YAY! It’s back to football season! With the start of football season, I start to think about what food to eat while watching the game. A football game is a good excuse to whip up snacks, open some beers—or maybe some sparkling rosé—and watch TV all day.
Whether you like football or not, you have to respect a sport that has its own cuisine. Football food is undeniably delicious ranging from cheesy, delicious dips to pretty much anything that can be dunked in ranch dressing.
I tend to like dips best when watching football or really anything on tv. The best chip dip is Lawson’s Chip Dip. A creamy, mildly onion dip best with ridged potato chips.
I remember Lawson’s neighborhood convenience stores quite vividly. As a kid growing up in Ohio in the 1970s and 1980s, they were an Ohio corner store staple for picking up necessities. Big grocery stores existed, but kept much shorter hours and were few and far between.
In 1939, James Lawson opened the store at his dairy farm to sell his milk. The store expanded into several “chains” throughout Ohio, and eventually reaching into parts of Pennsylvania.
Lawson’s neighborhood convenience stores were a common sight in Ohio from the 1960s through the mid-1980s. They sold necessities like milk, bread, eggs, orange juice, and inexpensive items like deli ‘chipped’ style ham and sour cream potato chip dips. Their prices were usually less than the big grocery stores. As super markets began using milk as a loss leader (very common in the 70s and early 80s), Lawson lost their previous price advantage over the super market chains.
Lawson’s chipped ham, also known as chip-chopped ham, is a type of processed ham that was a popular item at Lawson’s convenience stores. It’s a loaf of chopped ham and pork trimmings shaved into very thin slices.
I liked Lawson’s chip chop ham on white bread with lots of yellow mustard, a slice of American cheese (or Velveeta), and topped with plain potato chips for crunch. My mom would make BBQ chip-chop ham sandwiches for special occasions. She used hot dog buns instead of hamburger buns and served them with potato salad.
Lawson was bought out by Consolidated Foods in 1959. Consolidated Foods was renamed Sara Lee in 1985. At about the same time, Lawson’s stores in the United States were sold to Dairy Mart, a smaller chain of convenience stores located in Enfield, Connecticut. Dairy Mart moved its headquarters to Cuyahoga Falls, renamed the Lawson’s stores, and operated the chain as Dairy Mart for the next 17 years.
In 2002 a Canada-based convenience store conglomerate, bought the assets and name of Dairy Mart. Most of the former Dairy Mart stores, which were either originally Lawson’s stores, or were located in communities in which Lawson’s once had a presence, were converted to the Circle K brand. Due to demand from consumers, it was announced that Lawson’s Chip Dip would continue to be sold no matter what the name of the store. Circle K retains a large presence in Ohio to this day due to the enduring legacy of Lawson’s, especially in Northeast Ohio and Columbus.
Lawson’s originated in the United States in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, but exists today as a Japanese company based in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Lawson is one of the biggest convenience store chains in Japan, following 7-Eleven and Family Mart.
I realize that I went from the start of football season to writing about a convenience store but that‘s how my mind works these days!
Lawson’s Chip Dip
Ingredients
8 ounces sour cream
3 tsp ranch seasoning mix
1 7.5-ounce container chive and onion cream cheese
1 tbsp fresh chives (for garnish (optional))
Instructions
Set the cream cheese out for about 20-30 minutes before making your chip dip so it has time to soften. In a mixing bowl, stir together the softened chive and onion cream cheese, ranch seasoning mix and sour cream. You can also use a hand-mixer or electric mixer to combine it. Garnish with chives or green onions (optional). Serve with your favorite chips!
Lawson’s hot CHIP-CHOP BARBECUE
(My mom would use bottled BBQ sauce but each to their own!)
Ingredients
½ cup unsalted butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cups ketchup
½ cup water
⅓ cup distilled white vinegar
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons prepared yellow mustard
1 ½ pounds chipped chopped ham(deli ham sliced paper thin)
8 kaiser rolls, split
1 cup pickle relish (Optional)
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion; cook and stir until translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in ketchup, water, vinegar, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, and mustard; simmer about 10 minutes. Stir in ham; cook until sauce is bubbling and ham is heated through, 5 to 7 minutes. Meanwhile, heat kaiser rolls in the preheated oven until toasted, 5 to 7 minutes. Divide ham mixture among toasted rolls; top with pickle relish. Serve hot.
