There are two special awards at the year every year for fried foods: best tasting and most creative from 8 selected contenders. Somehow this year, it's 7 fried foods and one beer. Fried butter won for most creative in 2009, but in my stomach, it's best-tasting. That year Fried Peaches & Cream won best tasting, and that was actually pretty good too, but not something I have ever sought out since.
But the 2014 Big Tex Choice award contending fried foods were pretty disappointing to me as they all involved meat or nuts, except for the fried bluebonnet, which I will try.
Text and photos from bigtex.com of course!
Biscuit Fries with Chocolate Gravy – Strips of buttermilk biscuit dough fried to golden brown, sprinkled with powdered sugar, and served with a bowl of warm, delicious milk chocolate gravy.
Biscuit Fries with Chocolate Gravy
Deep Fried Texas Bluebonnet by Isaac Rousso. The Deep Fried Texas Bluebonnet is a blueberry muffin, scone-style batter that is stuffed with cream cheese, blueberries and sweet morsels of white chocolate. It is baked and deep fried to a perfect golden brown. This mountain of flavor is topped off with whipped cream, chopped white chocolate morsels, powdered sugar, blueberries, and a delicious blueberry glaze.
Deep Fried Texas Bluebonnet
Deep Fried Butter – 100% pure butter is whipped till light and fluffy, then specially sweetened with a choice of several flavors. The tantalizing mixture is surrounded by a special dough and quick fried.
Deep Fried Butter
For the record, I like the garlic fried butter the most -- they're all the same, it's just a question of the flavor of the buttery sauce poured over the top.
The other finalists in the contender for the Big Tex Choice award this year:
Chicken Fried Loaded Baked Potato: The creamy and moist insides of a baked potato, loaded with generous amounts of butter, bacon, and cheddar cheese, are coated and battered with a delectable blend of spices and flour that create a perfect combination of fried crispy crust and delicious, creamy loaded baked potato. Served with a ranch dipping sauce.
Deep Fried “Breakfast for Dinner”: A twist on a favorite American dinner–“Breakfast for Dinner.” This is a 10″ flour tortilla stuffed with eight favorite breakfast items – scrambled eggs, breakfast sausage, bacon, potatoes, ham, onion, cheddar cheese and gooey cinnamon roll bits – that are deep fried until golden brown and served with a creamy country gravy, salsa and a pico-queso dip.
Fried Gulf Shrimp Boil: Everything you would expect in a shrimp boil rolled into a ball, dusted with Fish Fry, and fried to a golden brown! Baby gulf shrimp, diced red potatoes, onion, lemon, and seasoning are formed around a cocktail shrimp, dusted and fried with the tail sticking out for a handle. Served with a remoulade sauce.
Fried Sriracha Balls: A lip-smacking combination of shredded chicken, corn, green chilies, tomatoes, and Sriracha hot sauce, formed into balls and coated with crispy tortilla chips. It is then flash-fried until golden brown. For those who like their food higher on the Scoville Scale, extra Sriracha Sauce is available.
Fried Sweet Texas: Traveling across Texas to try the best and most popular desserts gave inspiration for this fried treat. Fried Sweet Texas starts with fresh pie dough filled with crunchy pecan pie, juicy peach cobbler, and creamy buttermilk pie. It is then deep fried until the crust is golden brown and flaky, and then served up with a side of Texas’ own Blue Bell Vanilla Ice Cream. A real tribute to Texans and their amazing sweet treats!
Original State Fair Brew – Funnel Cake Ale: A light and delicious ale brewed to be reminiscent of one of the telltale flavors of the State Fair – FUNNEL CAKE! This refreshing English style summer ale has been brewed to be ready and crisp, with just the right amount of toastiness and sweetness, finishing with delicate notes of natural vanilla; all great flavors you find in a perfectly executed funnel cake. For those whose taste buds call for a sweeter finish, take advantage of the option to have the rim of your cup coated with powdered sugar.
Twisted Texas Tacos: What do you get when you combine the four major food groups of Texas? Chicken Fried, Barbecue, Tex-Mex, and Chili – Twisted Texas Tacos! This taco starts off with tender, juicy hickory smoked Texas beef brisket, double-dipped in a barbecue spiced buttermilk batter and deep fried until it is robust and beefy. It is served in a warm flour tortilla, generously layered with a Mexican cheese blend, crispy fried okra, and a sweet and crunchy tri-color slaw, accented with zesty poblano and sweet pepper corn. Served with a creamy country gravy, spicy Texas Chili and a miniature salute from the Lone Star flag.
Total bummer for a vegetarian. My husband isn't going with us, but I actually think he'd probably like the gulf shrimp and sriracha ball choices. Anyway, I think my 10 mile run in the morning will maybe mitigate one of the three I'm going to eat completely?
Yum!
ReplyDeleteOMG Fried biscuits and chocolate gravy?
ReplyDeleteI have to say... for my money... this post beats the French Laundry one.
Do people clutch their chests and drop from heart attacks after eating all of this? My tummy hurts just reading this...though my tummy hurts if I eat anything remotely unhealthy, so it's definitely just me. But I will say--very creative! The Deep Fried Breakfast for Dinner is especially mind-boggling to me. And yes, I think your 10 miler will help mitigate the effects!
ReplyDeleteI don't get the obsession with deep fried everything ... it is like the 'everything bacon' thing a couple of years ago. I am not a huge fan of fried foods, and frying things just because ... well, it doesn't always improve things. Oh well ... have fun :)
ReplyDeleteAm I weird? Because that list kind of grosses me out.
ReplyDeleteOMG please don't do the deep fried butter. That makes me shudder. The blueberry muffin thing doesn't sound too bad, but the whole thing kind of makes me sad. For someone like you who is super active and wants to enjoy a bunch of fried stuff once in a while, I say go for it, but for most of America (specifically Texas), this is just yet another excuse to pile more unhealthy things onto an already sick population. I met the President of the Fair 2 weeks ago at a networking event, and I told him what I thought :). Oops! But he was super receptive, and liked my idea about adding in a State Fair Half Marathon!
ReplyDeleteMegan - the problem? The people who would be interested in the "State Fair Half Marathon" would NOT be the people who would most benefit from getting more activity! It might not seem it to us, but a half-marathon is an endurance event that most people would FEAR! :)
DeleteA smaller thing - maybe a 'fun run' or something else that encourages motion without competition or timed events or anything else would be great. (remember that the slogan 'my sport is your sport's punishment' rings true for MANY!)
I think the fried biscuits with chocolate gravy sounds amazing! Some year I’ll go to the state fair. Probably not next year, definitely not 2016…maybe 2017?? And I totally agree that the fried bluebonnet sounds fabulous as well.
ReplyDelete