If you can eat it, they can probably fry it: a flavorful look at the State Fair of Texas.
This year, I finally managed to cross another essential Texas experience off my list: visiting the State Fair of Texas in Dallas. It is one of those events that feels larger than life, which is exactly what you would expect from Texas. The fair is famous for Big Tex, the beloved yet slightly unsettling 50-foot talking cowboy statue that greets visitors with a booming voice. It is also known for the Oklahoma vs. Texas Red River Rivalry game at the Cotton Bowl, the stomach-churning rides of the Midway, and the kind of busy, colorful atmosphere that makes you feel as if the entire state has turned up for the same party.
In many ways, the State Fair of Texas is not all that different from the Royal Shows we have in Australia. There are prized livestock displays, family-friendly animal areas, a petting zoo for children, baking and sewing competitions, and plenty of the traditional features you would expect from a classic agricultural show. It has all the familiar ingredients: ribbons, crowds, fairground noise, food stands, show animals, and people wandering around with a mixture of excitement and mild confusion. But while the agricultural side is still a major part of the event, the fair has also built a reputation for something much more outrageous: fried food.
These days, the biggest attraction at the State Fair of Texas is arguably the food, and not just ordinary carnival food. I am talking about a menu so outrageous that even Homer Simpson might pause for a moment before diving in. Each year, the fair releases a list of new fried foods, and food writers rush to cover the season’s must-try creations, along with the items that might be better admired from a safe distance. Previous inventions have included deep-fried margarita, deep-fried beer, a French fry-coated hot dog, deep-fried cheesecake, and many other creations that sound like they were invented during a dare. They have even fried a salad, which feels like a tragic use of perfectly good batter.
If you want to experience the fried food at the State Fair of Texas properly, strategy is essential. This is not the time to commit to one item and eat the whole thing like a hero. The better approach is to share, taste, and move on. I highly recommend a one- or two-bite policy, especially if you want to sample more than a couple of the fair’s golden, battered inventions. It is also worth pacing yourself, because everything looks fun and tempting at the beginning, but fried food has a way of catching up with you quickly. What starts as curiosity can turn into a serious test of endurance.
One of the first things I tried was fried cheese curds. These are exactly the kind of fair food that makes immediate sense: warm, salty, crisp on the outside, and soft in the middle. They are easy to eat, easy to share, and dangerous because you could easily keep going without realizing how much you have had.
Next came fried seasoned olives served with ranch. This was one of those combinations that sounds odd at first, but makes sense in the setting of a state fair. The olives brought salt and sharpness, while the batter and ranch dressing pushed the whole thing firmly into comfort-food territory. It was rich, tangy, and very much in keeping with the fair’s attitude of frying first and asking questions later.
Then there was fried pizza, which was not a small novelty bite or a clever reinterpretation. It was an entire battered slice of pizza. It is hard to decide whether that is genius or madness, but at the State Fair of Texas, those two ideas often seem to overlap. The result was heavy, indulgent, and exactly the kind of thing people line up to photograph before eating.
The fried biscuit stuffed with cream gravy was another unmistakably Southern-style bite. It was rich, comforting, and incredibly filling. This is the kind of dish that makes you understand why sharing is not optional if you plan to keep exploring the fair. A few bites were more than enough to appreciate it.
One of the more memorable savory items was a fried egg roll stuffed with smoked barbecue brisket. It brought together two very different food ideas in a way that felt completely at home at a Texas fair. The crisp wrapper, smoky filling, and rich texture made it one of the more interesting bites of the day.
For dessert, fried cookie dough delivered exactly what the name promises. It was sweet, soft, warm, and unapologetically excessive. It is the sort of food that sounds like something you would crave after a long night, and at the fair, it fits right in among the other over-the-top creations.
By this point, I had completely run out of steam. The plan to sample as much as possible was ambitious, but there is only so much fried food one person can reasonably face in a single visit. That probably just means I will have to return next year, pace myself better, and try a few more of the State Fair of Texas food creations with renewed determination.
Before leaving, I came across one of the most unforgettable edible-looking displays at the fair, although it was not for sale. It was a strangely detailed horse butt made entirely out of butter. After a day of deep-fried pizza, brisket egg rolls, cheese curds, and cookie dough, it somehow felt like the perfect final image: absurd, impressive, and completely unforgettable.