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CNN is reporting that deep fried lattes, fried chili pie, fried banana pudding and fried guacamole are all highlights set to premier at this year’s third annual Big Tex Choice Awards contest. The event, which “tests the fair grub ingenuity of State Fair concessionaires,” is interesting not just because it’s the first time I’ve seen the word concessionaires, but also because I had no clue people wanted their lattes deep fried. Of course, the really interesting thing is that all of these ingenious foods come with a bit of a complex: They’re all trying to emerge from the shadow of 2006’s show stopper, the fried coke. The darling of the deep fried dough world, the dish combines 1 part ingenuity with several parts coca cola syrup (included both in the batter, and in the sauce). In fact, the dish was so popular that it sold over 16,000 servings in its first two weeks—a pretty stunning figure according to vendors.
As for just how many calories come in the new New Coke, that figure’s been estimated at a good 820+ calories… and yet no one seems to be working on the diet follow-up. In any case, as of now it sounds like fried coke is going to reign without any sort of Pepsi challenge, as the other colas seem happy to let their foe bask in the Texas limelight. Click here to read more at CNN.
Comments (17)
Comment
I’ve never been to the State Fair, but I’m always amused/fascinated by what foods they fry every year…When I heard they were frying COKE last year, I thought that was brilliant..
we often have fried ice cream on the menus down here and its really pretty tasty..
donner
austin tx
posted by donner on 8-28-2007 at 8:57 am
The Indiana State Fair unveiled Fried Pepsi this year and – as if this makes it all better – advertised that the oil was transfat-free. I’m still scared of the fried Twinkie, personally!
posted by Trena on 8-28-2007 at 10:39 am
No Coke! Pepsi!
The Indiana State Fair concessionaires were featuring Fried Pepsi this year…
posted by k2 on 8-28-2007 at 10:46 am
At a recent Fair, the local newspaper touted the Fried Twinkie. My first thought was…..Wow! Here’s an item that can’t be any more unhealthy. Let’s face it…anything that can last 30 plus or minus years in a bomb shelter and still taste fresh (whether the story is a myth or not, we’ve ALL heard it)can’t possibly have anything “healthy” in it! I’m thinking, ‘What else could someone do to it to make it MORE unhealthy??’ The answer of course would be to batter and deep-fry it and serve it with a sweet raspberry sauce! (I guess if they’d have fried it in lard could have made it even worse.) The article was enough to make sure I went and search one out. I must admit…it was GREAT!!! Who would have thought??? The following year, the concessionaires were battering and frying EVERYRTHING!! Evan a Snickers bar! And you wonder why our country is so obese???
posted by Lillian Law on 8-28-2007 at 3:45 pm
Actually, my wife and I had the fried Coke last year. It was terrible (not just the fact that it was fried). The Coke flavor was muddled and the dough was not very good on it’s own. The best fried item at the Texas State Fair, the fried Oreo.
J.A.
posted by J.A. on 8-28-2007 at 4:11 pm
At first I was completely perplexed at how someone could deep-fry a LIQUID, but adding it to batter solves that problem, heh.
Our (tiny) county fair just recently added a booth that sold deep-fried Twinkies and Mars bars. I was a fraid to go near it for my atreries’ sake, but the most interesting deep-fried food I’ve had is button mushrooms
They’re delicious!
posted by heather on 8-29-2007 at 12:28 am
A few years ago, while driving across Texas, I stopped at a Stuckey’s along the interstate.
I tried the deep-fried corn-on-the-cob thinking it a local delicacy. No such luck. It tasted like what you would expect it to taste: like sh*t.
What’s the big idea of deep-frying everything anyway?
posted by Daniel from Canada on 8-29-2007 at 11:36 am
My friend made a fried peanut butter and jelly sandwich, with funnel cake batter! It was amazing!
posted by Sara on 8-30-2007 at 8:08 am
–What’s the big idea of deep-frying everything anyway? –
Seems like a gimmick more than anything to me. You could take a piece of white bread and deep fry it, add some type of salt or sugar to it, and it would probably taste pretty good. Grease = yummy, so most anything that tastes decent normally will taste great hot and deep fried.
That said, I guess it is sort of amusing, and relatively harmless (assuming the fair only comes once per year).
posted by EV on 1-9-2009 at 9:00 am
Last year they also had chicken fried bacon, sadly I never personally had a chance to try it, but everyone who went said it blew everything else out of the water.
posted by Adam on 1-9-2009 at 9:06 am
Ah CNN. At the forefront of journalism.
We have: record setting unemployment, federal deficits, a new President, a war on two fronts, emerging crises in the Holy Land, government bailouts, housing fallouts, poverty, etc.
They report: fried food.
Keep it up Anderson.
posted by Mick on 1-9-2009 at 10:22 am
I don’t know if Alabama even has a State Fair. Here in Greenville, we usually have a Watermelon Jubilee.
posted by Sara on 1-9-2009 at 11:15 am
Having sampled many fried county fair delicacies, I hold that the deep-fried dill pickle (spears, not slices) is the tastiest creation.
posted by Chelsea on 1-9-2009 at 11:17 am
Mick, some people like to smile once in a while.
posted by KTickel on 1-9-2009 at 11:35 am
I had the fried coke at the 2007 State Fair of Texas… It tasted like beignets (little fried donuts from Louisiana) dipped in coke syrup. Not the best thing I’ve ever had. My favorite fair food is actually the frozen banana dipped in chocolate…
posted by Lindsey on 1-9-2009 at 1:05 pm
Chelsea is spot on. Deep fried pickles are the schnizzle.
posted by Wrongo on 1-9-2009 at 1:08 pm
Man, I remember going to the State Fair and eating all of the fried foods. The really fry everything. My favorite was the fried Oreo and the fried sweet potato pies. There were somethings I wasn’t brave enough to try, but most of everything I had was really good.
posted by Missing Dallas, not snow on 1-21-2009 at 5:51 pm