Fry, fry again

Apparently I am seriously behind the curve on teh frying.This article is worth it just for phrase, "I wonder how it will fry." I'm adopting this as my new favorite remark.


What will State Fair vendors fry next?
Concessionaires bubbling with excitement over latest offerings
12:25 PM CDT on Monday, September 4, 2006
By KATIE MENZER / The Dallas Morning News

What goes better with a Fried Twinkie?

BARBARA DAVIDSON/DMN Abel Gonzales Jr.'s creation, Fried Coke, will vie against five treats in today's Big Tex Choice Awards Contest. The rest of Texas will have to wait until Sept. 29 to sample it.
A Fried Coke, of course.
"It all started with the Fried Twinkie and went on to other things like the fried Snickers and marshmallows. So people were saying, 'What are they going to fry next? Coke?' " said State Fair of Texas concessionaire Abel Gonzales Jr.
"And that got me thinking, 'Why can't I fry Coke?' "
He did, and his creation – deep-fried Coke batter nuggets topped with cola syrup – is one of six new fair foods being judged at the second annual Big Tex Choice Awards Contest today.
The entries – including fried pralines, fried cosmopolitans and fried macaroni and cheese – all add to the celebrated list of fried things you can eat at the fair ... if you can stomach them.
Local celebrities will choose their favorites today, but it's up to fairgoers' coupons to pick the real winners when the fair opens Sept. 29.
Still, much like how the Golden Globes often foretell a starlet's fate at the Oscars, the Big Tex awards have picked the big new food at the fair in the past.
Last year, both20the judges and the fairgoers picked Mr. Gonzales' fried PBJ and Banana Sandwich as the tastiest. He sold about 25,000 during the 24-day fair.
That doesn't mean Mr. Gonzales' latest invention will prove Fried Coke is it with fairgoers this year.
He's got some heavy-on-your-waistline competition.
Take Fried Praline Perfection, a deep-fried pecan praline. It's created by Shirley London, who invented the historic fried marshmallow of 2004.
Like most State Fair fryer aficionados, she thinks differently than the rest of us.
"I bought some coconut pralines at the Discovery Gardens last year," said the concessionaire, explaining her inspiration for her new offering.
"When I tried them, I thought, 'This is pretty good. I wonder how it will fry.' "
The Levy family was thinking of this year's fair theme, Big Tex and the City, when they came up with the Deep Fried Cosmopolitan, a deep-fried pastry filled with cream, covered in a raspberry glaze and skewered.
It might be "sans libation," but it's got an extra big stick, said Jake Levy, whose family owns the local Desperados restaurants.
"It's so big and heavy, we had to go with a special stick," he said.
Christi Erpillo, whose family has run the Dock restaurant in the Embarcadero Building for 40 years, has two entries in the contest.
Fe rnie's Fried Mac 'n Cheese is battered, fried and served on a stick with dipping sauce. Fernie's Fried Choco-rito is an awe-inspiring combination of marshmallows, coconut, candy bar pieces, caramel and chocolate morsels and cinnamon. The ingredients are wrapped in a flour tortilla that's dipped in pancake batter and fried.
"You name it, I've fried it," Ms. Erpillo said. "They call me the mad scientist."
And last is Ruth Hauntz's Donkey Tails.
Her franks – stuffed with cheddar cheese, wrapped in a tortilla and fried – offer the only meat in the contest.
"That's a genuine, all-beef wiener," Ms. Hauntz said. "Give a person a good wiener, and you've got them."
There's more than a dozen other new fair foods that didn't make it into the contest.
S'mores on sticks, Candy Apple Turnovers and Fried Avocadoes are just a sample.
And Mr. Gonzales promises he's working on another treat that could double his chances of success by tapping into that little-addressed, calorie-conscious market at the fair.
Think Fried Diet Coke.
Just don't ask him about the Weight Watchers points on that.
E-mail kmenzer@dallasnews.com