"state fair" news and stories

Baked Corn Dogs - Feast Your Eyes

by Elizabeth Wine, Posted Sep 16th 2009 @ 10:00AM

Baked corn dog and cole slaw. Photo: you can count on me.

As we bid goodbye to state fair season, this picture reminds us of how good trashy food can be, if done properly. We can already taste the wonderful combination of salty dog offset by a slightly sweet cornbread batter.

This home version is baked, rendering deep-fryer guilt obsolete. A side of coleslaw that looks as if it were made from real cabbage really boosts the health quotient. It's practically a food pyramid on a plate ... or at the very least, an excellent attempt at good-for-you fair food.

[Via Flickr]

Filed under: Feast Your Eyes

State Fair Food Quiz

COMMENTS 0

by Slashfood Editor, Posted Sep 1st 2009 @ 1:34PM

This state fair food quiz will test you on all your favorites, like cotton candy, fried twinkies, corn dogs, funnel cake and more.

State Fair Trivia

At its public debut at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, cotton candy was sold as:

Fairy Floss
Cotton Fluff
Candy Cloud
Sugar Pillow

Which one of these deep-fried fair treats uses unleavened batter?

Fried dough
Funnel cake
Elephant ear
Zeppole

In the 1700s, colonial kettle corn was originally sweetened with:

Cane sugar
Honey & molasses
Corn syrup
Maple syrup

'Bout how many grams of delicious, batter-dipped fat are in a deep-fried Twinkie?

Springfield, Ill.'s Cozy Dog Drive-In introduced this item as the original corn dog handle:

Popsicle stick
Chopstick
Toothpick
Cocktail fork

Which state's fair recently became the first to ban trans-fat cooking oils?

Indiana
California
New York
Maryland

Snow Cone King Sammie Bert introduced his handmade shaved ice concoction at the Texas State Fair in:

1903
1919
1922
1926

Saltwater taffy was invented at this tourist hotspot during the 1880s:

Ocean City, Md.
Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Long Beach, Calif.
Atlantic City, N.J.

If you're gobbling down hot-dish-on-a-stick, you're most likely at the fair in the great state of:

Wisconsin
Minnesota
Iowa
Nebraska

Abel Gonzales Jr. attracted media attention in 2006 when he deep-fried this delicacy for the State Fair of Texas:

Coca-Cola
Mayonnaise
Kool-Aid pickles
Fudgesicle

What is a Donkey Tail?

A cheese-filled sausage wrapped in a tortilla, deep-fried
Deep-fried beef jerky
A deep-fried donkey tail on a stick
A hot dog rolled in bacon, deep fried

Butter sculptures are a famous staple of state fairs. What is their origin?

They were edible centerpieces to be eaten with bread and crackers
State fair artists used butter because it was cheaper than clay
A carnie made a sculpture out of leftover butter, and a tradition was born
The sculptures helped to publicize the dairy industry

What is the architecture of Spaghetti and Meatballs on a Stick?

Meatballs are pierced with uncooked spaghetti then deep fried
Spaghetti strands are rolled into a meatball then fried
Meatballs are wrapped in spaghetti then fried
Spaghetti and meatballs are piled on a piece of garlic bread, then fried

What is a Cool Dog?

A frozen hot dog eaten like a popsicle
Cold hush puppies on a stick
A sponge cake "bun" filled with ice cream and toppings
A popsicle with a Twinkie "bun"

At the 2007 Texas state fair, Mike Levy introduced which deep fried drink?

Latte
Coke
Cosmopolitan
Milkshake

What is a Koolickle?

Pickle juice popsicles
Pickles topped with ice cream
Kool-Aid brined pickles
Popsicles made from Kool-Aid

According to surveys, food is the primary reason people visit state fairs.

True
False

What is a walking taco?

A taco filled with frogs legs
Taco fillings poured into a bag of chips
A deep-fried taco with fillings that can't fall out
A taco filled with pigs' feet

"Fair" is derived from the Latin word for "food".

True
False

What is a "Baltimore Lemon Stick"?

An oversized lemon sugar stick lollipop
A lemon with a peppermint stick stuck in it
Wedges of lemon on a stick, rolled in sugar
A skewer used to hold a lemon, so it can be eaten like a corn on the cob

Filed under: Quizzes

As if fair food couldn't get more exciting - more deep fried foods!

COMMENTS 12

by Sarah J. Gim, Posted Aug 27th 2007 @ 4:55PM

It all started so innocently, didn't it? Some guy speared a hotdog with a stick, dipped it in corn batter, and deep-fried it into a corndog. Now at stat fairs across the country, a corndog is just so...boring. We've got everything from deep-fried cheesecake to Coca-Cola. Remember the winning food in the Texas State Fair food competition last year? A Coke flavored batter deep-fried and served with cola syrup! Dip anything in batter, throw it into hot oil, and you could have a prize-winning food.

And it seems that every year, it gets crazier. At the Texas State Fair, which doesn't even start until the end of September, there are seven entries into the food competition, some of which are reasonable given history, like the Fried Cookie Dough (one step before deep frying an actual cookie, like an Oreo), and others that are just weird, like Fried Guacamole Bites:

Deep Fried Latte
Fried Cookie Dough
Fried Guacamole Bites
Country Pride Peach Cobbler on a Stick
Fernie's Fried Chili Frito Burrito
B.W.'s Original Fried Banana Pudding
Mama's Fried Sweet Potato Pie

Chili and Fritos wrapped inside a tortilla, fried, and served with cheese sauce? It's like people are trying their darnedest to make the most heart-stopping foods they can. Literally.

Filed under: Spirit of Summer, Lists, Health & Medical, Ingredients, Fast Food, Methods

Alaska hosts Ginormous Vegetable Contest

COMMENTS 1

by Joanne Lutynec, Posted Jul 17th 2007 @ 11:14AM

When I first read this post over at our sister site Gadling, I was visualizing some over-sized zucchini or maybe tomatoes the size of a grapefruit, but I honestly didn't expect to see anything quite like this.

Apparently, Alaska hosts a Giant Vegetable Contest every year at their state fair. As Neil points out, the sun in Alaska barely sets during the summer, and the result of the vegetables continuously receiving the benefits of around-the-clock sunlight is that they tend to grow considerably larger than in most other places. This is extremely evident judging by the picture above, which is of the 2006 winner of the Giant Cabbage Weigh-Off. Brenna Dinkel took the title with her 73.4-pound cabbage - and no, I don't even want to know how much cabbage soup that would make.

Other records set last year include:

23-foot, 3 1/2-inch corn stalk
4.702-pound parsnip
1,019-pound pumpkin
17.195-pound yellow zucchini
67 1/8-inch long gourd
55.15-pound blue hubbard squash
21.530-pound bushel gourd

The next event will be held in Palmer, Alaska, between August 23 and September 3, 2007. If anyone makes it out for this event, send us some pictures!

Source

Filed under: Science, Farming, Food Oddities, Did you know?, Garden Party, Ingredients

LA really needs a county fair

COMMENTS 2

by Sarah J. Gim, Posted Sep 19th 2006 @ 5:17PM

Apparently as one of the country's largest County Fairs, the Los Angeles County Fair has enough budget to advertise on television. I've seen a few of the commercials that make fun of LA's reputation, e.g. a mother and daughter shopping and asking whether cashmere comes from a boy cow or a girl cow, and one where several girls ask about cotton candy and Atkins. However, it wasn't until today that I saw this commercial that takes the cake.

The teacher asks, "Can anybody tell me what comes from a cow?"

The kids raise their hands and answer one by one: "Lattes?" "Nu-unh. My mom says non-fat half caff cappuccinos." "Iced Caramel Macchiatos?"

Oh, I fear for the future of our country.

Filed under: Television/Film