rainbow grill cheese, fair charcuterie, and hmong specialties onna stick

September 2, 2022 9:10 AM

As we enter Labor Day Weekend and US state fair season starts to wind down, let us consider the most important showing of any state fair: the food offerings. Via Mashed.com, 2022's best state fair foods. Of course, the Mashed list doesn't extend to fairs from every US state, so Taste of Home kindly ranked of the best state fair foods from every state. For those looking for a local state fair to attend, Reader's Digest offers a list of the best state or county fairs to be found in every state.
posted by sciatrix (23 comments total)

Metafilter: This hot dog is piled high with scrapple.
posted by Nelson at 9:28 AM on September 2, 2022 [6 favorites]

That last time I went to the state fair (Minnesota edition), I planned on eating a whole bunch of delightful crap. I ate one-third of a funnel cake and I was DONE. Fair food is no country for middle-aged people.
posted by LindsayIrene at 9:48 AM on September 2, 2022 [18 favorites]

Incorrect! You can get a fine reindeer sausage all year round in downtown Anchorage. (And you can eat it staring Starr the reindeer in the face if you want.) The actual best food at the fair this year is the spinach bread with smoked salmon. If you're familiar with the LA County Fair 'Ten Pound Buns" it the same thing but with extra flavor. There's also a killer piroshki stand. Honorable mention to pickle lemonade.
posted by blnkfrnk at 10:08 AM on September 2, 2022 [4 favorites]

And there's a taco stand where you can be like "Surprise me, here's $6" and the nice ladies will make you the best taco you've ever had. So miss me with this reindeer sausage lazy Alaska reporting.
posted by blnkfrnk at 10:10 AM on September 2, 2022 [8 favorites]

Mexican funnel cake sounds pretty yummy.
posted by Doleful Creature at 10:12 AM on September 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

O fair, O fair charcuterie,
When shall I gnaw on thee?
When shall my hunger have an end,
Thy joy that I may feed?
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:13 AM on September 2, 2022 [4 favorites]

Just went to the NY state fair. I literally ate nothing but ice cream and milk for most of two days. Fortunately the constipation wasn't too bad. Damn that was fucking awesome.
posted by Melismata at 10:21 AM on September 2, 2022 [3 favorites]

I was so surprised when I went to the NC Mountain State Fair (near Asheville) that they did not serve beer (or any alcohol at all.) At the time, Asheville had won "Beer City, USA" for the third time in a row.
I'm originally from MO and at the State Fair there's a beer vendor every 100 feet or so...how else are you supposed to get the courage to eat your own weight in deep fried whatever and then ride a carnival ride?!
posted by schyler523 at 11:02 AM on September 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

Am I the only one who thought that the rainbow grilled cheese looks like the stuff of nightmares?

I stopped reading after that. Because as others have already averred, there comes a time in life when fair food loses much of its appeal. I have to admit that the sourdough cheesesteak with arugula looked tempting though.
posted by Aardvark Cheeselog at 11:19 AM on September 2, 2022 [2 favorites]

I would just like to state that cotton candy that comes in a bag from some central factory, instead of being spun while you wait, is bullshit.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 11:36 AM on September 2, 2022 [19 favorites]

I can't remember the last time I went to a state (or county) fair, but this sure makes me long to go - not just for the food, but for the whole thing - the atmosphere, the displays, the people.

I sure wish the photo of The Big Donut had included something else for scale. They look like regular donuts.

Oh, but WOW, that catfish sundae looks fantastic. So does the slaw dog.

This is a great collection of links, and just the thing for sliding into Labor Day weekend. Thanks for sharing these with us, sciatrix!
posted by kristi at 11:51 AM on September 2, 2022 [2 favorites]

I kinda love the queasy feeling I get when reading these articles every year.
posted by jacquilynne at 12:32 PM on September 2, 2022 [7 favorites]

The Minnesota State Fair is so dominant that it uses Oklahoma as a pressure-release valve. YEAH!

Also, totally cool to see Hmong food getting the nod. I missed this year's Fair, living 1300 miles away and all, and it would have been top of my list...along with the two-pound bucket of French Fries from the square, yellow booth, some of the immortal Sweet Martha's cookies, and a draft Summit beer. Maybe a walleye sandwich from O'Gara's, too.

And one piece of honey candy from the people at the bee booth.

Possibly...also a chocolate milkshake.
posted by wenestvedt at 12:34 PM on September 2, 2022 [5 favorites]

I kinda love the queasy feeling I get when reading these articles every year.

Much better than the queasy feeling you get from eating the food described!
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:40 PM on September 2, 2022 [5 favorites]

I just had one of my random ideas, and I'm kind of hoping it already exists.

Since deep fried foods and corn dog-like deep fried food on stick all exist, why not an actual corn on the cob corndog?

I'm thinking elotes style, grilled and charred and then cornmeal battered and deep friend on a stick. You could even get extra corny by having niblets of corn in the batter, which you could get by recycling some of the grilled/charred cobs. Serve it with the usual sauce, cotija and lime.

If I was still working in a kitchen with a deep fryer I would totally try this... or I might have to try it on the stove top next time there's a dinner party here.
posted by loquacious at 12:59 PM on September 2, 2022

I feel like the cob and chewing the corn off the cob would be unpleasant. I think it would be easier to eat if you made like a corn pudding-style batter (like, corndog batter with lots of corn pieces in it), froze it on the stick, then fried that and topped it with elotes toppings.
posted by blnkfrnk at 1:53 PM on September 2, 2022

“catfish sundae”

I feel like I should avoid foods that sound more like an elaborate scheme than a food.
posted by mhoye at 2:08 PM on September 2, 2022 [10 favorites]

You could even get extra corny by having niblets of corn in the batter, which you could get by recycling some of the grilled/charred cobs.

I thought you were working up to recycling the niblets out of poo.

Some of these look awful but sound pretty good, some of them sound and look good, some rank on both counts - someone would do one of those tables with everything put in quadrants. The big donut just sounds like a terrible failure of imagination.
posted by biffa at 3:27 PM on September 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

I can eat the food or I can ride the rides, but trying to do both in one night is risky at my age.
posted by TedW at 5:46 PM on September 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

The food is likely to get you sooner than the rides, honestly.
posted by mhoye at 6:01 PM on September 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

I didn't see crudités under Pennsylvania.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:22 PM on September 2, 2022 [7 favorites]

I didn't see crudités under Pennsylvania.

I think they are more of a New Jersey food.
posted by TedW at 1:54 PM on September 3, 2022 [6 favorites]

The biggest political controversy right now is state fair season
posted by jenfullmoon at 4:51 PM on September 8, 2022