In 2010, I missed eight football Sundays due to my then interning responsibilities with the New York Jets. While yes, it was a memorable, informative experience, I couldn’t escape the reality of how much I missed sitting on my couch, watching the games on TV and eating all sorts of fun Sunday snacks. I also really missed sweatpants. It turns out, part of the reason I love football so much is the experience of doing nothing, while doing so much, for 21 delightful Sundays.
I decided to celebrate 2011 with a food competition unlike many have ever seen before. The Dip-Off consisted of a battle between 16 dips – one per Sunday of football season, allowing myself one bye, because it turns out making dip each week is kind of tiring. The best dips would then move on to the playoffs, with the winner being crowned on Dipper Bowl Sunday. (Yeah, no one actually called it that. I just thought of it now. Damn it. I would have napkins made. Anyway…)
The schedule looked like this:
Week 1: 8 Layer Taco Dip
Week 2: Turtle Cheesecake Dip (Yes, Turtle Cheesecake Dip)
Week 3: Loaded Baked Potato Dip
Week 4: Buffalo Chicken Dip
Week 5: Pizza Dip
Week 6: Spinach and Artichoke Dip
Week 7: Kahlua Dip
Week 8: Pumpkin Dip
Week 9: Bruschetta Dip
Week 10: Mexican Corn Dip
Week 11: Chili Dip
Week 12: Chocolate Mousse Dip
Week 13: Parmesan Crab Dip
Week 14: Greek Feta and Olive Dip
Week 15: Black Bean Salsa Dip
Week 16: Baked Brie Dip
You’ll see that the dips covered a wide range of ethnicities and types. Dessert tips were completely perfect for night games, and my friends and family have rarely been so thankful for my existence. I was even able to plan ahead and make dips to coincide with special occasions, like Pumpkin Dip around Thanksgiving and Loaded Baked Potato Dip during Wildwood’s Irish Weekend.
At the end of the regular season, I chose six dips to advance to the playoffs, seeded them, and arranged them into a bracket. (Note: The bracket started in the divisional round because I got too confused to try and incorporate Wild Card weekend. Make fun, but you try. It’s hard.) The top two seeds got an automatic bye to Championship Sunday.
The seeds looked like this:
1. Turtle Cheesecake Dip
2. Pizza Dip
3. Bruschetta Dip
4. Pumpkin Dip
5. Baked Brie Dip
6. Black Bean Salsa Dip (Chef’s note: Pair with Magic Hat #9 for a delicious, complimentary orangey flavor)
During Divisional Weekend, it was easy to see who got eliminated from the NFL playoffs, but choosing between strong performances by Dips 3-6 wasn’t as straight forward. A panel of four people (with incredibly strong food judgment, might I add) decided that Pumpkin Dip was a lock to move on, but they were upset that Loaded Baked Potato Dip didn’t make the top six. So, we threw the bracket out the window and replaced Black Bean Salsa Dip with Loaded Baked Potato.
Then, on Championship Sunday, we ate seeds 1 and 2 as well as Loaded Baked Potato, and had to pick two of the six overall to advance to the finals. Turtle Cheesecake Dip and Pizza Dip advanced easily, with Pumpkin Dip coming in a close third. It might not have been a perfect system, but we definitely got the call right.
Then, between the 3rd and 4th quarter of the Super Bowl, the people spoke and voted Turtle Cheesecake Dip the winner of the 2011 Dip-Off by a final vote of 8-5.
On behalf of Turtle Cheesecake, I would like to thank all of those who made the Dip-Off possible, including the consumers of the dip, my co-conspirators, and Google. I would like to apologize to the teenage girl at my grocery store who I started to freak out and ended up having to avoid on Saturday mornings because of my no doubt seemingly strange need to buy so much cream cheese every weekend.
Now, what to do in 2012…
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