"fried beer" news and stories

This year's State Fair of Texas drew a lot of press over fried beer and the 2010 Big Tex Choice Award winner fried frito pie (let's not forget last years winner -- fried butter). While the Slashfood team wasn't able to make the trip down, a fellow AOL colleague attended this past weekend and snapped some shots of the fried-food lineup this fair has to offer.

This year's Big Tex Choice Award winners were chosen by a three-judge panel who sampled all of the deep-fried food entries before crowning the Fried Frito Pie the best in show.

Entries in the contest must be new to the fair, as well as "unique and taste-tempting," the fair's Web site says. Fair food vendors are sent invitations to participate in mid-summer and interested parties can submit menus to a committee for consideration. Those chosen to participate vie for the Big Tex Choice Awards on Labor Day.

The awards were created in 2005 to draw attention to the bounty of creativity in the fair's fried food offerings.

Founded in 1886, the State Fair of Texas is a 24-day-long exhibition and competition featuring food competitions, live entertainment and an auto show.

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.