Food & Football: Hurricanes’ Guide to Tailgating Georgia Tech

The Miami Hurricanes are returning home to South Florida after a two game road trip that culminated with a thrilling victory against the Florida State Seminoles last Saturday. Back at Hard Rock Stadium, the Canes will welcome the "Ramblin Wreck" of Georgia Tech for a 3:30PM ET kickoff. The importance of this game cannot be stressed enough and the presence of the Canes' Family to show up and show out has been urged by players, coaches and the Athletic Director.

For those in South Florida, let's create a significant home field advantage as the Canes look to put a stronghold on the ACC Coastal Division. Before we get into the Game Meal, let's learn a little about the Yellow Jackets.

The Georgia Institute of Technology was founded 20 years after the Civil War in 1885 as a vital part of the Reconstruction Era. When their doors opened, there were 88 students and GT only offered mechanical engineering, but they grew swiftly. In the 50’s women were able to attend and 10 years later, GT became the first university in the Deep South to admit African-American students without a court order. Their football heritage also dates back to the 1800’s and has gone through a few name changes such as the Golden Tornado, Blacksmith, and Engineers. Today they are known as “Ramblin Wreck” or by their official name the Yellow Jackets. But, if you're like me, when thinking of GT I only hear the “You can do that” speech that went viral. Cheers to the Canes beating GT by 30 just so they know that "WE CAN DO THAT".

Food: The motivation for this week’s Game Meal has nothing to do with the history of the school, its multiple mascots or state facts from Georgia. The foundation of the meal is rooted in Tech’s offense, the triple option. Before going to watch GT play "guess who has the ball" between their quarterback, fullback, A-Back and B-Back, give yourself and your tailgate guests filler options with grilled fajitas. With choices of chicken, steak, shrimp or sausage there is a perfect option for everyone.

Drink: For the game drink, I had a few things in mind. Being from Georgia, nothing reminds me of home more than a little moonshine. Especially my Dad's homemade “cough medicine” with rock candy and lemon juice. But for this game, I opted to make a drink with peaches, inspired by the state fruit. Grill the peaches for a few minutes to give the Drunken Peach Punch a unique flavor.

Be safe Canes Family and drink responsibly! For full recipes of this game and previous ones, see “2017 Hurricanes’ Cooking Guide”