New deep-fried foods at the N.C. State Fair

BY ANDREA WEIGL – Charlotte Observer

aweigl@newsobserver.com

State fair food vendors are always in search of the next big deep-fried thing.

They hope to create a deep-fried delicacy that will join the ranks of the N.C. State Fair’s greatest hits: deep-fried candy Snickers, deep-fried HoHos and the Krispy Kreme cheeseburger.

Several vendors will share samples of their creations at an event at 11:30 a.m. Monday in Raleigh that state Agriculture officials put on for the media. The fair is Oct. 15-25 at Raleigh fairgrounds.

Food vendors have incentive to create the next popular deep-fried treat: increased sales.

The deep-fried bananas foster that the Ragin’ Cajun booth served last year increased their sales by 20 percent, according to owner Chris Wrenn. Although Wrenn has been serving food at the fair since 2009, he hadn’t tried to compete in the annual scrum of the best new deep-fried treat at the fair.

But this year, Wrenn and his business partner, chef Joseph Fasy, began working on what they hope will be a follow-up hit: pimento cheese hushpuppies with bacon and jalapeno and served with a sriracha bang bang sauce.

Pimento cheese seems to be popular item this year. The folks behind Woody’s, a sports bar in Raleigh and Cary, are doing deep-fried wontons filled with pimento cheese. “The whole world is crazy for pimento cheese,” said Woody’s co-owner Shawn Whisnant. “So we thought why not deep fry it for the fair?”

Wrenn and Fasy sat down recently to talk about how they tried to come up with a deep-fried fair hit.

The men met about three years ago. Wrenn owns Old North State Catering, which he runs out of a fully equipped 42-foot trailer. Wrenn’s church, The Gathering, cooks a meal once a month for families in need and someone reached out to Fasy to help with the Thanksgiving feast. Fasy is a longtime hotel chef who has worked for Hyatt and the Biltmore Hotel.

“We’ve been together ever since,” Fasy said.

Wrenn added, “My wife calls it a bromance.”

Fasy helps Wrenn develop menus for his catering events, pairing his classical cuisine credentials with Wrenn’s down-home Southern cooking. The men use those events as opportunities to test recipes that may also work for the fair. This year’s pimento cheese hush puppies were a big hit at a recent wedding. The men only recently completed the recipe, increasing the amount of jalapenos and brine in the batter.

“We got it right on the jalapenos this time,” Wrenn said after taking a bite of the most recent batch.

Not every dish will work at the fair, the men said. Their attempt to make a barbecue chicken and waffle sandwich failed. The dish was delicious with homemade waffles, but those can’t be done at the fair and a frozen waffle just didn’t taste good enough.

Wrenn and Fasy certainly learned some lessons from their bananas foster success: Have one dedicated line, register and deep fryer for what you hope will be your breakout hit. And be prepared.

This year, Fasy is planning to make 35 gallons of sriracha bang bang sauce.