Starting with what the Iowa State Fair calls “The tower of power!”, the Pork-Almighty might not be worthy or worship, but it’s a 32-ounce plastic soda cup filled with your choice of beverage. A bowl on top of the drink acts as a lid, and in that bowl are crispy, beer-battered twister fries and smoked shredded pork that’s covered with queso cheese sauce and topped with onions and green peppers sauteed in Cookies’ barbecue sauce before being sprinkled with shredded cheese. According to the Des Moines Register, the whole thing is four pounds, $12, and over 1,800 calories.
A little more down to earth is the Bauder Mud, a milkshake served in a skillet. It’s filled with chocolate soft serve ice cream layered upon dense, chocolate brownie bits and crunchy pieces of chocolate. It’s topped with more chocolate bits, hot fudge, chocolate syrup, and whipped cream. “It’s huge,” says one Des Moines chef. “My favorite part is the milkshake and the chocolate magic shell.” Don’t believe it’s a milkshake? Those red things in the middle are straws.
The Apple Taco is sadly not a taco made out of an apple but rather a deep-fried tortilla sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar that’s filled with warm, cinnamon-scented apple pie filling made with Granny Smith apples, cool whipped cream, and hot caramel sauce.
Also riding the taco train is this Pancake Taco. This time, the shell actually is a pancake, and it’s filled with scrambled eggs, sausage, cheese, and bacon with a side of syrup and some more on top.
The Cheesy Fried Enchilada Funnel Cake adds enchilada spices to corn meal batter, fries it like a funnel cake (deep-fried, of course), and tops it with chorizo and white queso.
Are we getting healthy? This Applewood Smoked Chicken Salad Wrap is filled with the aforementioned chicken salad, lettuce, and tomato, but because it’s a state fair that chicken salad’s made with bacon dressing and even more bacon is added in. It’s 24 ounces, 12-inches long, and $9.
The Bruschetta Sundae, lovingly nicknamed Mt. Vesuvius, is a trio of bruschetta, all with bread toasted in a wood-burning pizza oven. On offer, there’s the traditional bruschetta made with buffalo mozzarella and basil, another made with pesto, sun-dried tomato, and pine nuts, and a third that uses whipped cream cheese, honey, grapes, and balsamic glaze.
Iowa State Fair 2017 (continued):
It ain’t a state fair if it ain’t on a stick! The Choco Pocko is a pocket of fried bread hiding some Nutella inside with a coating of powdered sugar.
High on my list of “things that shouldn’t be” are entire meals or holidays shoved into a sphere. Nevertheless, here we have Thanksgiving Balls, which are Iowa-grown turkey mixed with traditional vegetables–no word on what, precisely, those are–rolled into balls, breaded with herb-infused stuffing, and then deep-fried before being slathered in sweet and spicy cranberry sauce. And, according to reviewers, it’s damn tasty.
Things that should be, though, are these Campfire Cones. I can’t believe anyone hasn’t thought of these before! It’s a waffle cone with chocolate drizzled inside that’s then stuffed with graham crackers and marshmallows before being toasted on top.
Iowa’s Big Pork Leg is a “custom-cut” pork shank smoked for eight hours then grill-seared and slathered with your choice of either sriracha-bourbon barbecue sauce or sweet chili glaze. Not enough sauce? You can have more served up on the side. Bonus pic of Iowa State Fair Queen posing with the porcine treat.
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