The following “CHEW THAT!” column originally appeared in “The Courier-Times” and / or “The Shelbyville News”. Check their websites for further information.
“CHEW THAT!”
The Indiana State Fair
Blaise Doubman
All of my life I have been a fan of fair food. Dip just about anything in batter and fry it and I admit that I will be the first person in line to try it. Over the course of my lifetime, I have witnessed the deep frying of foods intensify to an almost unbelievable level! The staples of elephant ears and funnel cakes are still around and most likely will always be around. The thin dough of an elephant ear stretch ed and fried and then lay red with cinnamon sugar, and the thickness of the strings of a funnel cake all intertwined together and dusted with powdered sugar are traditional fair foods that have literally been around for years and years. Take this same concept though and you will find that lately, people are pushing the boundaries. They are topping elephant ears with fried apples, blueberry pie filling or even strawberries and whipped cream. Take the funnel cake and you will find some of the same things. Topped with pie fillings or even stuffed with a cream cheese filling and then topped with pie fillings of all different favors. I say sign me up for all of them!
My all time favorite “fair food” if you could give it that category would be the deep fried Twinkie. They were a trend for a couple of years but have since faded into deep fried food history. Some vendors have them while others have moved it off the menu to make way for other food items. Personally, I will always look for the deep fried Twinkie first. It is amazing! The outside is crisp and hot while the inside still stays a little cold and gooey. Drizzle it with chocolate syrup and dust it with powdered sugar and you have the perfect fair food! Matter of fact, I even have created a recipe for them myself. Yes, I can fix them anytime I want and yes, sometimes I do. The recipe is on my website by the way. Just search “deep fried Twinkies” in the search engine and it will come up.
Some of the “new” fair foods this year at the Indiana State Fair are chili cheese empanadas, strawberry cheesecake funnel cakes, The Godfather egg roll, fried ice cream cone, peanut butter and jelly wings, hot honey pepperoni pull grilled cheese, deep fried golden Oreos, peach shake up, pickle beer, the Korean corn dog, cotton candy margarita, blueberry cheesecake stuffed elephant ear, cookie butter elephant ear, boba lemonade shake-ups, dill pickle lemon shake-ups, dill pickle Dr. Pepper, Cinnamon Toast Crunch funnel cake, spicy pickle pizza and chocolate fries just to name a few! Seriously, can you believe that is just a few?
I treated myself to several of the foods with some of my favorites being the deep fried chocolate chip cookie dough, the “melty mess” grilled cheese which is a combination of havarti, cheddar and muenster cheese on buttery sourdough bread, the ribeye sandwich, which is always a delicious staple and goes back years and years in State Fair History and can not be missed as well as mozzarella sticks and perhaps one of my new favorites, the Cinnamon Toast Crunch funnel cake! Which is exactly what you think it might be. A funnel cake that is topped with cinnamon and sugar, then Cinnamon Toast Cereal and then a drizzle of vanilla icing. This particular delicious dessert is brought to everyone by “R&W Concessions” and located across from the midway, past the covered bridge and over by the Free Stage.
If anything here sounds delicious, which be honest it all does, or if you want to explore more of what the State Fair has to offer in terms of food, or otherwise, visit their website. They even have a map as to where you can find and get all of your favorite fair foods! When attending the fair you can even vote for your favorites by using the QR code displayed at each concession stand or by visiting one of the Indiana State Fair information booths presented by Prarie Farms.
The Indiana State Fair runs through August 18th.