Best Food For Poker Night

7/27/2022

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Oct 03, 2007 Instead of going different directions on weekends, try scheduling a night to stay in and play games that the whole family can enjoy. Pair kid-friendly foods, such as homemade pizza and finger sandwiches, with favorite board or electronic games for an exciting night of friendly competition. Before long, it'll be time for a rematch! Some of the popular foods served for poker nights are chips, peanuts, pretzels, and pizzas. Other hosts serve heavy snacks such as sandwiches and tacos. It is very important to plan your food accordingly because most poker night gatherings are attended by men.

Best Food For Poker Night Snacks
Best Recipes For Poker Night

The fifth article in our How to Host the Perfect Poker Home Game is a special one as Christopher Null of Drinkhacker.com fame has provided a fantastic selection of potential adult beverages to serve at your next poker game.

If you like this piece, be sure to head over to Drinkhacker.com where you’ll find a plethora of recipes, reviews and all-around knowledge for the discriminating drinker.

By Christopher Null

You’ve got the cards, chips, and table all set – now what? You can toss a case of Busch tallboys in an Igloo, or you can put a little thought into what you drink.

Take it from me: A bad beat goes down much easier if you chase it with a shot of high-grade Bourbon.

Here are three suggestions on what to serve your crew, depending on the stakes of your game.

What to Serve at Your Poker Home Game

Blue Collar

When beer is on the menu, Busch or Bud will work well enough, but even the most casual of players are likely to appreciate a little extra thoughts. Check out Guinness Black Lager – a new brand from Guinness that is black as coffee but drinks like a traditional lager. $8.50 per six-pack.

Casual

One of the best values in the spirits world today is Bourbon and other U.S. whiskeys, and you can find an awful lot of great American whiskeys on the market without having to spend a whole lot of money. Try Evan Williams Single Barrel 2002 or Big Bottom Port Cask Finished Whiskey, both of which are available for $30 a bottle or less. Of course, if you’re ever worried the bottles will offend, you can always pour the whiskey into a crystal decanter and tell everyone it’s Pappy Van Winkle.

High Stakes

It’s not cheating to get your opponents stinking drunk before the game ever starts, and the best way to do that is by serving a delicious, high-end cocktail that goes down easy (but is manly enough to invite continued consumption). This original cocktail drinks like a martini but adds a touch of sweetness so your victims, er, guests, never know what hit them. You can make these bad boys a pitcher at a time (just multiply all proportions by 8) so you can have refills at the ready:

Drinkhacker’s Big Blind Cocktail

1 oz vodka
1 oz gin
¼ oz dry vermouth
¼ oz St. Germain elderflower liqueur
2 dashes orange bitters

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

More articles on How to Host the Perfect Poker Home Game:

Part 5: What to Drink

Additional Home Game Tools:

The sixth article in our How to Host the Perfect Poker Home Game is another special one as John Donohue of Stay at Stove Dad has provided a meal plan for your epic evening of card playing.

Donohue is 42-year-old journalist and father of two who started the Stay at Stove Dad as a way of chronicling his effort’s to feed himself and his family. He’s since edited a book called Man with a Pan that features 21 writers and chefs discussing cooking.

If you like what you see here we highly recommend you check out his excellent Stay at Stove Dad blog.

Bon appetit!

Stay at Stove Dad Plus Poker

I’m not much of a gambling man, though I did have kids, which, truth be told, must be the biggest parlay of married life (and I doubled down, becoming a parent twice over), so I guess I’m not terribly risk adverse.

Back in my single days, I was once a part of a monthly poker game with some “card-playing friends” from work. I put that in quotes, because the only way our friendship could continue was if I stopped playing cards with them.

You must know that old saw about knowing who the sucker at the table is? Well, it took me about two nights around their table to figure out who it was. That was the end of my gambling days.

If I was going to have a poker party, though, I would have to serve food with it. I checked with some of my card-playing friends to see what kinds of things might work. Pretzels were the universal answer—It seems you don’t want anything sticky or greasy, lest you mess up the cards.

Well, pretzels would never satisfy me—I need to snack on protein or else I feel jangly and worn out—so I racked my brain, and came up with some other ideas.

They might be far afield, but I think they’ll meet the requirement that you hands remain more-or-less clean, and no matter what the cards turn up, you’ll be a winner with these two dishes—they’re rich in protein, and that will make you feel good, and keep going.

Mussels a la Plancha

For something savory, make mussels a la plancha. It is pretty foolproof—all you need (besides the mussels) is a cast iron frying pan. These would be good with beer, too.

1 pound mussels
1 cast-iron frying pan
Rinse the mussels well and pull any beards off them. Use only the intact ones that are completely closed.
Heat the cast-iron pan until hot.
Place the mussels on the pan in one layer.
Cook over high heat until the mussels open, release their juices, and the juices boil off. When the liquid is gone, the mussels are ready.

Eat them right out of the pan. They will be smoky and delicious.

This will serve about 2-3 people. Do up to 3 lbs of mussels in two pans for more folks.

Meringues

For something sweet, make meringues, which may be a dessert, but they are almost all protein, so you won’t suffer a sugar crash. These must be made well ahead of time. I don’t know if these would be any good with beer, or not.

Best Food For Poker Night Snacks

Preheat oven to 225 degrees.

4 egg whites
3/4 cup sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
Beat eggwhites til frothy.
Add vanilla.
Add sugar a few spoonfuls at a time.
Beat until stiff peaks form.

Scoop onto parchment paper and bake (really, oven-dry) at 225 degrees for a long time (about a hour) -- depending on whether you like them chewy inside or crunchy.

Proper recipes will tell you to make sure the egg whites are at 70 degrees, and to sift the sugar. I'm lazy and don't do either. It is important to preheat the oven or you may burn the bottoms. Also, Joy of Cooking says that if you like chewy, 275 degrees; if you like crunchy 225 degrees. And leave them in the oven, with the heat turned off, and the door cracked open, to cool, for 30 minutes or so.

Serve with berries and ice cream on top, if you want the whole experience. Otherwise, just pop them in your mouth and keep playing.