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Table Conversations: Ray Lampe

Photos provided by RAY LAMPE

Ray Lampe's "The NFL Gameday Cookbook" includes menus for the playoffs and Super Bowl.

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By JEFF HOUCK

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 23, 2008

In 2007, Ray Lampe decided he wanted to write a tailgating book. The Lakeland-based barbecue expert, known best by his handle "Dr. BBQ," had done three barbecue books and wanted to try something different.

"I wanted to spread my wings a little bit, but I am who I am," he says. "Tailgating seemed like a good idea."

The previous year, celebrity chef Mario Batali had surprised his fans by coming out with a tailgating cookbook with NASCAR as a partner for use at race tracks. Lampe's literary agent contacted the NFL to see if they were interested in collaborating. It turned out that the NFL hadn't done a tailgating book since 1981.

The result is "The NFL Gameday Cookbook: 150 Recipes to Feed the Hungriest Fan, From Preseason to the Super Bowl" (Chronicle Books, $24.95).

Instead of focusing solely on food from each NFL city, the book helps readers come up with menus for pregame festivities as well as draft day, minicamp, preseason, Super Bowl and Pro Bowl.

Over a plate of ribs, pork and chicken at Big John's Alabama BBQ in Tampa, Lampe recently chatted about how the book came together.

Was the concept what it became or did it start a different way?

It never changed in my mind. We changed around the wording a little bit. They didn't really want it to be a tailgating book. They wanted it to be a gameday book. We don't all go to the game. We have parties at our homes, or we go to a friend's house and take a dish, or we go to a bar and bring a dish, and everyone has a potluck. It's not all about going to the game. That's why it's called gameday. We didn't want it to be misunderstood as a tailgating book where it's nothing but parking lot food, although just about everything would work in a parking lot.

Tell me about the structure of the book.

The obvious way was to write recipes for specific teams. I'm a lifelong Chicago Bears fan, and I know if I open it up to the macaroni and cheese Green Bay Packers soup, I'm not making it. There's just no chance, and there's a good chance that I won't buy the book. I think we're all like that.

I had a different plan: Do the 150-plus recipes for apps and main courses, and then when I talk about a team, suggest a recipe. The mac and cheese soup is still in there for if you're going to a Packers game, but it's also suggested elsewhere in the book for a different recipe. There's also suggestions for a Super Bowl menu and a playoff menu and a menu for when your team is playing on a Monday night. There's even suggestions for a draft day party. They could use the recipes in several ways without any one recipe being specifically tied to a team or an event. I think that worked out well, but I did go back and write about the teams and the cities, and found the best steakhouse in the city and the best barbecue joint and the best microbrew.

The thing you mentioned about draft parties. That was something that no one anticipated in 1981.

That's true.

With the NFL logo on it, do you split the profits?

Technically, they're a co-author. What they brought to the table was the use of the NFL logo and all the team logos, but they're also going to be a pretty big seller of the book. They've got it on their Web site. It's a real partner deal with the NFL.

I had a great meeting with them in their offices. We're going there to talk about promoting the book right there on Park Avenue. You walk in and there are historic helmets in the lobby and stuff.

We go up to have a meeting, and we go to the Vince Lombardi conference room. That one was being used, so we go into the Tom Landry conference room. And there's pictures of Tom Landry, and a huge conference table and big, puffy chairs. You're in the real conference room. Imagine the deals that have been done in that conference room.

They're the NFL. This is a small thing for them. It's the biggest project in my life and probably one of their smallest.

Even though it's not strictly a tailgating book, did you have to consider what was the easiest thing to make with the least amount of equipment?

I tried to do a mix of stuff that's easy to do with things that were a little more complicated. It's also about skill level and interest.

When I would go to Bears games years ago, we would do a thing where about a dozen of us would take turns. You would have to cook and bring all the food and all the drinks for before and after the game. You'd do that one time a year, and it would rotate. You could spend a little more money, get a little more into it and get a little exotic. The rest of the year, you just showed up and ate and drank for free with nothing to do. It was kinda nice.

It's not all grilling. I ran into a really cool giant wok, a Big Kahuna Wok Kit. It's a turkey fryer, but it flips over and you get a big 22-inch wok that sits right in there.

One of the things about wok cooking is that you never get enough heat. I turned that thing on and 30 seconds later, I squirted some oil into it and it ignited. I threw in a big pile of rice and it just sizzled. It's a great tailgating item.

Are there football towns notable for what they do on game day?

Kansas City. Some people come and cook barbecue overnight. There's a ton of guys who have converted school buses. They're way into it there. And Green Bay, of course. Who wouldn't want to tailgate in Green Bay?

Why do you think that is?

I think the Internet has fed it. How else would a guy who's into it in Green Bay find a tailgater in Cincinnati if not for the Internet? Now they can all kind of communicate, and that has created an industry of products for them.

I remember when the Bucs started playing, tailgating was one of the only enjoyable things about game day those first few years.

The main reason we would tailgate in Chicago was the traffic. If you were just going to be sitting there waiting, you could be cooking something up. We used to cook after the game, too. I would think that in warm areas, it would be easier to do, but the cold weather never stopped us up there.

One of the things with the recipes was remembering that there are people on the West Coast where it's never cold, and the games are in the morning. So we made a bunch of suggestions so that people could pick what they like.

Reporter Jeff Houck can be reached at (813) 259-7324 and jhouck@tampatrib.com.

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