Fried potatoes and catfish are old hat to Texans at what is billed as the
largest state fair in the United States. What they long for is a new offering
for the vats of hot grease to go along with fair favorites such as fried
pickles, fried okra, fried corn on the cob and fried cheesecake.
This year, 14 new food items were introduced to the fair and eight of them
are fried. New to the fair, held in a land that is home to chicken fried
steak, are items such as fried Oreo cookies, fried candy bars, and fried
cheese curds.
"Honey, I would fry pretty much anything because that is what the people
like," said Olivia Acuna, who works at a booth that sells fried Snickers bars.
The candy bar is dipped in a batter, fried for about 30 seconds and served
hot on a plate that quickly becomes saturated in oil. A calorie count was not
immediately available.
Ron Black, the fair's vice president for food service said people spend an
estimated $15 million on food at the state fair. The fair opened last Friday
and runs for three weeks. It typically attracts about 3.5 million people.
Last year, fried Twinkies were a huge hit, and this year, the new food
darling could be fried onion on a stick.
Some other fried favorites include fried tamales, fried turkey legs, and
ice cream that is lumped into a ball, covered in breakfast cereal crumbs and
dipped quickly in hot oil. Dieters can ask to have the ice cream served
without chocolate syrup and whipped cream if they want a lighter version.
The most celebrated fried item at the state fair is the corny dog, which is
know as a corn dog in the rest of the United States. Both items are hot dogs
on sticks breaded with a cornmeal coating and deep fried.
Skip Fletcher, the head of the company called Fletcher's that has been
selling corny dogs at the fair for over 60 years, said he uses peanut oil to
fry the food in order to cut down on cholesterol.
Fletcher was a beaming judge on Sunday for the first corny dog eating
competition at the fair. It was won by Rich LeFevre, who downed 12 dogs in 10
minutes.
LeFevre, an International Federation of Competitive Eating chili
consumption champion who has also downed 25-1/2 hot dogs at the celebrated
contest on New York's Coney Island, said the fried corny dog was a tough foe
for the heavy eater.
"Corny dogs are wonderful, but it's hard to eat of a lot of them," he said.