pound (at least) for the meat, it had better be. I stumbled across this recipe some time ago and, fortunately, saved it. It is often served when I know that A will be attending:
Wood skewers, soaked in water
½ cup canola oil
4 cloves of thinly sliced garlic
¼ cup light soy sauce
2 T red miso paste
1 t sesame oil
Pinch sugar
Pinch salt
1 ¼ lb beef tenderloin sliced ¼ inch thick, against the grain.
More comments. Miso paste may not be found at your local grocery store. It isn’t at mine. It can be found at health food stores and Asian markets, as it is a staple in Japanese diets. It is usually soy-based and always rather salty. Adding significant salt to a recipe using miso is not a good idea. Because you are not likely to use a lot of it quickly, the good news is that it has a long shelf life. The better news is that it is very nutritious. Second, because tenderloin is so tender, it may be hard to slice. A cute trick is to put it into a freezer for a half hour. At that point it will slice easily.
Heat the oil in a sauce pan, add the garlic and cook over low heat until crisp. With a slotted spoon, remove the garlic and put in a blender. Add the soy sauce, miso, sesame oil, sugar and salt to the blender and puree. The result will be a dark rust color. To be sure that you have enough, you may want to double the recipe.
Put the meat on the skewers, brush it with the glaze and grill over high heat for about a minute or until just charred, turn it over, add more glaze, and repeat.
DO NOT OVER COOK. YOU PAID TOO MUCH AND TOOK TOO MANY STEPS TO MESS IT UP AT THE LAST MINUTE. The result is great flavor with meat strips that should be wonderfully tender.
Finally, everyone, and I mean everyone, always loves the lobster bisque that we bring at least once per year. It is delicious, chunky with lobster pieces. As is often the case with superb dishes, it takes days to produce it:
- Thursday-call Forest Hills Foods, reserve two large containers of the lobster bisque which they serve only on Fridays.
- Friday-pick up the lobster bisque, refrigerate
- Saturday-heat and serve.
With the miracle of Google, you can find a lot of recipes for appetizers. These have worked well for us.