The Basics
Deep-Fry, and Don’t Forget the Stick

By RICK LYMAN
Published: June 24, 2007

In theory, just about anything can be deep-fried, as long as it’s
reasonably solid and has a high combustion point. And a surprising
variety can then be placed in your mouth, though sometimes a little
courage is required.
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As we move into the heart of the county and state fair season, America’s
deep-fry pioneers are once again pushing the envelope and plundering
every aisle at the supermarket in search of fresh items that can be
breaded, impaled on a stick and submerged in hot oil.

For a good deep-fried olive, for instance, head to the Los Angeles
County Fair in Pomona where deep-fried strawberries and avocados can
also be sampled. The San Diego County Fair offers squid on a stick and
deep-fried alligator. In Florida, deep-fried pickle slices are called
Frickles. Or head to the Texas State Fair where a visionary named Abel
Gonzales Jr. was able to create deep-fried Coke last year by mixing soda
pop into the batter and then covering the result with cola syrup,
cinnamon-sugar, whipped cream and a cherry. (Mr. Gonzales had won the
fair’s top taste award the year before, as well, for a deep-fried peanut
butter, jelly and banana sandwich.)

It is the Texas fair that claims to have started it all, when Carl and
Neil Fletcher popularized the corn dog in 1942. The Minnesota State
Fair, however, says it unveiled the strikingly similar Pronto Pup a year
earlier. But not until June 16, 1946, did Ed Waldmire Jr. think to
impale one on a stick in Springfield, Ill., creating the modern corn dog
that we know today. He called it the Cozy Dog. (Actually, he wanted to
call it a Crispy Cur, but his wife intervened.)

No slight to Texas, but it is the Minnesota State Fair that may well be
the epicenter of stick and hot-oil cuisine. Spaghetti-and-meatballs on a
stick. Deep-fried Oreos and Twinkies. Alligator sausage on a stick.
Deep-fried cheese curds. Pork chops on a stick. Wild rice corndogs.
Pizza on a stick. Deep-fried chocolate chip cookies on a stick. Grapes.
Pineapples. Both honeydew and cantaloupe melons.

This year, Charlie Burrows, co-owner of Axel’s Bull Bites Booth at the
Minnesota fair, has come up with what he calls a sloppy Joe on a stick.
“It doesn’t sound like something you could do,” Mr. Burrows told The St.
Paul Pioneer Press. “But trust us.”