"fried frito pie" 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.

Some compared it to a rookie winning the Super Bowl MVP when three culinary novices swept the Best Taste award at the sixth annual Big Tex Choice Awards yesterday.

The creators of Texas Fried Frito Pie beat out the competition to take the prize at the Texas State Fair, the Dallas Morning News reported.

The team was made up of Michael Thomas, the originator, Richard Roznowski, the motivator and Jeffrey Lovel, the facilitator, all of whom had a hand in creating the Texas Fried Frito Pie -- balls of cheese and chili rolled in corn chips and then battered and deep fried -- and getting it to the fair.