Fried Beer Comes to the Texas State Fair

by Jason Best, Posted Aug 26th 2010 @ 1:00PM

Last year's winner, Deep Fried Butter. Photo: cmiked, Flickr

Ever since the inauguration five years ago of the Big Tex Choice Awards at the Texas State Fair, food vendors have been deep-frying the impossible in their pursuit of the Most Creative and Best Taste awards.

Nothing in the rules says the food has to be fried, but this is an event, after all, that carries the semi-official slogan: "Fried Food Capital of Texas."

Big Tex has given us the Deep Fried Latte, Texas Fried Cookie Dough, Fried Coke, and last year's Most Creative winner: Deep Fried Butter. That would seem to qualify the fair as the Fried Food Capital of the World.

This year's contestants have batter-dipped their way into whole new territory with two new concoctions: Fried Beer and the Deep Fried Frozen Margarita.

As the Dallas Morning News reports, the Fried Beer was the result of a painful process of trial and error for creator Mark Zamble. His initial efforts kept exploding once they hit the fryer, and he kept getting burned. Zamble has already applied for a patent and trademark for Fried Beer, which appears to be a pocket of pretzel dough filled with its signature beverage.

The Deep Fried Frozen Margarita is the brainchild of Jake Levy, who won the Most Creative award in 2007 for the Deep Fried Latte. As the Morning News describes it, the margarita "includes a funnel cake batter mixed with either tequila or tequila-flavored wine, dusted with margarita mix and served in a salt-rimmed plastic glass."

Judges will decide the winners over Labor Day weekend, and the winning creations will debut at the fair's opening on September 24.

Now we're just waiting for someone to tackle the ultimate deep-fried koan: Deep Fried Fryer Grease.

Filed Under: Events
Tags: big tex choice awards, deep fried butter, fried beer, fried butter, fried food, fried frozen margarita, texas state fair

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

8-26-2010 @3:39PM aiko76nks said... Texas Fried Frito Pie was left out of your article, it's a finalist too. I had a preview and it's genuinely delicious; not overly battered. They have a fun web site to share your State Fair of Texas pics and vids and some pictures of Deep Fried Frito Pie. http://www.texasfriedfritopie.com/community.htm. HOWDY!
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8-26-2010 @4:12PM andy said... If it's in the south, it's been fried.
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8-26-2010 @5:40PM Average Betty said... Next up: Deep Fried Antacid!
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8-26-2010 @5:54PM John F.C. Taylor said... Why is this getting all the publicity when there's been a place in New York that's been doing it for a while now. It was part of one of those food shows that were featured on the Travel Channel. My favorite was the deep fried pizza.
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8-30-2010 @11:34AM DMT23 said... http://www.chipshopnyc.com/

I think you're talking about the Chip Shop in Brooklyn.

They fry any and everything, even random food items that you bring with you.

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8-26-2010 @8:00PM nononsenebeauty said... These treats should be served with a side order of Fried Lipitor
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8-26-2010 @8:44PM JohnK said... That picture looks like a couple of fried hog apples.
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8-26-2010 @8:59PM sarjth said... Ya'll are killing yourselves:)
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8-26-2010 @10:24PM ZenKimchi said... I did Deep Fried Beer in 2008. Calling shenanigans. http://www.zenkimchi.com/FoodJournal/recipes/food-for-foreigners/deep-fried-beer/
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8-29-2010 @10:36PM Laura said... Last year's TxSF Grand Prize winner was Deep Fried Peaches & Cream. We tried several of them and felt the Deep Fried Butter should have won Grand Prize. Peaches & cream were a big disappointment.
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9-03-2010 @3:27PM Linda said... A couple years ago they had deep fried banana pudding. It was worth every fat gram and calorie and I hated having to share.
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