Super Bowl chow — Dinner of champions

If you're looking for Super Bowl chow that is authentic to this year's matchup, here's the score from food writers in Indianapolis and Chicago.

Colts fans may want to serve fried pork tenderloin sandwiches, which are "a big bar-food favorite of Hoosiers," said Donna Segal, former food editor of the Indianapolis Star. "The pork tenderloin is pounded flat, breaded and deep fried. At some places, it's so large that it hangs over the bun and is almost the diameter of the plate."

The Hoosier steak sandwich is popular at Indiana's state fair, she added. It's a rib-eye steak, cut about 1/4-inch thick, grilled and served on a bun.

As for soups, chili is a big favorite, Segal said, adding that a downtown Indianapolis institution is John's Hot Stew, "where blue-collar workers, football fans and high-powered executives go for large bowls of beef stew seasoned with as few or as many hot peppers as you can take. The stew is served with a loaf of warm French bread and a stick of butter and is usually washed down with beer."

But football get-togethers in Indiana include a lot of dishes you'll find everywhere else around the country, Segal said: "Wings, the Mexican layered dip and the warm artichoke dip."

Here in Utah, Colts fan Zac Clark of Farmington is decking his living room walls with "every piece of my Colts merchandise that I won't be wearing."

That includes seven hats, two sweatshirts, a Peyton Manning jersey, a beach towel and a T-shirt.

"This is huge, because I've been a Colts fan since I was 6, so that's going on 12 years. We'll have a pot going of Lit'l Smokies in barbecue sauce, my mom's homemade salsa, and maybe quesadillas or taquitos, and prime rib."

In Chicago, customers line up around the block for CaramelCrisp and CheeseCorn at Garrett Popcorn Shop, according to Donna Pierce, the Chicago Tribune's assistant food editor and test-kitchen director. The "Chicago Mix," a combination of caramel and cheese flavors, was on Oprah Winfrey's 2002 "favorite things" list.

Since the company doesn't divulge its recipe, Pierce shared a copycat recipe developed by the newspaper's test kitchen. One of the secrets is popping the corn in coconut oil.

Other party options are "Chicago-style" hot dogs and pizza.

For an authentic Chicago-style deep-dish pizza, Utahns need look no further than Connie's Pizza, 6165 Highland Drive, which uses the same recipes as the well-known Connie's chain in Chicago.

"We get tested about three times a week — someone will come in and say they grew up in Chicago near Connie's and we'd better not screw it up," said owner Marc Greeley. "So far, we've been up to the challenge."