Top 10 New Foods at the 2011 State Fairs

It’s America’s favorite meal — the state fair! Every year, the fairs across this great land compete with each other to invent bigger, badder, greasier fair food. But after Texas stepped up its game last year with deep fried beer, this thing hit a whole ‘nother level. The 2011 state and country fair foods have been more insane — and more amazing — than ever. Here are our top 10 favorite finds.

10. Chocolate Covered Corn Dog – Orange County Fair

Could there be anything more American than dipping a hot dog in batter, deep frying it and eating it off a stick? Why yes, there could be. You could cover it in chocolate and put sprinkles on top, a treat that was found at both the OC Fair and neighboring San Diego County Fair. My Burning Kitchen has more on food at the San Diego fair. (Photo: www.myburningkitchen.com)

9. Deep Fried Kool-Aid – San Diego County Fair

In another strong showing for California’s other great fair — and originator of last year’s hash brown covered hot dog, San Diego debuts what is surely the trashiest food ever conceptualized. It’s just unclear why they didn’t wrap it in bacon. (Photo: Cuttlefish)

8. Deep Fried Butter on a Stick – Iowa State Fair

Texas may have invented deep fried butter at their own fair a few years back, but Iowa thought to put it on a stick. See, America, we can do great things when we work together. Yes, this involves frying an entire stick of butter, and yes, you simply have to watch the video for full effect.

7. Buffalo Chicken in a Flapjack – Texas State Fair

The first of several entries from the Lone Star state, this monstrosity is a chicken strip, coated in pancake batter and jalapeño bread crumbs, then deep fried and…you guessed it — eaten on a stick. (Photo: State Fair of Texas)

6. Red Velvet Funnel Cake – Florida State Fair

Funnel cake has fallen behind on the list of outrageous fair foods recently. After fried beer and fried Coke, plain old fried dough starts to look pale by comparison. But this year we saw funnel cake get a new southern fried twist that injects some new life into it…and probably injects all kinds of chemicals too. Why eat fried dough when you can eat red fried dough? (Photo: Bob B. Brown)

 Next: The Top 5 state fair foods

 

Cocktail O’Clock: Rum ‘n’ Coke ‘n’ Cream

With summer coming to an unofficial close this weekend we’ve decided to make one more ice cream cocktail.

We’ve done beer and bourbon with ice cream, vodka and root beer with ice cream, even champagne with sorbet. So why not rum and ice cream?

Even better, this one’s a one-two-three cocktail recipe that’s easy enough for lazy labor day drinks.

Spider Cocktail

2 parts Sailor Jerry Rum
1 scoop (vanilla) ice cream
Coca-Cola

Method: add rum to a highball glass full of ice, drop in a scoop of ice cream and top with cola. Have a straw on hand for overflow.

Find more summer cocktail ideas in Endless Cocktails.

 

Plate It or Hate It

Recent food world discoveries the ES crew is loving and hating…

Plate It: Watermelon Sexual

An awesome new tumblr dedicated solely to luscious images of WILFs. Drool.

Hate It: Health Departments Shutting Down Small Food Producers

We’re all for food safety, but sometimes it crosses the line into ridiculous. The latest: the State of Illinois is shutting down local, artisan ice cream makers for such terrible offenses as using fresh fruit instead of fruit syrup and fresh cream instead of pre-packaged soft serve mix. Way to look out for our health, guys. (Via: Kitchen Lore Photo: Chicago Tribune)

 

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Milkshakes Gone Wild

Chocolate or vanilla? Are you kidding me? Milkshakes are the latest classic comfort fare to get a foodie-fied makeover, and we’re liking what we see. From bacon and bourbon to sweet potatoes and cereal, these creative innovations from chefs and bloggers around the country would make your grandmother’s milkshakes blush.

1. Cereal Milk Milkshake

Blogger Savory Notes took everyone’s favorite end-of-bowl treat — cereal-steeped milk — and turned it into cereal-flavored milkshakes.

Recipe: cereal milk milkshakes

2. Sweet Potato Cashew Milkshake

At Baltimore’s B&O American Brasserie, chef Thomas Dunklin whips up sweet potato ice cream and blends it with candied cashews and bourbon.

Recipe: sweet potato cashew milkshake

3. Dulce de Bacon Milkshake

Does life get any better than dulce de leche and bacon up in your milkshake? We don’t think so. Kudos to Adventures in Cooking for dreaming this up.

Recipe: dulce de bacon milkshake

 

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Mudslide Ice Cream Cake

If you haven’t noticed, yes, we’re on a mission to carve booze into every conceivable dessert. And since our Poptails have been dominating the summer frozen treat scene here on ES, we’ve decided it was high time to couple booze with the other cold summer classic: ice cream. We’ve taken Kahlua and churned it into chocolate ice cream, and Bailey’s into vanilla ice cream, then combined the two for a cocktail ice cream cake with a crushed Oreo cookie crust.

Keep reading for details on this Mudslide Ice Cream Cake, and stay tuned for a few more boozy ice cream treats to come. Want to see a specific cocktail turned into an ice cream treat? Let us know in the comment section.

 

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Cocktail O’Clock: Dutch Root Beer Float

Mmm…root beer float — such a perfect drink/dessert combo, except it almost feels like there’s something missing…oh right — booze!

2 oz. Van Gogh Dutch Caramel Vodka
1 scoop vanilla ice cream
6 oz. chilled root beer

Add the vodka directly to a tall glass, then top with root beer, and lastly the ice cream (add slowly, as it has a tendency to overflow).  Garnish with a long straw and enjoy!

Find more summer cocktail ideas in Endless Cocktails.

Attack of the Meme: Keep Calm and Eat

During World War II the Brits came up with the slogan “Keep Calm and Carry On” to “raise the morale of the British public in the event of invasion,” according to Wikipedia. The propaganda posters never ended up being used, but have since spawned plenty of imitations: from the sweet to the naughty.

Of course, there’s been many “keep calm” posters created to show a love of food and booze. Because, who are we kidding, it’s super hard to keep calm when thinking about eating and drinking.

Top 10 Keep Calm and Eat Posters

10. A Much Overlooked Fruit Should Do the Trick.

(Photo: Sambulance)

9. Duh.

(Photo: It’s All About the Bacon)

8. An Almost-Trendy French Dessert Would Work.

(Photo: Juggernaut)

7. Can’t Keep Calm. Need To Scream.

(Photo: Whatever You Are, Be A Good One…)

6. Best Name of a Food. Ever.

(Photo: Agent M Loves Tacos)

Next: Top 5 Keep Calm and Eat Posters

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