jnine, wanna weigh in on this? "Pickle pizza and cookie buckets: Minnesota State Fair food, ranked"
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prayformojo 🐵 (aka mayhem)
Sep 3 '23, 18:27
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Perspective by Natalie B. Compton
Staff writer
September 2, 2023 at 8:00 a.m. EDT
The pork chop on-a-stick is a Minnesota State Fair classic. (Natalie Compton/The Washington Post)
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In the 12 days leading up to Labor Day, the Minnesota State Fair attracts millions of attendees for a celebration of agriculture, knickknacks and some of the wackiest foods the human brain could conjure. If something can be put on a stick, it’s put on a stick. If it’s better in a bucket, you’d better believe it’s going in a bucket.
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I was lucky enough to visit the Great Minnesota Get-Together for the first time this year with Post videographer Monica Rodman. On our quest to get to the heart of the fair, we underwent a side quest to try as many foods as we could.
Before you even ask: No, we did not get to the lutefisk. And it brings me great humiliation to admit we missed the turkey leg. As two mere people who forgot to bring Tums, we didn’t stand a chance. There are some 300 food vendors spread out across the fairground’s 322 acres.
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Each year, the Minnesota State Fair pulls in millions of visitors for 12 days before Labor Day. (Video: Monica Rodman/The Washington Post)
But excuses aside, we did get to try 15 items, plus the $2 All-You-Can-Drink milk booth.
Here’s our definitive, scientific survey of what we ate. It’s ranked and scored on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being bad enough to toss immediately and 10 being delicious enough to order again.
A Deep Fried Dilly Dog from Swine & Spuds. (Natalie Compton/The Washington Post)
Deep fried Dilly Dog: 2/10
God bless vendor Swine & Spuds for coming up with this pickle stuffed with a bratwurst that’s battered in corn dog mix and deep-fried. It’s a national treasure on paper, but impossible to eat. Too big to get your mouth around unless you have a jaw that unhinges like a snake’s. It immediately breaks down with moisture, causing the corn dog coating to separate from its Frankenstein’s monster core and crumble all over your hands.
A pair of Original Cheese Curd Tacos with diced bratwurst, fried flour tortilla shells and Baja sauce. (Natalie Compton/The Washington Post)
Cheese Curd Tacos: 3/10
Nothing but respect for the inventor of the cheese curd taco, a poster child of American ingenuity with fried cheese curds, diced bratwurst, lettuce and Baja sauce in a fried flour tortilla shell — a Midwestern take on Taco Bell’s Chalupa.
Yet I found myself only wanting the (delicious) curds inside, not the whole enchilada taco. Even with the refreshing iceberg lettuce, the combo of fried cheese and fried tortilla was overboard. The Baja sauce was too creamsicle-tasting. By the time I got a bite with the diced bratwurst, I needed to tap out.
A pickle pizza at Rick’s Pizza. (Natalie Compton/The Washington Post)
Pickle pizza: 3/10
Amazing concept, disappointing delivery. The headline-grabbing pickle slice from Rick’s Pizza was made with dill ranch sauce, mozzarella cheese, dill pickle slices and a dill garnish. I wanted to love it but found it drippy and confusing; wet in all the wrong places. The crust, though, was chewy and nicely flavored.
A chicken and waffle on-a-stick, covered in bacon bits and ranch. (Natalie Compton/The Washington Post)
Chicken and waffle on-a-stick: 4/10
A stick food that really appealed to me but didn’t live up to the hype. Even with a drizzle of ranch and a dusting of bacon pieces, the chicken and waffle on a stick was too dry and subtle (somehow).
Fried alligator, not on-a-stick. (Natalie Compton/The Washington Post)
Deep-fried and seasoned alligator: 6/10
Monica nailed the tasting notes for the deep-fried and seasoned alligator from Bayou Bob’s: Chewy chicken. They were like chicken nuggets that required two times more jaw work to eat.
Vanilla ice cream sundae with strawberry and rhubarb from the fair’s Dairy Building Dairy Goodness Bar. (Natalie Compton/The Washington Post)
Vanilla ice cream sundae with strawberry and rhubarb: 7/10
My first taste of the vanilla ice cream sundae from the fair’s Dairy Building Dairy Goodness Bar transported me back to my childhood eating vanilla Costco soft serve. It had the same creamy and satisfying essence, albeit pretty basic. The Dairy Building was as humid as a Florida marsh, so I had to eat the sundae fast before it became cream soup.
Frozen key lime pie bar on-a-stick: 7/10
Perhaps it was because this was just about the last thing I ate after 12 hours of eating in the August heat, but the frozen key lime pie bar on-a-stick ranked lower for me than expected. The stand is an institution, and I love key lime pie. But I thought the chocolate overpowered the zing I look for in a K.L.P. Monica, however, said: “it would have been a 10 if it were bigger.”
The apple display at the Minnesota Grown Program stand. (Natalie Compton/The Washington Post)
First Kiss Apple: 8/10
You can try a bunch of apples at the Minnesota Apples stand — not the sexiest sell compared to the other vendors, but also a wholesome, healthy option. We sampled the First Kiss, a new apple developed by the University of Minnesota and debuted last year. It was ripe, crisp, flavorful and refreshing. But it was still just an apple.
Frozen cider pop: 8/10
Also at Minnesota Apples, the frozen cider pop was an absolute godsend on a scorching day. The only problem was it was frozen nearly solid. Would have been 10/10 had it been a more slushy consistency, which might have happened on its own if I let it thaw for 30 more seconds.
Wine-fried brie on-a-stick at the Minnesota Wine Country booth. (Natalie Compton/The Washington Post)
Wine-fried brie on-a-stick: 8/10
The Minnesota Wine Country stand had some tasty wine and some wine I didn’t need to keep drinking. It also had some excellent “wine-fried brie” with a lovely raspberry dipping sauce.
A bag of miniature doughnuts from Tom Thumb Donuts. (Natalie Compton/The Washington Post)
Mini doughnuts: 9/10
Tom Thumb Donuts. They’re hot, fresh doughnuts. Tiny ones. You get it. I don’t need to tell you why these were delicious.
Pizza on-a-stick with a side of marinara. (Natalie Compton/The Washington Post)
Pizza on-a-stick: 8/10
There are multiple vendors doing pizza on-a-stick, but ours was from Spaghetti Eddies. Technically it was a “pepperoni and cheese Super Stick dipped in garlic batter and deep-fried on-a-stick” and it was intense, in a fun way. Like pizza on steroids. The side of sweet marinara took the edge off the potent pepperoni.
Pork chop-on-a-stick: 10/10
A fair classic; you can find different iterations from multiple vendors. The one from Peterson’s Pork Chops were charbroiled to perfection.
A Sweet Martha’s Cookie Jar chocolate chip cookie. (Natalie Compton/The Washington Post)
Sweet Martha’s Cookie Jar Cookie: 10/10
There is a reason the fair’s three Sweet Martha’s Cookie Jar locations each attract crowds like millennials to a Taylor Swift concert. The cookies are thin, simple, excellent and served hot. Not too sweet, just-chewy-enough. Swoon.
The giant egg roll on-a-stick from Que Viet Concessions. (Natalie Compton/The Washington Post)
Giant egg roll on-a-stick: 10/10
The giant egg roll on-a-stick from Que Viet Concessions made my top five fair foods in one bite. Wonderfully crunchy rice paper, sumptuous filling of pork, vegetables and noodles. Served with a dipping sauce. Divine.
Sweet corn on the cob roasted in the husk from the Corn Roast stand. (Natalie Compton/The Washington Post)
Sweet corn on the cob: 10/10
Seasonal splendor. No notes. The sweet corn on the cob, roasted in its husk, was my favorite thing I ate at the fair. Had my stomach not been full of alligator, cookie, milk, egg roll, pizza, more pizza and what not, I would have gotten a few ears for the road.
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