Taking the Texan Approach with Pineapple

The State Fair of Texas has an annual competition for the most innovative deep fried foods. There are some adventurous attempts involving surprising ingredients such as jelly beans, oreos, beer, bubblegum, peaches and cream, and even pineapple upside down cake.

A Fried Peanut Butter, Jelly & Banana Sandwich won the Big Tex Choice Award 2005 for Best Taste!

I was intrigued by the margarita entry which was cake batter made with margarita mixer, fried and soaked in more margarita and served in a salt-rimmed glass! There was also a pina colada entry!

Deep fried bubble gum was the winner of the 2013 Most Creative Award.
 

Thanks to Ernie Tacsik who exhibited this photo on flickr. He admits “well... to b honest i did not actually eat any  :-)”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AlxgpqW7rw

http://mentalfloss.com/article/31488/25-deep-fried-foods-texas-state-fair says that “It's actually bubblegum-flavoured marshmallows, battered and deep fried and sprinkled with Chicklets” !

If you’d like to know more about the Fair logon to the State Fair of Texas website  http://www.bigtex.com/sft/Nav/FoodFinder.asp

This Fritter Batter recipe comes from  ‘The Sunbeam Automatic Cooker and Deep Fryer’ book, from the 1950s or 60s (Mum’s copy has no cover). It states that  "A batter can be quickly prepared and cooked to present attractive foods for unexpected guests. It is important when covering foods with batter not to have too heavy a coating on food and always to have the fat smoking hot before frying."

Fritter Batter

Covers 8-12 fritters. Mixing Time: 1 to 2 minutes.
1 cup plain flour; 1 dstspn baking powder; 1 egg; salt; ½ cup milk

SIFT … flour, baking powder and salt
BEAT … egg yolk on speed 5.
ADD … milk and mix with dry ingredients on speed 1.
BEAT … egg whites stiffly and fold into batter
USE … for raw or cooked fruits, cheese fritters, fried oysters, etc

I had to take on the challenge with some of Ruby's favourite ingredients - pineapple pieces (the tastiest), glace cherries (not bad), marshmallows (tried to escape), cocktail onions (tangy), canned beetroot (delicious), brussels sprouts (surprisingly edible), stuffed olives (okay) and radishes (I couldn't face one). With a little persuasion Les did the deep frying, Anne.

 

 

 

 

 

(Thanks to my niece, Georgina, for telling us about this tasty event!)