When a vendor started serving ice cream in a cone-shaped waffle at the 1904 World’s Fair, I am sure some people thought the idea was crazy.
Innovation breeds skepticism, after all.
But deep-fried butter?
Really?
The latest oddball idea to hit the carnival scene is being served up at The Best Around booth at the Fort Wayne Newspapers Three Rivers Festival Food Alley.
Kevin McGrath, whose family has had the business for 33 years, said he will try about anything that will sell. They still make deep-fried candy bars at his booth – a fad that faded a bit after being all the rage at carnivals a few years ago – and have another calorie-laden offering that will have the health-conscious gasping and cardiologists feeling secure.
The doughnut burger features a quarter-pound beef patty nestled between two glazed doughnuts. Melted cheddar cheese, tomato and lettuce can be added for an additional charge. Originally called the Krispy Kreme burger when he first saw and “borrowed” the idea from a fellow vendor in Florida – which is how he got the idea for the butter, too – McGrath uses doughnuts from Walmart here because Krispy Kremes are not readily available.
It was one of the messiest burgers I have ever eaten, but my loaded doughnut burger was tremendous. The juicy burger and salty cheese is perfectly accented by the gooey, sticky doughnuts, and the lettuce gave it just a little crunch.
I wanted to hate this burger when I first heard about it, but I just couldn’t. If you are one of those people who love salty-sweet combinations – chocolate-covered pretzels or salted peanuts on ice cream – this burger will make you very happy. Just bring a few wet wipes with you.
The deep-fried butter, however, was a bit disappointing. I had as much hope for the butter as I had skepticism for the burger, but I flip-flopped right after my first bite of butter. McGrath’s folks use melon scoopers to form balls from salted butter kept in a freezer. The balls are rolled in a cinnamon-sugar mix, then dipped in funnel cake batter before going into the fryer. After the batter browns nicely, they are pulled and finished with a dusting of powdered sugar.
They look innocent enough, sort of like sugar-coated hush puppies, but there was just too much butter. Most of it melted and just a dab was left on the toothpick still solid. So what I got was a big mouth full of salty butter and not near enough sugar.
“I told you it is a lot of butter,” McGrath said after watching me curl my nose up after the bite. “That is why I like the burger better.”
I would not have them again as-is, but I think McGrath may run with my idea of using honey butter. If he does, I would give them another try.
A couple of other new items were also worth trying, starting with the apple spirals and apple blossoms at the Pence’s booth.
The spirals are wrapped around a stick, battered and deep-fried, then are dusted with cinnamon and sugar. They can be topped with chocolate, caramel or cinnamon syrup, whipped cream, sprinkles, M&Ms or crushed nuts, or any combination of all of them. I had mine with chocolate and caramel only, and it was great.
Another spiral-shaped newbie is the Potato Tornado at the Forbing Concessions booth. Already serving the Food Alley staple spiral-cut spuds on plates, Forbing’s Tornado is on a stick like the apple spiral, and is in one piece. They, too, can be dusted with a variety of salty and/or spicy seasonings.
I chose grill seasoning based on a recommendation from the woman who served me, Robin Rehder of Fort Wayne. Rehder did not hesitate when I asked which flavoring was best and added that she must eat seven servings a day of spuds with the grill seasoning; a Durkee brand blend containing salt, garlic and onion powder, parmesan cheese, dehydrated peppers and celery and paprika.
It was a good choice as the zesty blend gave the taters a little oomph that plain salt couldn’t. The only knock on these spuds was that they are thicker than the regular spiral fries and, therefore, not as crisp. They were more like pan-fried potatoes than fries, and I would ask for them to be well done before having them again.
As a purist, I usually lean toward the classics – hand-dipped corn dogs, lemon shake-ups and fried cheese curds – and scoff at anything new.
But this year’s new offerings deserve praise. They were all pretty darn tasty, and I will probably go back for seconds.
Just don’t tell my cardiologist.
