Looking for delicious, quick, easy recipes? Look no further. Click here.

Deep-Fried Butter to Hit Texas State Fair


fryer
Photo: Ukanda, Flickr
Deep-fry maestro Abel Gonzales may one day try to conquer what's widely considered the Everest, the four-minute mile and the 56-game hitting streak of fair food: tossed salad. But in the meantime, he's contenting himself with deep-fried butter.

Gonzales, who has twice won top honors in the State Fair of Texas' annual contest for best new midway food, is back this year with deep-fried butter, a dish that's drawing gasps from even the most hard-arteried eaters. The snack will go up against fried peanut-butter-cup macaroons, deep-fried peaches and cream, fried stuffed peppers and fried pork chips with gravy for the Big Tex crown this Monday.

And it comes in four flavors.

While fair officials don't require participants in the competition to fry their entries, spokeswoman Sue Gooding concedes most savvy vendors reach for their deep-fryers.

"We also have fruits and vegetables," Gooding says of the fair's more than 200 food stands. "But the corn dog was invented here. So most everything is fried."

Gonzales, whose previous stabs at corn dog-level fame included fried coke and a fried PB&J sandwich, swears his love of toast inspired him to create deep-fried butter (Paula Deen, who last year circulated a fried butter balls recipe, apparently wasn't his muse.) He wraps butter in dough before frying, so the finished product resembles an especially greasy biscuit.

"It's similar to having a dinner roll with a lot of butter," Gooding says. "It's very good."

Still, Gonzales worried the treat wouldn't appeal to sweets-fixated children or their parents, who might reasonably wonder whether shelling out for deep-fried butter would be considered good child rearing.

"That's why I threw in the flavors," he says.

Deep-fried butter is available in four varieties: original, garlic, cherry and grape.

Gonzales feels good about his chances in this year's competition, although he's sure he could win it if he turned his sights on the vegetable kingdom.

"Salad's the threshold," he says. "If anyone could deep-fry salad, I'm up for it."

http://xml.channel.aol.com/xmlpublisher/fetch.v2.xml?option=expand_relative_urls&dataUrlNodes=uiConfig,feedConfig,entry&id=710420&pid=710419&uts=1251995542
http://cdn.channel.aol.com/cs_feed_v1_6/csfeedwrapper.swf
Butter Sculptures
A butter sculpture of golfer Tiger Woods made by Norma "Duffy" Lyon, on Aug. 9, 2005, at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, Iowa. Lyon, who has carved a life-size dairy cow out of butter at the fair for more than 40 years, has in the past made butter sculptures of actor John Wayne and country singer Garth Brooks.
Charlie Neibergall, AP
Getty Images North America

Butter Sculptures

    A butter sculpture of golfer Tiger Woods made by Norma "Duffy" Lyon, on Aug. 9, 2005, at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, Iowa. Lyon, who has carved a life-size dairy cow out of butter at the fair for more than 40 years, has in the past made butter sculptures of actor John Wayne and country singer Garth Brooks.

    Charlie Neibergall, AP

    Norma Lyon touches up her butter sculpture of Barack Obama following a town-hall-style meeting by the then presidential candidate at South Tama Middle School on Dec. 27, 2007 in Toledo, Iowa. The bust was made from 23 pounds of butter. The stop was part of a scheduled five-city campaign swing in the central part of the state in an attempt to gather last-minute support before the Jan. 3 caucus.

    Scott Olson, Getty Images

    A sculpture of Wilber and Orville Wright, carved out of butter, stands on display at the Ohio State Fair on July 31, 2003, in Columbus, Ohio. The sculpture is part of the butter cow exhibit in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers' first flight.

    Terry Gilliam, AP

    Sculptor Norma Duffy Lyon sitting among figures at head of life-size butter sculpture rendering of "The Last Supper."

    Layne Kennedy, Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image

    A butter sculpture of an Amish man selling vegetables to a woman and her son is unveiled at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg, Pa., on Jan. 4, 2001. The sculpture was crafted of 750 pounds of donated butter and includes vegetables made of butter and colored their respective colors. It pays tribute to Pennsylvania produce.

    Paul Vathis, AP

    A section of the 2009 Butter Sculpture is seen at the 93rd annual Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg, Pa., on Jan. 8, 2009. This year's sculpture is dedicated to the Pennsylvania National Guard and depicts a Guardsman saying goodbye to his family.

    Carolyn Kaster, AP

    School children look at the 2008 Pennsylvania Farm Show's official butter sculpture at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex and Expo Center on Jan. 3, 2008, in Harrisburg, Pa. The sculpture is made of 900 ponds of butter and is of three children and a cow waiting to board a school bus.

    Carolyn Kaster, AP

    The "Butter Cow" display is viewed at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield, Ill., on Aug.15, 2008. It is a pastoral scene that includes a butter cow, a butter calf, a trio of butter skunks, a butter tree, a butter log, a butter bird and butter snakes. Sculptor Sharon BuMann, who is from New York made the display which uses nearly 800 pounds of unsalted butter.

    Seth Perlman, AP

    Pennsylvania Dairy Princess Rhonda Kieklak of Wattsburg, Pa., stands behind a butter sculpture depicting former President Dwight Eisenhower feeding an Angus calf after unveiling at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg, Pa., on Jan. 4, 1996. The sculpture was carved from 800 pounds of butter.

    Paul Vathis, AP

    Norma "Duffy" Lyon works on a Harley-Davidson V-Rod motorcycle made of butter on Aug. 6, 2003, at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, Iowa. Lyon, who has carved a life-size diary cow out of butter at the fair for more than 40 years, is creating the full-scale motorcyle to celebrate Harley-Davidson's 100th anniversary.

    Charlie Neibergall, AP

Related Headlines

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Add your comments

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br> tags.

New Users

Current Users

Tip of the Day

December may have peppermint bark, but have you thought to incorporate the taste of autumn into white chocolate with a rich pumpkin swirl?

RSS NEWSFEEDS

Slashfood Features


Seasons
Spring (74)
Summer (300)
Fall (272)
Winter (77)
What is it?
Beef (635)
Bread (83)
Candy (520)
Cheese (585)
Chocolate (838)
Comfort Food (807)
Condiments (265)
Dairy (567)
Eggs (321)
Fish (378)
Fruit (1064)
Grains (623)
Herbs (10)
Meat (359)
Nuts/seeds (318)
Organic (5)
Pork (404)
Poultry (464)
Rice (57)
Sandwiches (34)
Shellfish (192)
Soups/Salads (122)
Spices (322)
Sugar (434)
Tea (7)
Vegetables (1414)
Holidays
Christmas (133)
Easter (37)
Halloween (99)
Hanukkah (56)
Memorial Day (15)
Mother's Day (37)
New Year's (41)
Passover (11)
St. Patrick's Day (14)
Thanksgiving (205)
Valentine's Day (50)
News
Food Politics (4)
Bakeries (151)
Books (810)
Business (1287)
Celebrities (242)
Coffee shops (194)
Edible Gifts (39)
Farming (467)
Fast Food (385)
Food News (587)
Health & Medical (873)
How To (1433)
Lists (836)
Magazines (509)
New Products (1589)
Newspapers (1632)
On the Blogs (2522)
Raves & Reviews (1189)
Recipes (2495)
Restaurants (1473)
Science (742)
Site Announcements (186)
Stores & Shopping (1023)
Television/Film (736)
Trends (1440)
Vegetarian/Vegan (96)
Features
Cheese Course (74)
Diary of a Distiller (30)
Dining at Our Desks (8)
Festive Family Feasts (9)
Guilty Pleasures (83)
Quizzes (22)
Raising the Bar (23)
Taste Test (18)
The Hungry Bride (34)
The Skinny Chef (67)
Tinfoil Swan (26)
Tip of the Day (379)
Wild Edibles (22)
X Marks the Spot (1)
Back to School (14)
Cocktail Hour (133)
Cocktail Revolution (0)
Cookbook Spotlight (573)
Cooking Without a Recipe (5)
Culinary Kids (235)
Did you know? (458)
Fall Flavors (138)
Feast Your Eyes (411)
Food Gadgets (485)
Food Oddities (1044)
Food Porn (892)
Food Quest (176)
Foodie Flicks (65)
Frugal Food (95)
Garden Party (28)
Hacking Food (109)
Happy Hour (212)
Head to Tail (44)
In Sixty Seconds (738)
Ingredient Spotlight (60)
Leftovers (53)
Light Food (189)
Liquor Cabinet (186)
Our Bloggers (34)
Pop Food (146)
Pumpkin Day (12)
Real Kitchens (85)
Retro cookery (154)
Slashfood Ate (206)
Slashfood Talks (4)
Slow cooking (55)
Super Size Me (121)
The History of... (72)
What's On Tap? (44)
Wine of the Week (53)
YumSugar (55)
What Time Is It?
Breakfast (757)
Dessert (1371)
Dinner (1388)
Hors D'oeuvres (319)
Lunch (1041)
Snacks (1128)
Where Is It?
America (2663)
Europe (515)
France (178)
Italy (174)
Asia (552)
Australia (158)
British Isles (875)
Caribbean (38)
Central Africa (8)
East Coast (582)
Eastern Europe (45)
Islands (59)
Mediterranean (131)
Mexico (42)
Middle East (63)
Midwest Cities (232)
Midwest Rural (74)
New Zealand (63)
North America (95)
Northern Africa (21)
Northern Europe (66)
South Africa (36)
South America (101)
South Asia (125)
Southern States (307)
West Coast (938)
What are you doing?
Baking (833)
Barbecuing (112)
Boiling (130)
Braising (21)
Broiling (37)
Frying (190)
Grilling (212)
Microwaving (40)
Roasting (105)
Slow cooking (34)
Steaming (45)
Choices
Fairtrade (16)
Artisan Foods (163)
Local Eating (149)
Additives
Artificial Sugars (42)
High-fructose corn syrup (21)
MSG (7)
Trans Fats (58)
Libations
Hot chocolate (27)
Soda (175)
Spirits (425)
Beer (535)
Brandy (13)
Champagne (120)
Cocktails (474)
Coffee (419)
Gin (115)
Juice (126)
Liqueurs (81)
Non-alcoholic (27)
Rum (103)
Teas (185)
Tequila (23)
Vodka (164)
Water (90)
Whisky (119)
Wine (765)
Affairs
Celebrations (108)
Closings (14)
Festivals (89)
Holidays (305)
Openings (51)
Parties (246)
Tastings (163)

RESOURCES

Powered by Blogsmith

Featured Stories

 

Most Commented On (60 days)

Twitter Updates

Updates From

Sites We Love

Other Weblogs Inc. Network blogs you might be interested in:

Also on AOL