Earlier this week, my friend Megan and I visited the 2013 Florida State Fair. Hello gluttony! Hello freak shows! Hello animals! Hello rides that you could never get me to go on because I am sure I would toss my cookies….
I’ve been visiting the Florida State Fair for a few years now, and I do love the spectacle of it all. There are games galore riddling the midway, with workers beckoning you to try your hand at throwing a ball at a target in order to win an enormously oversized stuffed animal. By the way – if you win one of those, what do you do with it? I am pretty sure I saw some people carrying around stuffed animals that were larger than me. Does it fit in your car???
One of the most important parts of visiting the Florida State Fair is to see (and eat) the strange and delicious new concoctions some of the vendors come up with. As much as I’d like to try everything, Megan and I decided not to overdo it. So – we selected a few unique items to sample and share.
There is one stand at the Florida State Fair that has quite the reputation. They serve various burgers and sandwiches that are definitely unique, including the Krispy Kreme burger, with glazed Krispy Kreme donuts as the bun. Oh boy! They even offer the Krispy Kreme burger with a scoop of ice cream on it. I don’t know if that even sounds appetizing to anyone, but hey – you could try it out!
We didn’t opt for a Krispy Kreme burger though. We decided to try the Redneck Burger, which is a new offering at the Florida State Fair this year. It is a burger topped with a slice of pan fried bologna, baked beans, and shoestring potatoes. Let me tell you – it was pretty fantastic…extremely rich, but fantastic.
To pair with our Redneck Burger, we ordered up some bacon wrapped tater tots from another stand. Oh boy, talk about a tasty treat!
We had to have dessert as well, right? It wouldn’t be the Florida State Fair without a deep fried sweet treat in some form. It was hard to decide, but Megan and I decided to sample two different items: the fried chocolate chip cookie dough…ooey, gooey deliciousness! For me, it’s a favorite over the fried Oreo or Snickers/Milky Way. It’s like a melty, warm chocolate chip cookie.
The other sweet option? Fried butter. I’ve always seen the signs for fried butter at the fair and have thought: EWWW. Oh, how wrong I was. I’m sorry, fried butter. I know how awesome you are now. I take back every bad thought I’ve had about you. The thing about fried butter is that (at least, for this stand) it isn’t just regular salted butter. It is a pat of CINNAMON butter. They take a cold pat of butter, dip it in the batter, and deep fry it. The butter then melts inside of the ball of dough, and when you bite in, there is melty cinnamon butter inside. It tastes kind of like a fluffy cinnamon roll. So, if you are at the Florida State Fair this year and are feeling like a sweet treat, go ahead and order some fried butter. Thank me later.
So – will you be visiting your state’s fair this year? What is your favorite indulgent fair food to eat?
I had no idea that fried butter was THAT. That sounds fantastic…and now I want to try it!
Me either! I always thought it sounded horrible…but I have to retract those previous thoughts. Freaking amazing. I mean, I suppose other vendors might just use regular butter, but cinnamon butter? Suuuper fantastic!
I am now so excited for visiting the fair when I am back home! Also I am pretty sure my husband would love that redneck burger!
It’s been three years since I’ve been to the fair and while of course there were a ton of “interesting” eats, I feel like there is even more, now! HOW do they come up with this stuff? Lol