c/o Lia Franklin, Features Editor

Back in the day, Lia and I would spend every Super Bowl together, when my family would walk two blocks down Clinton Avenue to her family’s brownstone. Given that one of Lia’s moms, her brother, my dad and I were all into football, the Big Game was heavily spectated. However, the real star of the show was always the food that Lia’s moms served. I don’t think I ever left a Franklin-Chinn family Super Bowl party without a glorious stomach ache reminding me of all the deliciousness I had just consumed.

A typical Super Bowl experience went like this: as the first quarter began, and the conversation became animated, we all feverishly devoured the guacamole, only to find ourselves hungrier than we were before. Near the end of the first quarter, or maybe at the beginning of the second, the main course was finally ready. This always happened right around when my mouth had almost watered itself dry due to the stimulating, titillating, and comforting smells of chili that were coming from the kitchen. As Lia is a vegetarian, there were always two types of chili: Mum’s Vegetarian Chili and the Franklin-Chinn Family Texas Steak Chili. The vegetarian chili would always make up at least a quarter of the first plate I piled together for myself. The other three quarters would be dominated by the Texas Steak chili—flavorful and nuanced in its use of various chilies, and lacking even a single bean. We ate this over rice and topped it with scallions, sour cream, and a heavy dose of lime juice. By the time I went back for my second portion (right around when the halftime show was starting), I would already have a pit in my stomach, and once Shakira, Katy Perry, or Lady Gaga had finished their amazing set, I would be nearly comatose.

Fortunately, by the third quarter, Tom Brady (or insert other good quarterback) would usually make some amazing plays and snap me out of my daze. Then it was time for the best cake I’ve ever eaten in my life: The German Chocolate. Shaped like a football or decorated for the team of preference, this monstrosity of a dessert was so irresistible in flavor and size that if I ate any fewer than two pieces, my body would be shivering from withdrawal. I made it my mission to stuff as much of the pecan-caramel-gooey-chocolatey cake down my gullet as I could before the game ended. As I stumbled home, I thought more about my German chocolate love than the actual outcome of the game.   

c/o Lia Franklin, Features Editor

Super Bowl Recipes from the Franklin-Chinn Household (by Lia Franklin)

Franklin-Chinn Family Texas Steak Chili: The recipe for this chili is a family secret. However, this is a recipe from the kitchen that my mother says “is the gist” of her Texas Chili. 

Super Bowl/Birthday German Chocolate Cake

Lewis Woloch can be reached at lwoloch@wesleyan.edu. Lia Franklin can be reached at lfranklin@wesleyan.edu.