Something in Common

     What do Bacon Wrapped Turkey Legs, Deep Fried Buckeyes, Pizza Tots and Iron Range Pierogies all have in common?  Well of course, they are all new food items available this year at the Minnesota State Fair!  All of them plus Beer Gelato, Chilaquiles, Chocolate Dessert Salami, and Shrimp Dogs will make their debut at the Great Minnesota Get Together.



     This food is not for the faint of heart, mind you.  Consider this start to the morning: a Breakfast Juicy LuLu, an English muffin with 2 slices of American cheese stuffed with sausage patties.  Want something a little more substantial for the first meal of the day?  How about a Chilaquiles for a south of the border flair.  It is made with corn tortilla chips covered in chili verde sauce with chicken, topped with eggs and garnished with lettuce, tomato and sour cream.  But get there early because it's only served at the El Sol Mexican Food booth until 10:30 am.  I think I would prefer the Deep Fried Breakfast which covers just about all the food groups with 2 kinds of cheese, sausage, egg, Canadian bacon in between two pancakes, then dipped in a sweet light batter and deep fried.



     But by noontime you are sure to be hungry again after strolling the 7 miles of paved roads within the fairgrounds.   A Shrimp Dog would taste pretty good.  It's baby shrimp & cream cheese combined and then batter dipped and deep fried, served on a stick!!! And with an option of raspberry chipotle or standard cocktail sauce on the side.



     Food-on-a-stick is one of the Fair's standard methods of serving food.  And a new addition to that genre this year are Deep Fried Buckeyes.  They are made from sweet, creamy peanut butter coated in chocolate, dipped in funnel cake batter, deep fried, dusted with confectioner's sugar and served with strawberry sauce at Spaghetti Eddie's.  Or you could settle for something basic and un-sticked, like a Bacon Wrapped Turkey Leg.  But if you are a food-on-a-stick purist you would naturally want to try the new Deep Fried Lobster.

But I think the most exciting new entry into the world of fair food are SnoRibbons.  They are described as "feathery light cotton candy, flaky shaved ice and creamy layered snow" all mixed together.  And what makes it even more provocative is that the flavors will be rotated throughout the 10 days of the fair this year.  Gee, do I want the Strawberry Pretzel Cream Cheese, Coffee & Donuts, Red Hot Velvet, Mango Tangside, Salted Caramel Corn Crunch, Horchata Vanilla or one of the other exotic flavors?

     For an illustrated list with descriptions of new food at this year's Minnesota State Fair just click on the following:  http://www.mnstatefair.org/fun/new_food/  

     Hope to see you there!  If you can't make it be sure to real Vinny's report after Labor Day.