Every state of origin match like a grand final needs footy food. In fact state of origin is more important than a grand final or an international test match so the food needs to be super tasty and super simple.

I started the day with a small simple breakfast with a big dinner in mind.

For lunch I made a smoked salmon, Coon cheese, cream cheese and lettuce toasted sandwich with jalapeño avocado spread.

So for dinner I started with meat chips. These are slices of salami cooked in a hot oven and allowed to cool to a crunchy chip. I served these with cream cheese with chives and spring onion. That makes up this evening’s vegetables 

For my main meal I bought 500 grams of chicken wings. I specified the forearm equivalent, i.e., the radius and ulna and not the humerus. I reckon this has the most tender meat and when it’s cooked well it falls from the bones easily. I coated the chicken with oil and panko crumbs and added some chicken salt, golden syrup and chili flakes. I put them into an oven at 150 °C for 45 minutes.

So this is the footy food I had tonight for game 1 of the 2015 state of origin series.

I ended up finishing it before the game started. Kick off is meant to be at 8 pm but channel 9 never seems to get it right. The pre-game mucking around with singing songs no one understands and then listening to someone butcher our national anthem pushed the kick off to about 8.20 pm. I still reckon a sure winner for the national anthem is a school choir. What a thrill would it be for them to sing the national anthem for the greatest sporting event that happens three times a year for the greatest game of all.

I kept sane by listening to the game on the ABC Radio app rather than listen to the Channel 9 broadcast. There was about a 30 second delay on the telecast but it meant I didn’t have to listen to Phil Gould and Andrew Johns.

In the end Queensland defeated New South Wales 11:10. It was a tough tight game. Bring on game 2.

What footy food will you have for game 2?