Is Everything Really Better With Bacon?

It's been a few years now, and the better-with-bacon trend is still going strong. Being a vegetarian, I don't have the opportunity or interest in trying out all the bacon-flavored or bacon-garnished items (although in some cases I think the "bacon" comes out of a flavor house in New Jersey, not off of an actual pig, but I digress...), so I'm going to leave the big bacon questions to those of  you out here who have a more varied diet. So what do you think? Does bacon really make everything better? Where do you draw the line? Or maybe there's not a line. Maybe that "everything" should be taken literally.

In any case, should you be of the bacon-loving persuasion, the Minnesota State Fair is full of bacon-filled options, including this bacon ice cream. Find it at Rainbow Ice Cream (and a few other places, too, I think): it's a maple-flavored ice cream base mixed with bacon bits.

Other Fair bacon offerings include Ole Cannoli's candied bacon cannoli, lots of fried bacon, and, of course, Big Fried Bacon's Bacon on a Stick.

It's 7:30 am -- TIme for a Corn Dog!

Photo courtesy Minnesota State Fair

It's here! That's right, the Minnesota State Fair is once again open for business. I saw the photos of all you hard-core fair-goers standing outside at 6 am. Some of you must be looking for breakfast by now (or, like me, are busy planning their itineraries for tomorrow or future days), so if looking for some new breakfast food-on-a-stick options -- start your Food Challenge off in style! -- this brand-new breakfast sandwich corndog should do the trick. It's available from Hansen's Foods on Judson Avenue, and is described as a "breakfast sausage link dipped in pancake batter, deep-fried and served with a side of maple syrup." Eat up; after all, the State Fair only comes 12 days a year. Enjoy it while you can.

See you at the Fair!

How to Improve Ice Cream? Add Mini Donuts! New for 2013: Mini Donut Batter Crunch Ice Cream

Photo courtesy Minnesota State Fair

Man, just when you think there's no more room for improvement, something like this comes along. Yes, folks, this is what you've been waiting for all these years without knowing it.... mini donut batter crunch ice cream! And it gets better. This isn't just any ice cream. It's made by hometown favorite Izzy's Ice Cream, and sold by beloved State Fair institution Hamline Dining Hall!

Really, what more is there to say? The name speaks for itself. Although I will note that proceeds from Hamline's dining hall (run by volunteers!) benefits the church, which in turn supports a bunch of different admirable social justice-type programs, like food banks, meals for the homeless, and combating malaria in Africa. Pretty sweet.

Dough-Sant: Do or Don't?

Image courtesy Minnesota State Fair

We all know that half -- or more -- of what makes a State Fair food success story is the pure novelty value of the food in question. Edibility often comes decidedly second. But sometimes the most over-the-top, seemingly disgusting food can be, well, actually GOOD. I love doughnuts. I love croissants. But could I ever learn to love -- or even simply digest! -- something called a "dough-sant"? This new-for-2013 item is just what it sounds like: a hybrid of croissant and a doughnut.  I'm not in the pastry trend loop (deep fried or not), so I was a little slow to learn that these are a hot new food item sweeping bakeries nationwide. Blame it on pastry chef Dominique Ansel of New York, whose "cronut" launched in May and have since vaulted to pastry fame.

I'm not sure if I'll have time to try this or not (so many new foods to try, so little time!), but if you want to give it a whirl -- and a review -- you can find it at the French Meadow Bakery on Carnes Avenue. No word yet as to whether this will find a place on the regular year-round French Meadow menu or not, so get it while it's (deep-fried) hot!.

2013 Fair Food Challenge

Photo: Spaghetti Eddie's super sticks (pepperoni and cheese battered and fried; photo courtesy Minnesota State Fair)

Food on a stick: it's the fair's ultimate cliche. The way people talk about it, you'd think that you can't even buy a cup of coffee without the cup somehow perilously perched on the end of skewer. But, stereotype of not, we all know that food on a stick IS the ultimate fair food. And the numbers are now there to prove it. In 2012, the Minnesota State Fair Foundation reported that of 500 food types available at the fair, an amazing 70 of them came served on a stick! 

And that, dear hungry reader, brings us to our 2013 Fair Food Challenge. How many foods on a stick can YOU eat during the 2013 Minnesota State Fair? Are you the type to stick to the tried-and-true classics, or will you be chasing the newest exotic food-on-a-stick offerings? I can't promise a prize, but let me know how many different types of food-on-a-stick you manage this fair season (no need to do all 70 in one day!) and you can at least get some public bragging rights.

And yes, I know it's only April -- I'm issuing this challenge now so that you have time to plan your dining schedules and stretch out those stomach muscles. Just don't blame me if you find that your training sessions also lead to the need to stretch out your waistbands. 

See you at the fair!

Meet (Meat?) Your Sausage Match

Browsing the meat competition entrants at the Minnesota State Fair will inevitably leave you with the impression that there is literally a sausage or piece of processed meat out there for anyone. (Well, perhaps the vegetarians among us will have to broaden our search parameter beyond the meat refrigerators.) These 2011 offerings, for example, entered by Steve’s  Meat Market of Ellendale, Minnesota, included pepper jack sticks, cranberry sticks, apple cinnamon breakfast sausages, garlic ring bologna, and hickory smoked apple cinnamon bacon, among other options.

Steve’s Smokey Acres, for the uninitiated, is run by the mother-and daughter team of Rachel Lee and Donnavon Eaker (the business gets its name from the late Steve Eker)  and they have racked up an impressive array of industry prizes, including the Minnesota Association Processors’ top award in the specialty snack stick division for their cranberry sticks.

If you want some specialty snack sticks of your own, the market sells directly to the public. They are located approximately 84 miles south of the Minnesota State Fairgrounds, in the heart of tiny Ellendale, Minnesota (about 15 minutes south of Owatonna and 15 minutes north of Albert Lea). While you’re there make sure to congratulate them on their 40th anniversary!

Behind the Brick: Donut Booth

This one caught my eye because, well, I like donuts. Turns out there's an interesting little story behind it, too. An initial search for "Ramsey County donut booth state fair" brought up the intriguing blog post titled "State Fair donut booth deception revisited." Donut deception? What, were they passing off something -- fried bits of non-donut pastry puffs, perhaps -- as the real thing?  Had I, as a member of the donut-eating public, ingested something non-donutey?

Nope. Never fear, fellow donut connoisseurs, at least not those of you with DFL leanings. Turns out the 10th Ward Rural Ramsey County Donut Booth -- aka Grandstand Donuts -- is run by the Ramsey County DFL PAC, with proceeds used to support local DFL districts. In 2012 the booth had more than $116,000 in sales, netting them about $34,000 in profits. Who said politics and fried dough can't mix?

As for Fran Voerding and Lora Lindorfer? I don't have much information about these two women, but they must have worked tirelessly indeed to have earned their own commemorative Minnesota State Fair brick, which, after all, will be around far longer than will one of their mini-donuts.

To get a brick of your own, contact the Minnesota State Fair Foundation.

Five Things: Sweet Martha's Cookies

1. Sweet Martha's has been serving up cookies at the fair since 1979!
2. When not practicing the art of cookie baking, Martha Rossini Olson is teaching art at Highland Catholic School in St. Paul [UPDATE: make that enjoying art outside of the classroom! She is now retired.]
3. Sweet Martha's has a tradition of celebrities and VIPs getting behind the counter to serve up cookies to fair-goers; in 2004, Vice-President Dick Cheney took a turn as cookie vendor.
4. Sweet Martha's is high-tech! In 2012, their 450 employees used the new "When I Work" scheduling app. Sweet Martha's is also on Pinterest. 
5. They can bake more than 23,000 cookies in 12 minutes!

Sausages by Cynthia at the Minnesota State Fair

Do you ever walk by Minnesota State Fair concessions and wonder about the back story? Who are the people who run these places? What do they do when they're not at the fair? And when you find that dream food, there's the big one: can I get this the other 353 days of the year, and if so, where?

Those of you with a thing for sausage, you're in luck. Sausage by Cynthia will sell you sausage and jerky via phone, and is even available to cater parties! (They can also provide cow parts such as kidneys and spines for classroom science projects!) The Forster family of Plymouth, Minnesota has been producing sausages for three generations at their smokehouse and sausage processing plant. This stuff is truly made in Minnesota. And if you're wondering what the "Minnesota" sausage is, as advertised on their sign? It's sausage made with wild rice.

Five Things: Ole's Cannoli

1. The name -- Ole's Cannoli -- symbolizes that perfect blend of Swedish and Italian food traditions! In other words, Italian cannoli accompanied by hot Swedish coffee. How's that for perfect Minnesota State Fair combinations?
2. Co-owner (with her mother, Pam Olson) and Roseville native Marta Lindey now lives in San Francisco, where she perfected her cannoli business chops at local street fairs. Luckily for Minnesota cannoli connoisseurs, the Bay Area foodies gave them a big thumbs up. And as an aside, how come I was never lucky enough to come across these when we lived in San Francisco? Now I've got to wait until August to get my Swedish coffee and cannoli fix!
3. It took three years to land a concession spot at the Minnesota State Fair.
4. How do they stuff so many cannoli in such short time? With a sausage filler!
5. New business, new baby: Marta Lindsey was pregnant with her first child during the first year of the stand. (and random suggestion for the Lindsey family: wouldn't a cannoli costume make a wonderful first Halloween costume?)

Did you get a chance to enjoy Ole's Cannoli in 2012?

Follow  Ole's Cannoli on Facebook or on Twitter, and visit them at their cute Swedish cottage in Heritage Square.

Photo: Minnesota State Fair.

I See RC

I love RC Cola. The taste is okay, but I think the real reason I like it is because it reminds me of the fair. I rarely drink RC elsewhere (save the full sugar soda for special occasions, like the fair!), but we've been going to this RC stand -- on Underwood near Dan Patch -- for years! The price is right, the lines move fast, and it made it into our roster of Minnesota State Fair traditions. You can always pick up RC Cola at a grocery store, but it always tastes better when enjoyed on hot August day at the fair. And it's cheap enough that you'll have money left for that extra bag of mini doughnuts or a last swing through Ye Olde Mill.

The booth is run by American Fountain Services LLC, owned by Scott Palmer and Richard Redding. As for RC Cola itself, it was invented in Georgia in 1905.

Break the Routine with Poutine

Fair goers tend to be split into two groups when it comes to food. There are those who have their set list of must-eats, beloved favorites that are essential parts of the annual fair tradition. Never mind that they've been eating the same exact items since they were old enough to chew. There's only so many things one can eat in a day (or in 12 days) and no time to clutter it up with new-fangled fried items on sticks when there's cheese curds and corn on the cob to be enjoyed! (disclaimer: I tend to fall into this category, although I like ogling the new stuff.) Then there are those who look to the fair for the novel and new. Where else, after all, are you going to be able to eat bacon ice cream or fried cheesecake?  Many of the newest fair food creations aren't exactly something you can pick up at your local drive-through or downtown bistro. 

One of the new-in-2012 fair foods manages to straddle the line between new and traditional. This summer, in fine fair tradition, Duke's Poutine did its part to further clog fair attendees' arteries. While new to the Minnesota State Fair, Duke's Poutine's feature item -- its poutine -- is a favorite food in Quebec, and seems lately to have taken the upper Midwest by storm. And why not? Duke's Poutine does indeed seem like a quintessential Minnesota fair food, like something we should all have been eating for decades. The basic recipe: take french fries, add gravy, top with cheese curds. If not for the large moose on the stand, you'd think this was invented in Brainerd.

So if you missed Duke's Poutine in 2012, get yourself over to their stand and order yourself some this coming August. After all, what can be more Minnesotan than fries and cheese, eh?

If It's Good Enough for Paul Bunyan, It's Good Enough for Me

If you pay any attention to the food and drink scene in Minnesota, you are by now well aware that the craft beer scene has exploded in recent year. Sure, Minnesotans have always liked their beer, but today you can't swing an uprooted hops vine without hitting a home brewer or encountering a restaurant or bar with a line of local craft beers on tap. No surprise, then, that this renewed interest in beer made good showing at the Minnesota State Fair. And, really, where better to pay homage to this state's brewing culture? Whether rural farmer, urban homebrewing hipster, professional brewer, hops grower, or barrel maker (or, for that matter, just enthusiastic Minnesota beer drinker), this state -- and our State Fair -- had something for you. The Minnesota Craft Brewer's Guild's "Land of 10,000 Beers" proved wildly successful, and introduced thousands (hundreds of thousands?) of visitors to Minnesota beer and history through its exhibit and extensive public programming.

Here's raising a glass to Minnesota's thriving brewing scene, and to the Minnesota State Fair. And for you home brewers out there: it's never too early to get started perfecting your own secret blend. Last year's Home Brew competition received 680 entries! Congratulations to the winners, and happy brewing!

In case you haven't yet used up your calorie allotment for the day...

So it's not health food. But you knew that. And besides, the Minnesota State Fair only comes twelve days a year.

Lynn's Potato Lefse

Forget all the fried food on a stick. If you want a REAL Minnesota experience you've got to embrace your inner Scandinavian. None of your ancestors ever sailed the fjords of Norway or tilled the fields of Sweden? No matter -- you're in Minnesota now, right? And besides, most of the "Norwegian" stuff is Norwegian done Minnesota style, anyway. So order yourself some lefse, throw around some "uff das" like a pro, and you'll fit right in.

Lynn's Potato Lefse, located in the Food Building, is the perfect place to start. For the uninitiated, lefse is essentially a potato tortilla. Spread some butter on it, add some sugar, roll it up, enjoy. Or splurge and order it with lingonberries.

Spam Can

As a vegetarian, there's a lot of Minnesota State Fair food that I just can't eat. Needless to say, the deep-fried SPAM curds were therefore out. An aversion to eating meat, even the Minnesota-produced canned pork (or is it "meat product"?) international phenomenon otherwise known as SPAM, doesn't mean that you can't get the (nearly) full SPAM experience, though. Hormel has a relatively large freestanding building open to curious public, no tasting required. You can buy an entire wardrobe of SPAM-themed t-shirts and other gear, as well as pose for photos on this SPAM throne. Can't do THAT at home, can you? Chalk it up as yet another reason to visit the Minnesota State Fair.

And for those who DO enjoy a good SPAM meal, there's a food booth out front where you can buy SPAM burgers, deep-fried SPAM curds, and pork tenderloin sandwiches.

Big Fat Bacon. Any Questions?

A stand with the name "Big Fat Bacon" doesn't belong in Minnesota. Not because Minnesotans don't like big fat bacon -- there's ample evidence that they do -- but because this is the land of 10,000 words. We Minnesotans don't like direct. We dance around, ramble on and on and on, and take FOREVER to get to the point (or to say goodbye, but that's another topic...). In other words, Big Fat Bacon really should be called something like "Pretty Big, and  You Know, Fat, or at Least Really, Really Wide, Bacon," although I suppose that doesn't fit so well on a sign. So Big Fat Bacon it is, and I appreciate the direct nature of the name, Minnesotan or not.

So what IS "big fat bacon," you wonder? Besides the obvious, of course? According to their website, Big Fat Bacon is "1/4 pound of hand-sliced bacon flash-fried, grilled, maple-glazed, dusted with a seven-pepper and sea salt blend and served to you hot and on a stick." In other words: Big. Fat. Bacon.

To get a Big Fat Bacon of your own, the booth is located on Carnes, across from WCCO TV.

Boy Eats Pickle

And yes, he ate the ENTIRE thing. So much for my plan to give him a few bites and then eat the rest of it myself...

Scotch Eggs on a Stick

What exactly IS a Scotch Egg, you ask? According to the Minnesota State Fair's Food Finder, it's a "hard-boiled egg, wrapped in sausage, rolled in breadcrumbs, and deep-fried," and then speared on a stick. In other words, it's the perfect Fair food. 

Lest you suffer under the misapprehension that a Scotch egg on a stick is somehow considered healthy, be aware that these fried, sausage wrapped eggs are fried in fat that contains oil containing the dreaded TRANS-FAT. What's more, owner Joe Cranston isn't about to change that just for the sake of a few health-nuts out there. "It's what we've always used, and what we probably always will," he told the Pioneer Press in 2007. So, healthy readers, should you be looking for some Fair food cooked in the healthier oil, you'll have to look elsewhere. Perhaps, say, the deep-fried cheese curds at the Mouth Trap.

Cheese Curds as Health Food

In case you were concerned, you can now rest easy knowing that the deep-fried cheese curds you buy at the Mouth Trap contain absolutely NO trans fats. So eat up, safe in the knowledge that while cheese curds probably can't really count as health food, hey, they could be worse. And definitely a LOT healthier than a deep-fried candy bar.