There Is No Game like THE GAME Between Yale and Harvard for Tailgating Fun

November 19^th is fast approaching and that can only mean one thing - The Harvard - Yale Game is scheduled for one more mighty confrontation of brawn and brain.

Since 1875, there's been a game. For years it was called either "the Yale - Harvard Game", if one attended Yale or "the Harvard - Yale game" if one went to Harvard. 

Then in the late 1940s, the famous sport columnist Red Smith wrote about the game as “The Game” and the name stuck. Why such praise?  

Because as one of the first games ever played at the university level, this annual contest of Ivy League will significantly defined the game of American football, making it ‘the” major college sport in the U.S. 

This legacy would continue through the years, leading to such memorable games as the 1968 contest when the battered Harvard team made a miraculous last-moment comeback, scoring 16 points in the final 42 seconds to tie a highly acclaimed Yale squad. The next day the Harvard headlines read with justifiable pride, "Harvard beats Yale 29 - 29". 

This year The Game is at New Haven and Yale can’t wait to welcome the hardy Harvard Pilgrims (players, students and fans) down from Cambridge, near Boston.

Besides hoping to break a sad record of five years of straight losses, Yale students and alumni are also looking forward to enjoying another great tailgating event for which they are truly famous.   

And while the University administration has issued various 'rules of engagement' (no under 21 drinking, beverage ID wrist bands required, gas grills only and no glass bottles), that won’t stop the fun, given the combined IQ of both schools.

The joint student bodies are sure to enjoy beer and any other spirited beverage obtainable in the nearby vicinity. Food to hopefully balance the liquid intake is kindly being provided by Yale University’s College dining halls.

Those who have graduated have a far more elegant spread at their disposal be it from the assorted alumni groups or various association hospitality tents. Here the fare is far more gourmet and the beverages as memorable as the fabled ivy covered walls of Yale and Harvard.

If distance or duty keeps you from The Game, you can still enjoy the tradition and heritage of it all with these classic cocktails – ones sure to be enjoyed by many while waiting for The Game (and the fun) to begin. (Will M.I.T. appear and try another of their infamous pranks? Who knows).

Good luck all and remember classes (and work) commence once again, bright and early, on Monday morning.

Harvard Cooler

1/2 tsp. superfine sugar
2 oz. carbonated water
2 oz. applejack

Stir sugar and carbonated water together in a 12 oz. Collins glass. Fill with cracked ice and add applejack. Top off with more carbonated water, or ginger ale. Insert spiral of orange or lemon peel over the rim of the glass.

Yale Punch

1 tsp. sugar dissolved in a little water
1 or 3 dashes lemon juice
1 or 2 dashes lime juice
2 or 3 dashes raspberry syrup
2 or 3 dashes Bénédictine
1/2 oz. St. Croix rum (probably any decent dark rum will do here)
2 oz. brandy (the recipe specifies Hennessey)

Mix with ice in a glass. Garnish with mint. 

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2011

Move Over Shirley Temple, Today’s Kids Want Harry Potter’s Butterbeer

With the release of Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows Part 2, the epic tale of young wizard and his friends comes to a close, at least for now. 

 But have no fear – the fun (and profits) will continue through creative theme park destinations, official interactive websites and a popular new drink, now replacing the tried and true but rather dated Shirley Temple mocktail. 

First seen in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Butterbeer is the beverage enjoyed by Harry, Ron and Hermione at the student popular Three Broomsticks Tavern in Hogsmeade near the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. 

When Universal Parks & Resorts created the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando, Florida, they asked Vice President and Corporate Executive Chef Steven Jayson to create the beverage which had, to that point, only been described by J.K. Rowling in her beloved magical mystery series. 

Yet, even for a culinary magician such as Chef Jayson, there are always restrictions, the boundaries of reality (and copyright). And this time they were set by none other than J.K. Rowling herself.

Rowling (in agreement with Universal Studio) required that the chef’s future creation contain no butter or other dairy product. And though this might seem a contradiction, the decision was based on a concern for any children with a lactose intolerance. In addition, Butterbeer was to be made using only real sugar, not corn syrup.

Beginning in 2008, Chef Jayson and his culinary team spent four plus months creating Universal Orlando’s version of Butterbeer. It took over 15 tries before the chef and his team stepped back and smiled knowing they had achieved the exact feel and flavor described by Rowling.

The resulting beverage has a butterscotch flavor base with a foaming head.  And though the brew served within Orlando’s Three Broomsticks Tavern is a carefully guarded corporate secret, here is an absolutely nonofficial mockup of the final flavor:

Blend and heat together only very briefly ¼ cup butterscotch syrup and ¼ teaspoon butter. Cool slightly and add 1 cup cream soda or club soda. Stir carefully. Add a dash of salt and vinegar to taste. Top with a head of frothed whipped cream.  Can be enjoyed hot or cold as well as a flavor base for ice cream or icing.

Simply magical! Children love it as will adults, especially with a bit of rum added, but only if Dumbledore, Hogwarts’ Headmaster, approves!

May magic continue forever - especially in the kitchen! 

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2011

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Post Note: If you doubt the influence of the "Harry Potter Effect", just consider that the film brought in over $169 Million USA dollars during the first stateside weekend showings alone! (The previous top revenue holder, The Dark Knight, ranked in at a mere $150 million USA dollars).

And that's not counting what the DVD sets of the complete Harry Potter series will bring in as 25% of the audience are purchasers between the ages of 18 and 34! They must be happy at Hogwarts! That's going to buy a lot of Butterbeer for everyone!