Hello, Dubbers! The 2024 season opener is almost here! After an offseason full of seniors deciding to run it back one more time, great portal additions, coaching upgrades, and turmoil up north, we are now two days away from kickoff versus Akron. It should be a great weekend in Columbus, as those in attendance will get the opportunity to see Archie's new statue in the North Rotunda and watch the only 2-time Heisman winner dot the "i" during Script Ohio. 

I know that 3M, Rox, and Chief decided to hang up the aprons and retire TGF at the end of last season, but if they have no objections, I would like to carry the banner, at least for another season. TGF has become my favorite part of game week since discovering it in 2019, and it would be my honor to keep it going a little while longer. 

A year or two ago, my brother-in-law and I were talking about all the tailgate food I’ve made because of this series, and he asked me if I had ever heard of Dinosaur Eggs. I told him I had not, and when I got home later that day, I looked up what they were (most commonly called Armadillo Eggs) and man, did they sound amazing! Stuffed jalapenos, covered in chorizo, wrapped in bacon, and covered in BBQ sauce. Without further ado:

Armadillo Eggs

Ingredients

• 3-4 large jalapenos
• 1 (8oz) package cream cheese
• 16-18 oz chorizo sausage
• Pack of bacon
• BBQ sauce

Directions

1. Preheat smoker to 325 degrees. If you don’t have a smoker, a regular grill or oven will work.
2. Cut off the jalapeno stems. Then hollow out the pepper using a butter knife.
3. Cut the cream cheese into strips that will just fit into the peppers and then stuff the jalapenos.
4. Remove the chorizo from the casings and divide it into 4 equal portions.
5. Place each portion of chorizo between parchment paper and flatten (using a rolling pin or baking sheet).
6. Place the stuffed jalapeno on the flattened chorizo and wrap the pepper with the sausage. Press the sausage together well so that there are no cracks. The jalapeno must be completely sealed inside the chorizo.
7. Wrap the chorizo ball with bacon. It doesn’t have to be completely covered, but it’s bacon, so why not. I would recommend at least 2 slices.
8. Place Armadillo Eggs on aluminum foil or in an aluminum tray and place on the smoker. Let the eggs cook at 350 degrees for approximately an hour. Remove once the eggs have reach an internal temperature of 155 F.
9. After removing the eggs, increase the smoker temperature to 375 degrees (400 degrees for extra crispy). While the smoker is heating up, brush the eggs with barbecue sauce. Then return them to the smoker for another 10 minutes or so until the eggs have an internal temperature of 165 F.
10. Remove from the smoker and enjoy!

Pro Tips

• Instead of cream cheese, you can pipe pimento cheese into the jalapenos
• For more crispy bacon on the final product, cook the bacon halfway prior to wrapping the chorizo.
• Try to make the eggs somewhat flat on the sides. Mine were very rounded with only minimal contact to the smoker and the egg did break open a bit on the top half. Another remedy is to wrap the egg in enough bacon that you don't need to worry about this problem.

Previous editions of Tailgate Fare

Edit - Here is a link to the word document I put together with all past TGF recipes in it: TGF Word Doc