True Super Bowl Champion? Pig In A Blanket!

People tuning in today to the LVI Super Bowl may think it’s about crowning a champion – the Bengals or the Rams. Truth be told, there’s one perennial champion, and it’s the traditional party food Pig In A Blanket!

Over the years, I’ve baked hundreds on top of hundreds of the popular little sausages wrapped in dough. They’re an annual tradition for the big game, and I’ve made them in my own home and other peoples’ houses.

They’re Hall of Famers for Super Bowl fare!

Who Eats What on Super Bowl Sunday?

According to people who keep track of such things, the amount of food consumed for the Super Bowl comes in second only to Thanksgiving.

And, online data indicates the following amounts of food that will be eaten during Super Bowl Sunday with 800 million people worldwide watching the game:

1.42 Billion Chicken Wings (with inflation, the retail price of chicken wings is 30 cents more per pound than last year);
14 Billion Hamburgers (grilling on this day is second only to July 4th);
12.5 Million Pizzas;
325 Million Gallons of Beer;
28 Million Pounds of Chips, and 8 Million Pounds of Guacamole;
88 Million Pounds of Cheese;
10 Million Pounds of Ribs; and
72 Million Rice Cakes. (Huh? I have never, ever seen anybody eat a rice cake during a Super Bowl game, but if you’re really out there, folks, more power to you.)

Surprisingly, although Pigs In A Blanket are mentioned in numerous online articles about the best foods to make for your Super Bowl guests, I didn’t find any estimates of how many are eaten.

Maybe that’s because if you watch closely, most people walking by the platter of pigs simply cannot resist getting “just one more little one…” quietly and without fanfare.

The “Piggy Pop”

Knowing my affinity for making pigs in a blanket, one of my brothers once gave me the “Piggy Pop,” a silicone baking mold that uses pancake batter with the mini-sausages hidden inside – in the shape of, of course, pigs!

The tray makes only 12 piggies at a time, hence my never having used it. You can load up large sheet pans with many more than 12!

The “Piggy Pop” comes with a booklet entitled “Gourmet Recipe Guide” (seriously), and at first I thought each recipe included the traditional sausage. Imagine the horror when I saw recipe titles of “Chocolate Peanut Butter Piggy Pop,” “Jell-O Piggy Pop,” and and “Blueberry Muffin Piggy Pop!”

On closer look, it turns out these recipes do not include the little sausages, but instead are regular dishes … made in the shape of 3″ pigs. Hmmm …

My Pigs In A Blanket

As for my favorite way of making them – and let’s don’t even get started on the debate of whether they should be called “Pig In A Blanket,” “Pigs in Blankets,” “Pigs In A Blanket (double pigs??),” “Pig in Blankets (double dough??),” or just “Piggies” – here goes.

Start with cans of Pillsbury Crescent Dough Sheets or Pillsbury Crescent Rolls. Yes, I’m a scratch baker when it comes to everything else, but don’t even THINK about trying to improve on the canned crescents. You will fail. Pillsbury owns this space. Forever.

Some people like using the original Pillsbury Crescent Rolls, but the Pillsbury Dough Sheets are more time efficient … and you will be rolling a lot of them! Regardless, both make a great wrap.

Cut the dough sheets into wrap-size pieces, and brush spicy mustard on the top surface (I like Zatarain’s Creole Mustard, or Grey Poupon Deli Mustard with Horseradish).

Lay a sausage on each dough piece, and wrap – with the seam ending up on the underside. Be sure to wrap only the middle of the sausage – unlike the above “Piggy Pop,” I don’t like surprise foods hidden inside other foods.

Line up your piggies like military marching rows on large sheet pans covered with tin foil and non-stick cooking spray, with about half-an-inch between them.

Brush all the tops with a beaten egg, and lightly sprinkle Everglades Seasoning (or your choice if there actually is another seasoning worth talking about …) on top of all the piggies.

Bake them in a 375-degree oven for about 15 minutes, keeping an eye on them. You may want to reverse the baking sheets’ position in the oven about half-way through if you find the bottom row’s not getting as golden brown.

When they’re ready (and you’ll so know), serve your beautiful Pigs In A Blanket piping hot with any sauces you’d like – some favorites are cocktail sauce, chili sauce, ketchup, and horseradish sauce. Having a variety laid out on the buffet table for your guests is always a nice touch.