On September 17 we made our fourth stop of 11 on the Tailgate Tour. This stop took us to Fayetteville, Arkansas with the Arkansas Razorbacks taking on the Missouri State Bears.

After we got the trailer unhitched and unloaded, it was time to start cooking! We used our Traeger and Weber Kettle with GrillGrates; and the recipe lineup included: Tomahawk Ribeyes, Chicken Bacon Ranch Sliders and Pigs in a Blanket. We cooked all three recipes on the Traeger together and finished some of them off on GrillGrates on our Weber Kettle. We love our Traeger because it has so much room and when we are feeding a lot of people, that is essential. The food stayed cold in our ORCA hard-side coolers, which are the perfect on the go “refrigerator.”

We decided to go BIG in Arkansas, so the first thing we started prepping were the tomahawk ribeyes, AKA the king of steaks. We found the most beautiful tomahawk ribeyes that were literally about the size of my head. We marinated them in Allegro Marinade Original for a couple of hours in our ORCA coolers. We did a quick marinade on them because we didn’t want the marinade to overpower the natural flavor of these ribeyes. A tomahawk ribeye is “French style,” meaning that it still has about 12 inches of the bone sticking out. The bone-in makes this cut even more tender because the bone acts as an insulator. Because this is such a huge cut of meat, it takes a little bit longer and cooks differently than a regular ribeye. We used the “reverse sear” method, where we first smoked them on the Traeger using Cowboy Charcoal Applewood and Charcoal Pellets. Next, we stocked the Weber Kettle with Cowboy Charcoal Briquettes (burns hotter, longer and cleaner than your typical charcoal) and then seared them over extremely hot GrillGrates on our Weber Kettle, which produced the perfect crisscross grill marks.

Recipe for Tomahawk Ribeye:

Ingredients:

• 2 Tomahawk Ribeyes
• 1 bottle Allegro Marinade Original
• Crove Food Co. Beef Rub & Seasoning

Directions:

1. Gather 2, 2-gallon Ziplock baggies. Place one ribeye in each baggie and marinate each ribeye in ½ bottle of Allegro Marinade Original for 1-2 hours.
2. Preheat your smoker to 275 degrees Fahrenheit. I used Cowboy Charcoal’s Charcoal and Applewood Pellets in my Traeger.
3. Remove ribeyes from marinade and season all sides of the ribeye with Crove Food Co. Beef Rub & Seasoning.
4. Place ribeyes on the smoker until medium rare. Pull them at around 125 degrees Fahrenheit internal temperature. Let them rest for about ten minutes. We will finish them with a reverse sear.
5. Fire up your Weber Kettle with Cowboy Charcoal Briquettes with GrillGrates. Sear ribeyes on GrillGrates on all sides, turning them 90 degrees, to get the perfect crisscross sear marks.
6. Let rest for ten more minutes. Slice it up and sprinkle one more time with Crove Food Co. Beef Rub & Seasoning.

While the tomahawk ribeyes were on the Traeger, the next thing we got started on was the Chicken Bacon Ranch Sliders. I have yet to meet anyone who doesn’t like those three flavors together… chicken, bacon, and ranch, you just can’t go wrong!  I generously seasoned chicken tenderloins on both sides in our Crove Food Co. Poultry Rub & Seasoning and put them on the smoker with the ribeyes. Our poultry rub has been one of our most popular rubs! Packed with classic flavors like salt, garlic, onion, lemon pepper, and more, our Poultry Rub & Seasoning is the perfect rub to take your poultry dishes to the next level! For these sliders we made ranch using a Hidden Valley Ranch packet. I like this ranch way better than the kind you find in a bottle on the shelves at the store. We used cheddar cheese and King’s Hawaiian Sliders to finish them off! Right before placing them on the smoker, we brushed the tops with melted butter mixed with Crove Food Co. Beef Rub & Seasoning. Our beef rub is a multi-purpose rub, as the four main flavors are salt, pepper, onion, and garlic.

Recipe for Chicken Bacon Ranch Sliders:

Ingredients:

• 6-8 Chicken Tenderloins
• Crove Food Co. Poultry Rub & Seasoning
• 1 package King’s Hawaiian Sliders
• 8 slices Thick-cut Bacon
• 12 slices Cheddar Cheese
• 2 tablespoons melted Butter
• Crove Food Co. Beef Rub & Seasoning
• Ranch:
• 1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch mix
• 1 cup Mayonnaise
• 1 cup Milk

Directions:

1. Preheat your smoker to 275 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Season chicken breasts with Crove Food Co. Poultry Rub & Seasoning.
3. Place chicken breasts on the smoker until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
4. Slice up 8 slices on bacon into bite size pieces. Then place it in a skillet and cook on low, stirring occasionally until crispy.
5. Next, make the ranch. In a medium sized bowl combine, 1 ranch packet, 1 cup mayonnaise, and 1 cup milk. Whisk together until well combined and place in the refrigerator.
6. Pull the chicken off the smoker when it is finished smoking. In a large pan, shred the chicken with tongs, forks, or your hands.
7. Pull the bacon off and remove excess grease. Mix the bacon in with the shredded chicken.
8. Now you are ready to assemble the sliders. Place the bottom half of your sliders into an aluminum pan. On top of those put spread an even layer of ranch. Next, layer on the chicken bacon mixture. Then, lay slices of cheddar cheese on top. Last, put the tops of the sliders on.
9. In a small bowl, mix 2 tablespoons of melted butter with a couple shakes of Crove Food Co. Beef Rub & Seasoning. Brush melted butter mixture on top of the rolls.
10. With the sliders still in the aluminum pan, place them back onto the smoker for 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
11. Serve and enjoy!

For the last recipe of the day, I chose to make Pigs in a Blanket. We were in the home of the hogs, so Pigs in a Blanket were the perfect choice! These are so simple and easy to make! With literally only 3 ingredients, you can’t mess these up. I used smoked sausage, crescent rolls, and pepper jack cheese, but to level these up, serve them with a honey mustard, spicy ranch, or your favorite sauce. You can add anything into the rolls before you cook them like bacon, shredded cheese, spices, sauce, etc. Let us know how you make them your own!

Recipe for Pigs in a Blanket:

Ingredients:

• 1 package Smoked Sausage
• 1 tube Crescent Rolls
• 4-6 slices Pepper Jack Cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat your smoker to 275 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Place the smoked sausage directly on the grates and cook for about 10 minutes, flipping halfway through until it reaches an internal temperature of 165-degree Fahrenheit.
3. On a cutting board, roll out a whole tube of crescent rolls. Keep them in a “sheet”. On top of that sheet lay out slices of pepper jack cheese.
4. Cut your sausage to the width of the crescent rolls, then roll the sausage up in the crescent roll until the sausage is completely covered. Cut the crescent roll and tuck the ends in. Repeat this step until all the ingredients have been used.
5. Place the pigs in a blanket in an aluminum pan and cook on your smoker until the rolls are golden brown.
6. Remove from the smoker and slice into bite sized pieces.
7. Serve and enjoy!

We played some games on the Tennessee River Jam corn hole boards and handed out prizes for those that could score before me. Razorback fans taught us how to call the hogs and we all enjoyed three delicious foods together! We served all three things around the same time. I sliced the Tomahawk Ribeyes into very thin pieces, pulled the sliders apart, and sliced up our Pigs in a Blanket. Now our fans had three different things to try at the same time for FREE all thanks to our sponsors.  The Tomahawk Ribeyes were beautiful. The grill marks from the GrillGrates make them stand out and the flavor from the charcoal combined with our Crove Food Co. Beef Rub & Seasoning and Allegro Marinade Original made this steak out of this world. It was tender, juicy, and packed full of flavor. The Chicken Bacon Ranch Sliders were a fan favorite as well as the Pigs in a Blanket. You can find the full recipes on our website crovefood.com, and you can watch me walk you through the day on our YouTube Channel.

A huge thanks to our sponsors GrillGrate, Tennessee River Jam, ORCA, Cowboy Charcoal, and Allegro Marinade we were able hand out FREE samples to friends, family, and strangers who stopped by before the game.

Once again, we loved getting to show off the products from our sponsors at this stop: GrillGrates for our Weber Kettle, ORCA Cooler Hard side to keep all our food cold, Cowboy Charcoal’s Charcoal and Applewood Pellets, Cowboy Charcoal Briquets, and Allegro Marinade Original. We also got to showcase and cook with our new line of Crove Rubs & Seasonings which include Beef, Fajita, Poultry, and Pork and are available to order online. Shop at crovefood.com

Shoutout to Arkansas for being a great host! The next stop on the Tailgate Tour will take us back to Knoxville, TN when the Tennessee Volunteers will take on the Florida Gators on September 24^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!