- DALLAS (Reuters) - Welcome
to the State Fair of Texas -- a magical land where calorie counters cower
for cover and almost every conceivable food product can end up deep fried.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- "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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- Last year, fried Twinkies were a huge hit, and this year,
the new food darling could be fried onion on a stick.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- "Corny dogs are wonderful, but it's hard to eat
of a lot of them," he said.
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-
- Comment
- From Nich24
- 10-2-3
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- Dear Jeff -
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- In response to Mr. Herskovitz's article regarding 'Texas
fried Oreos' I wanted to mention a few things. I wonder how much time
he has spent in the state or if he has studied the history of it. If he
might understand that Whole Foods was founded and located in Austin. Or
that in any major city one can find a location easily and enjoy the best
mass produced organic foods that are offered anywhere.
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