Recipe: For Big Game impact, pull out the ol' Mississippi pot roast

Beef, ranch dressing and gravy powders, pepperoncini and brine, stick of butter = magic

Having friends over for the Big Game can turn your house into an emotional minefield. You can’t buy bubble wrap thick enough to stop hearts from breaking, but you can provide what Buffalonians need: a menu made with love, worthy of a celebration. Or a funeral.

That’s when it’s time for my trick plays, dishes that only turn up once a season, or they'll kill you. The sort of food that starts its own conversations.

Before your next gameday, if you eat meat, consider Mississippi pot roast. Invented by Robin Chapman of Ripley, Mississippi, it’s a shot at Italian spicy beef from ingredients available in a Mississippi grocery store in the 1990s. This Internet-famous recipe also earns a spot in the time-stressed cook’s toolkit, the go-to moves delivering the biggest impact for the least work.

Over mashed potatoes or pasta, soaked into rolls, silky-tender meat in a jus of pepperoncini pepper brine, powdered ranch dressing mix, gravy mix, and a stick of butter will pitch a tent in your sense memory.