Chocolate Bacon

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I've always been super interested in food. I'm on a permanent try something new quest, most of which has been asian food (where I will literally never be able to try everything as the cuisines and dishes go on forever compared to western food).

I came across this tumblr post of state fair food and I have literally never heard of or seen any of this stuff other than the meat and potatoes! And probably won't either as the chance of me going to a state fair in the US seems slim.

http://howtoraiseageek.tumblr.com/post/62655737887/went-to-the-virginia-state-fair-and-enjoyed

SO THIS IS VERY INTERESTING.

Chocolate bacon seems to be a thing:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate-covered_bacon

Probably works better with american bacon which appears to be uniform processed strips. Australian bacon includes the middle cut (the round part) and is not uniform. Looks like this, though you can also buy just the round part for slightly more which is the only bacon I buy:



Anyway.. at first I thought the funnel cake in this photo was okonomiyaki but it appeared to have powdered sugar on it and I soon realized it was not LOL. So what is the brown syrup and white syrup (not mayo and soy sauce I assume). I've always been a bit unsure what funnel cakes are, is this a classic funnel cake?

Tell me about more regional fried goodness.

 

[thestrangequark]

I've had bacon truffles before, they were quite tasty! It was a typical dark chocolate truffle with crispy bacon crumbled on top.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

I think that funnel cake is a variant of a tradition of putting cinnamon and sugar on top of a plain funnel cake. The topping is probably a sugar frosting like you'd find on cinnamon buns, along with cinnamon sauce. I've seen them topped with whipped cream and fresh strawberries!
I've never had deep-fried Twinkies... I want to! Those are coated in batter and then deep-fried. Apparently, they're very good with strawberry sauce.

 

[An Officer]

Each to his own.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

So if the brown sauce is cinnamon sauce what is the white sauce?

I have never heard of cinnamon sauce!

I will try anything once though I am absolutely not a fan of sweets or fried food. I have eaten a deep fried mars bar though and am glad I got the opportunity. It seems to me the idea that you can batter and deep fry anything is a neglected cuisine path. I think it would be awesome if the fish and chip shops here offered to batter and fry anything you brought in for a few dollars.

I do like fried ice cream very much.

 

[Kestra]

Probably what Peach said, some sort of variation on icing/cream cheese icing. I'd imagine cinnamon sauce would just be some sort of cinnamon and brown sugar combo, like you'd have in an apple dessert.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Oh right, icing.

Mostly if I am going to eat horrible fried fatty food it must have chillies in it

We don't seem to have shredded beef, shredded pork anything here. I've had it in mexican restaurants but otherwise, no.

 

[Kestra]

You can make it quite easily! My ex liked pulled pork so I learned to make it and I was surprised at how easy it is.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

See, I never cook slabs of meat. It sounds great, but I cook about 80 percent vegetarian. I think you cook for long amounts of time and then shred with a fork? I know I looked it up once.

 

[Kestra]

See, I never cook slabs of meat. It sounds great, but I cook about 80 percent vegetarian. I think you cook for long amounts of time and then shred with a fork? I know I looked it up once.

Haha, I had to learn to cook things like meatloaf and pot roast and all because he liked that sort of typical American stuff. With the pork I browned it first, then stuck it in the slow cooker. But I think you can just stick the whole thing in a slow cooker. The worst part was shredding it, honestly.

I don't know if this would work for pork, but I learned that I can put cooked boneless chicken breasts in my kitchenaid stand mixer, plug it in, and have perfectly shredded chicken in minutes.

Also are you on FB? Add me there if you are!

 

[SmoothieX]

We have a giant Scandinavian festival here next week. Putrescent fish for all!

 

[Peach Wookiee]

See, I never cook slabs of meat. It sounds great, but I cook about 80 percent vegetarian. I think you cook for long amounts of time and then shred with a fork? I know I looked it up once.

The way my brother does pulled pork, you put a pork shoulder roast in a slow cooker, then douse it with barbecue sauce. Leave it in the pot until fork tender.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Too visceral. But I'm intrigued, by douse do you mean pour 2 litres of BBQ sauce on top of? Or do you mean baste? Is there water as well?

And LOL Kestra I tried making slabs of meat for the same reason, ex male. Meatloaf, roast leg of lamb.. I just don't eat that way though and I am sure I will never make such things again. Meatloaf seems especially pointless, like some wartime invention (perhaps it is).

 

[Owain Taggart]

Probably what Peach said, some sort of variation on icing/cream cheese icing. I'd imagine cinnamon sauce would just be some sort of cinnamon and brown sugar combo, like you'd have in an apple dessert.

Yep, and another variation that you can get in Canada are beaver tails.

http://www.canada.com/story_print.html?id=c8f2fe83-4c41-40a1-bad2-275427bbb603&sponsor=

 

[SmoothieX]

This sounds like a great cooking thread for the divorced.

We should write a cookbook.

 

[Kestra]

Cooking for the divorced?

 

[RobertVA]

Cooking for the divorced?

Occasionally I'll buy from hat chain store, but a competing national chain has a significantly better selection and often better prices, although they're criticized in some circles. There are several locations of a competitive regional chain that are quite a bit closer to my home than that controversial chain.

While I can't use many of the large packages at the wholesale club, they do stock some six packs of normal size canned food and bags of frozen items like fish filets and chicken strips that I can take out of the package a serving at a time.

I barely use my kitchen range, normally preferring a microwave oven and a toaster oven that also has broiling capabilities.

 

[Spot's Meow]

When I read the thread title I instantly thought of the state fair!

I recently had deep fried red velvet cake at the fair. There was also deep fried watermelon and pineappe upside down cake, but I didn't get a chance to try those. I haven't had chocolate bacon, I don't see those two things going together!

I love funnel cakes. They are very popular at theme parks. Usually I have them with just powdered sugar, or some chocolate, nutella, or strawberries on top. They are called funnel cakes because the batter is poured through a funnel into hot oil, giving it a twisted, overlapping lines look. It tastes like fried donut batter and is topped with sweet things.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I'm thinking I may have seen something like a funnel cake at dutch vans. We have a lot of dutch immigrants and there is always some kind of batter thing going on.

When I read the thread title I instantly thought of the state fair!

I recently had deep fried red velvet cake at the fair. There was also deep fried watermelon and pineappe upside down cake, but I didn't get a chance to try those. I haven't had chocolate bacon, I don't see those two things going together!

WOW deep fried red velvet! I've run into red velvet twice in Aus, having looked it up after seeing it in a movie all I can say is one second of research could have saved these cakes from horribleness. The first one I ordered was LIKE A ROCK. Completely dense, very unpleasantly dense. I asked the chef, he said he "made it with polenta". Surely this is incorrect? It was so awful tasting I returned it (a first).

Second one I've seen is the local bakery which sells their godawful mudcakes and mudcake cupcakes with a red velvet variety. It's just very bad, almost black, cake made with such low quality chocolate there is zero chocolate flavour only with like a litre of red dye in it. So much dye you can taste it. That was kind of hilarious.

I love pineapple upside down cake. We get hummingbird cake a lot here. I love it because I love pineapple and anything tropical.

What was the deep fried watermelon like? Was it battered? I've had pickled watermelon, that is DELICIOUS and pickled eggs in the South in the US. Pickled anything Aus is not into pickles at all, you don't get relish for instance anywhere. My pickled food consumption is mainly kimchi and other asian vegetable things.

 

[Spot's Meow]

I didn't have the watermelon myself, but here's an article with a slideshow of some of the interesting fair foods, including the watermelon:

http://fox40.com/2013/07/11/new-state-fair-treats-include-deep-fried-watermelon/

As for red velvet cake, it is supposed to be very light and fluffy, not dense! It tastes a bit like chocolate but not completely. Like any cake I'm sure it differs in quality greatly depending on where its made. Here's some interesting information about its origin from Wikipedia:

James Beard's 1972 reference, American Cookery,[1] describes three red velvet cakes varying in the amounts of shortening and butter, also vegetable oil. All used red food coloring, but the reaction of acidic vinegar and buttermilk tends to better reveal the red anthocyanin in cocoa and keeps the cake moist, light and fluffy. Before more alkaline "Dutch processed" cocoa was widely available, the red color would have been more pronounced. This natural tinting may have been the source for the name "red velvet" as well as "Devil's food" and similar names for chocolate cakes.[2][3]

When foods were rationed during World War II, bakers used boiled beet juices to enhance the color of their cakes. Beets are found in some red velvet cake recipes, where they also serve to retain moisture. Adams Extract, a Texas company, is credited for bringing the red velvet cake to kitchens across America during the time of the Great Depression by being one of the first to sell red food coloring and other flavor extracts with the use of point-of-sale posters and tear-off recipe cards.[4][5] The cake and its original recipe, however, are well known in the United States from New York City's famous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. However, it is widely considered a Southern recipe.[3] Traditionally, the cake is iced with a French-style butter roux icing (also called ermine icing), which is very light and fluffy but time-consuming to prepare. Cream cheese frosting and buttercream frosting are variations which have increased in popularity.

ETA: Also, if you love pickles, you'll be happy to know that pickles on a stick are a common occurrence at fairs or events around here.