What Exactly Are Drunken Sailors?

Football parties and tailgates offer a fun atmosphere and an excellent chance to hang out with your pals while taking in a game. And sure, there are plenty of great tailgate recipes out there, from 7-layer dip to pigs in a blanket and the classic Buffalo wings. But sometimes, these old standbys can feel a little stale if you've repeatedly had them. If only there was a less common party snack recipe that's easy to make, tasty, and inexpensive.

You already knew where this was going. We could throw on our best low-octave movie announcer voice and say something like, "Imagine a world where you combined sausage with ketchup, barbecue sauce, and whiskey," but you don't have to imagine it because that world already exists, and that's exactly what drunken sailors are. The best part is that they're not just made in a slow cooker; they're designed to be eaten straight out of one.

The sausage in question is the eternally smoky kielbasa, possibly the singular star of Polish cuisine. In contrast to other smoky sausages like andouille, kielbasa isn't spicy, which could be a perfect thing for a party group since not everyone has a high spice tolerance. Specifically, small, coin-sized kielbasa slices are dropped into a slow cooker and mixed with ketchup, barbecue sauce, brown sugar, and whiskey. That's it; that's the entire thing. The result is a play on sweet and savory that pretty much any meat-eater can get behind.

And that slow cooker is ultimately the key to this dish. Not only is it easy to use (albeit not the fastest, as properly cooked drunken sailors will take about six hours), but it's even easier to serve because you don't need to take it out of the slow cooker and fiddle around with serving dishes. Just give your guests toothpicks and let them go nuts to their heart's content.

What type of alcohol you go with here is important, too, and your best variety of whiskey here will be bourbon, whose sweet notes will complement the brown sugar, barbecue sauce, and ketchup that's already a part of this dish. That doesn't mean you need to spring for the priciest bottle you can find, though — it would be a little bit extra to go upscale on an easy party appetizer. But by the same token, cheap whiskey is likely to leave it with a low-rent rotgut taste, so stay away from that, too. Instead, find something in the middle.

We may not know where drunken sailors came from or how they got their name (aside from being meat that's literally drowning in sauce), but we do know they're easy to make and quite delicious. So give them a shot next time you need to mix things up for the big game because they're sure to be a hit.