Alabama vs Utah St.

Sam and the gang from Crove Food Co. had a chance to meet up with one of our favorite people, Bama Grill Master at the Alabama vs Utah St game in Tuscaloosa this past weekend.

Our second stop of 11 on the Tailgate Tour, was in Tuscaloosa, AL with the Alabama Crimson Tide taking on Utah State Aggies at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

We traveled to Tuscaloosa the morning after the Tennessee game and had about a 6-hour drive. On game day, we got up bright and early to claim our spot and get ready for a day full of cooking! We chose the perfect spot at the corner of Paul Bryant and Hackberry right outside of the stadium. We had a special guest join us for this stop on the Tailgate Tour! I invited one of my buddies, Bama Grill Master, and he spent the whole day with us. He brought his whole family and did everything from food prep when we arrived all the way to clean up at the end of the day. We were so thankful to have him with us.

After we got the trailer unhitched and unloaded it was time to start cooking! We set up our spot with our Traeger, Big Green Egg, and Weber Kettle. Today’s recipe lineup includes Jalapeno Poppers, Chicken Wings with Alabama White Sauce, and Grilled Pork Tenderloin.

The first thing we started prepping was the Jalapeno Poppers. Jalapeno Poppers makes the perfect tailgating appetizer because they are a one-bite treat and full of flavor! We got all our ingredients out of our ORCA Coolers and started chopping the jalapenos in half lengthwise and removing the seeds from the jalapenos. We also set out our cream cheese, so that it could start softening. We wanted to get these done first, so that we could pass them out as an appetizer. We smoked them on the Big Green Egg using Cowboy Charcoal. The trick for making the best Jalapeno Poppers that have that amazing crispy bacon is using thinly sliced bacon and wrapping them tight. The thinly sliced bacon gets crispy much quicker. It’s not necessary to use toothpicks if they are wrapped tightly. We also went ahead and started marinating our Grilled Pork Tenderloins with Allegro Marinade Tennessee Whiskey and Allegro Marinade Original. We wanted them to have plenty of time to soak up all the flavor of the marinade! After we marinated them, we stuck them in our ORCA Coolers.

Recipe for Jalapeno Poppers:

Ingredients:

• 12 Jalapenos
• 1 block Softened Cream Cheese
• 1 cup Shredded Colby Jack Cheese
• 1 lb. Mild Breakfast Sausage
• Crove Food Co. Fajita Rub & Seasoning
• 12 slices Thin Sliced Bacon
• Other: plastic gloves

Directions:

1. Preheat your smoker to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. We used Cowboy Charcoal’s Lump Charcoal.
2. Put your gloves on to protect your skin from the heat of the peppers.
3. Start by slicing the jalapenos in half lengthwise and remove the membranes and seeds.
4. Place the mild breakfast sausage in a skillet and break it up. Cook on medium heat until browned. Remove the cooked sausage from the skillet and blot with a paper towel to remove excess grease.
5. In a pan or medium sized bowl, combine the ground sausage, Crove Food Co Fajita Seasoning & Rub, cream cheese, and shredded Colby jack cheese. Using your hands or a large spoon mix it all together. This is the filling for the Jalapeno Poppers.
6. Use a spoon to scoop the filling into jalapeno halves. Repeat until all the jalapenos are filled.
7. Slice your bacon in half with a knife.
8. Roll a half of a piece of bacon tightly around one Jalapeno Popper from top to bottom.
9. Place the Jalapeno Poppers on a smoker for about 60 minutes or until the bacon is crispy.
10. Serve, and enjoy!

Next up, we started working on Chicken Wings with Alabama White Sauce. I had to make Alabama White Sauce for obvious reasons… we are in Alabama! Being from Tennessee, I was a little nervous making this, but luckily, I had my friend Bama Grill Master to help me out. We bought party style chicken wings, so the chicken wings were already cut up. Bama helped me season the wings with my new Crove Food Co. Poultry Rub & Seasoning. We preheated the Traeger by lighting up Cowboy Charcoal Pellets. The Cowboy Charcoal Pellets give them an amazing smoky flavor! While the chicken wings were cooking, we made the Alabama White Sauce, so that it would be ready to toss the wings in as soon as we pulled them off the grill.

Recipe for Chicken Wings with Alabama White Sauce:

Ingredients:

• 1 package Party Style Chicken Wings
• Crove Food Co. Poultry Rub & Seasoning

  Alabama White Sauce:

• 1 whole Squeezed Lemon Juice
• ¾ cup Mayonnaise
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
• 1/3 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
• ¼ cup Apple Juice
• 1 tablespoon Horseradish
• 2 tablespoons Crove Food Co. Beef Rub & Seasoning

Directions:

1. Preheat your pellet grill to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. We used Cowboy Charcoal Pellets.
2. Generously season both sides of the chicken wings with Crove Food Co. Poultry Rub & Seasoning.
3. Place the wings on a pellet grill. Cook for about 35 minutes and then flip to cook for another 35 minutes until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
4. While the wings are cooking start preparing your Alabama White Sauce. In a large bowl, combine lemon juice, mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce, apple cider vinegar, apple juice horseradish, and Crove Food Co. Beef Rub & Seasoning. Whisk together until well-combined.
5. When the chicken wings are done, pull them from the pellet grill and toss them in the bowl with the Alabama White Sauce.
6. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Everyone loved the Chicken Wings! Even though I’m from Tennessee, I think I passed the Alabama White Sauce test with the help and expertise of Bama. After we cooked the Chicken Wings, we cooked our final recipe of the day which was Grilled Pork Tenderloin. We made 2 pork tenderloins, so that we would have plenty of food to hand out. For one tenderloin we used Allegro Marinade Tennessee Whiskey, and for the other tenderloin we used Allegro Marinade Original. I love using Allegro Marinade and I wanted to showcase their flavors in this recipe paired with my new Crove Food Co. Pork Rub & Seasoning. We preheated our Weber Kettle with Cowboy Charcoal Lump Charcoal with our custom fitting GrillGrates for our Weber Kettle. We love using GrillGrates because they give the meat the most perfect grill mark and keep the pork tenderloin extra juicy with marinade.

Recipe for Grilled Pork Tenderloin:

Ingredients:

• 2 Pork Tenderloins
• Crove Food Co. Pork Rub & Seasoning
• 1 bottle Allegro Marinade Tennessee Whiskey
• 1 bottle Allegro Marinade Original
• Other: 2 large Ziplock baggies

Directions:

1. In one baggie, pour one bottle of Allegro Marinade Tennessee Whiskey with one pork tenderloin. In a separate baggies, pour one bottle of Allegro Marinade Original with the other pork tenderloin. Marinate in a refrigerator or ORCA Cooler for 4-12 hours.
2. Preheat your Weber Kettle and GrillGrates for Weber Kettle with Cowboy Charcoal Lump Charcoal for direct grilling.
3. After 4-12 hours of marinating, remove your pork tenderloins from the baggies and place in a pan. Generously season both sides of the pork tenderloins with Crove Food Co. Rub & Seasoning.
4. Place both pork tenderloins on top of GrillGrates on your Weber Kettle for 12-15 minutes, turning them 90 degrees every 3-4 minutes to get those perfect grill marks, until the pork tenderloin reaches an internal temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit.
5. Remove from grill and slice into ½ inch thick tenderloins. Serve and enjoy!

Everyone loved the Pork Tenderloin! It was so juice and was packed full of flavor. Once again, the day flew by. The food was a big hit, and we enjoyed getting to hand out FREE samples to friends, family, and strangers who stopped by to visit.

We were so honored to have Bama Grill Master and his family with us all day. He is such a nice guy, and he offered a helping hand for the entire day. I am incredibly thankful for his support, friendship, and advice in this industry. Give him a follow!

For this stop, we had people guess how hot our grills were for prizes and we played corn hole on the Tennessee River Jam cornhole boards. We loved getting to show off the products that we used for this stop: GrillGrates for our Weber Kettle, ORCA Cooler Hard side to keep all our food cold, Cowboy Charcoal and Applewood Pellets, and Allegro Marinade Original and Tennessee Whiskey flavor. We also got to showcase and cook with our new line of Crove Rubs & Seasonings which include Beef, Fajita, Poultry, and Pork and are finally available to order online! Shop at crovefood.com

We packed up and headed to the next stop on our Tailgate Tour in New Orleans, LA at the Caesar’s Superdome where LSU will take on Florida State on September 4^th. Make sure you are following along on our social media platforms where we will announce exactly where we are set up! Stop by to tailgate with us and try out samples, play games, and hang out with our team!

– Crove Food Co.

Follow along with all this tasty Tailgate Tour has to offer by following @CroveFoodCo on TikTok!