As the Buffalo Bills prepare to face a new opponent each week, fans take on the age-old arch-nemesis know as “hunger.” Never fear, Buffalo Rumblings has just the playbook to take down this foe. Each week, we’ll dive into enemy territory to scout their signature moves and put a “Buffalo” spin on it. Translated, each week we’ll share a themed recipe based on who the Bills are playing, including a custom wing sauce to go with each dish. Our opponent this week:

New York Jets

Editor’s note: The title is pronounced “kuh-noo” York “kuh-nih-sch”. It’s a play on words. - MRW

Knish: New York City has a storied past with Jewish culinary influence and we take inspiration from this legacy. The knish is ordinarily a pocket made of baked or fried dough with various fillings. Common choices include mashed potatoes or ground meat. It’s at this point that we go off the rails on tradition.

With Wingin’ It being dedicated to wing sauce variants; that gives us a filling combination of potato, ground meat and wing sauce. That sounds an awful lot like a certain kind of “plate” that’s pretty big in Western New York. Aw yeah, I’m going for it. I’m taking the garbage off the plate and jamming it into a pocket!

Garbage Pocket

Serves: 3-4
Active Time: 1.5 hours
Total Time: 2 hours

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• ¹⁄₂ tsp salt
• 1 ³⁄₄ cups flour and
• Pinch of garlic powder (optional)
• ¹⁄₂ teaspoon turmeric (optional)
• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
• ¹⁄₂ stick unsalted butter
• Two large russet potatoes
• Salt and pepper
• ¹⁄₂ cup chopped onion
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 cup hot sauce
• ¹⁄₂ stick butter
• ¹⁄₂ tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 can of your favorite beans*
• 1 package of hot dogs
• Cheese, sliced (your pick, I used cheddar)
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 Tbsp water

1. Prepare the dough**: Mix eggs, baking powder, salt and vegetable oil in large mixing bowl (also garlic and turmeric if you elect to use those).
2. Slowly mix in flour with a fork. (Toward the end, it’s easier to knead than use a utensil.) You might not need all of the flour. The end result should not appear dry or cracked.
3. Coat with the 1 Tbsp oil, cover and let sit for one hour.
4. Prepare Hash Browns***: Peel and shred the potatoes into a large mixing bowl.
5. Rinse and drain the potatoes two to three times. The water doesn’t need to run completely clear, but it shouldn’t look milky either.
6. Place potatoes over rolled paper towels, place a couple more towels on top and press dry.
7. Add half stick butter to large pan and melt on LOW.
8. Add potatoes to melted butter with salt and pepper to taste; toss to evenly coat. Turn heat to MED/HIGH.
9. Spread potatoes evenly over the pan and allow them to crisp up, about 6-7 min.
10. Stir potatoes and repeat until desired crispiness (plan on 20 min or so).
11. Add chopped onions when you’re nearing the end of the crisping process. They shouldn’t be cooked for longer than about 6-7 min.
12. Remove from heat and set aside.
13. Prepare Meat/hot sauce: Brown ground beef in a medium saucepan on MED for 5-10 min; drain.
14. Grind the meat sauce in a blender or food processor to make it more finely ground, place back in the saucepan.
15. Add hot sauce, butter, cinnamon, pepper and garlic powder. Heat on LOW, stirring occasionally (heat can be maintained until ready to use).
16. Prepare Beans and hot dogs: Beans can be started on LOW about a half hour before the dough is ready to allow them to slow cook and thicken. Hot dogs I assume you can figure out how to cook. They should be ready to go when the dough’s hour is up.
17. Making it a Knish: Preheat oven to 350ºF. Knead dough for 1 min. Roll dough out very thin****.
18. Add fillings (hash browns, beans, hot dog, cheese and meat sauce) and wrap or roll dough around them. Pinch to close. A good rule of thumb for adding fillings is to cover about a third of the surface area of the dough, then close.
19. Mix egg yolk and water, brush on top of knishes to provide a glaze.
20. Add knishes to lightly greased cookie sheet and bake for 25-30 min.

Wingin’ It Tips

*Look, it’s a plate in a pocket. I went with beans. Go for mac salad if it makes you feel better.

**One of the more famous places for knishes uses turmeric to accentuate the yellow color of the finished product.

***Knishes use mashed potatoes, plates use home fries. We split the difference with hash browns which are easier to roll up than home fries and give a similar experience.

****Knish dough is very elastic and durable. I rolled it on a glass cutting board which prevented it from tugging like it would on wax paper as it tries to pull back on itself. The dough was slightly see through when ready to add filling. Any technique that wraps dough mostly or entirely around the filling is A-OK for a knish. I used a larger piece of dough (an inch-and-a-half longer than the hot dog on either end) and wrapped it similar to a piece of candy. The filling was a little closer to one edge, and I started rolling from that side then pinched/twisted the ends. The picture below should give a good idea of that technique.

The Beer

This week our beer selection honors New York City, which is affectionately known as “The Big Cherry.” I know that’s wrong, but it’s close enough. Just like the Jets deemed their stadium location.

Beer products provided by Labatt USA. Please drink responsibly.

Coming soon!

The Buffalo Bills take on the Detroit Lions as we near the end of the regular season. We take a breather from the exotic (ceviche) and complex (this one) recipes and focus on the sauce for more traditional tailgate food, Detroit style.