Get Lit: ESPN Gameday Gourmet, by Pableaux Johnson

Pableaux Johnson clearly is having fun in this cookbook as a sample of some of his recipe titles --“Keg of Nails Beer Batter Bread,” “Goal-Line Mash-Up Guacamole” and “Laura’s old Mountain Jug London Broil” -- shows.

The New Orleans-based food writer for The New York Times, the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Texas Monthly (and occasionally the Houston Press) has assembled more than 80 recipes suitable for tailgating, directed at men with little cooking experience who want to bring something more complex than a six-pack to the pre-game warm-up party.

The text is straightforward and unpretentious both in describing how to put a meal together and in how to deliver it on game day without poisoning all your friends. Seeded among the more than 80 recipes are anecdotal tales about tailgating traditions throughout the country.

Food choices range from breakfast warm-ups to dips, drinks, barbecuing, slow cooking, casseroles and desserts. There’s even a vegetables section (although he notes that this will mainly be for the females in the group like a mom, girlfriend or potential girlfriend).

Ignore the gender bias and this is a good book for anyone who likes eating and cooking good (if not always healthy) food. – Margaret Downing

ESPN Gameday Gourmet, by Pableaux Johnson, ESPN Books, $16.95, trade paperback