You may not make a single snack all season for football, slogging through bags of Bugles and Pirate Booty, but you’re probably going to make a dip for the Super Bowl. You may order pizza every week, go to Taco Bell and buy box of Dos Locos Mocos Frocos Supreme Tacos, but you will probably make a dip next weekend. You may only eat microgreens salads and lemon vinaigrette every day of the week to stay healthy, but if you see a dip at a party and your 49ers are down a field goal, you are going to inhale an entire platter of Creamy Hot Hoagie Dip to calm your nerves.
It’s one of the best foods for football watching and tailgating. You better start planning now.
This year’s Dip Spectacular! — the exclamation point is mandatory — is a mix of new recipes and ones from the archives that are proven hits. Some of the old ones have been tweaked here and there, tastes and techniques that have been improved with time and repeated experimentation, a couple I always get requests for from readers, and ones that are frankly my own personal favorites.