Day 3 of the Classics Countdown, and today is a MN favorite:
Location: Mouth Trap Cheese Curds is in the Food building on Dan Patch
Sarah: Once upon a time, long, long ago in the Great Minnesota Get-Together past, deep friend cheese curds were born.
And Minnesotans were never the same.
I have friends in other parts of the country who have never eaten a deep fried cheese curd. And I weep for them. WEEP!
The MN State Fair cheese curds are literally the best in the world. I’m not even joking. Even though we can now get decent cheese curds year round at food venues, none of them even come close to the amazing-ness of the MN State Fair cheese curds.
There is some strong argument about which cheese curds at the fair are the best. I’m not really a part of this long-standing argument. I think the cheese curds at the Mouth Trap are amazing, as are the ones at elsewhere, too.
Whatever makes you happy, friends!
Anne: Well this is a no brainer. Finding the perfect cheese curd at the State Fair has long been a favorite past time for Minnesotans, which is why it’s a State Fair classic. For those of you not from the Upper Midwest, let me explain cheese curds for you. Curds are a product of cheese making- basically during pasteurization milk is clotted and the result are curds (solid) and whey (liquid). The curds are cooked and pressed to release any lingering whey and voila- cheese curds!
You can tell a quality/fresh curd because they squeak when you chew them. You can eat curds ‘raw’ or for the purposes of State Fair (and other festivals) you batter and then deep fry them. And then sometimes eat them on poutine or a burger or some other crazy concoction.
The perfect cheese curd has 3 components- quality (squeaky) curd, tasty batter, crispy fry job.
Overall there is general consensus on where to find the best curds at the MN State Fair- the Mouth Trap in the Food Building, or the Original Cheese Curds outside the Food Building We have taste tested both products (what a burden) and found them to be pretty comparable, though with Mouth Trap being slightly better (and usually less busy. And maybe cheaper? Not sure).
Although, I will say my absolute favorite cheese curds are actually found at the MN Renaissance Festival
Patrick: I don’t think I need to toot Cheese Curds’ horn. Everyone knows Cheese Curds are the salty, crispy, cheesy ambrosia handed down by Husky Jesus himself, and slam dunked into your mouth. Amen!
There are probably hundreds of stands that offer this immensely satisfying and greasy confection throughout the fair, but there are two locations that I have found (through years of sampling and listening to people say “don’t get those cheese curds, get these cheese curds”) surpass all the wannabe’s and are consistently great. That is the Mouth Trap Cheese Curds and Original Cheese Curds.
I love both of these vendors and I always have to have my curds every time I visit the fair (sometimes more than once in a day). They may be little fat cholesterol bullets straight to your heart and your hips, but damn if they aren’t great!
Deep Fried Cheese Curds
Location: Mouth Trap Cheese Curds is in the Food building on Dan Patch
Sarah: Once upon a time, long, long ago in the Great Minnesota Get-Together past, deep friend cheese curds were born.
And Minnesotans were never the same.
I have friends in other parts of the country who have never eaten a deep fried cheese curd. And I weep for them. WEEP!
The MN State Fair cheese curds are literally the best in the world. I’m not even joking. Even though we can now get decent cheese curds year round at food venues, none of them even come close to the amazing-ness of the MN State Fair cheese curds.
There is some strong argument about which cheese curds at the fair are the best. I’m not really a part of this long-standing argument. I think the cheese curds at the Mouth Trap are amazing, as are the ones at elsewhere, too.
Whatever makes you happy, friends!
Anne: Well this is a no brainer. Finding the perfect cheese curd at the State Fair has long been a favorite past time for Minnesotans, which is why it’s a State Fair classic. For those of you not from the Upper Midwest, let me explain cheese curds for you. Curds are a product of cheese making- basically during pasteurization milk is clotted and the result are curds (solid) and whey (liquid). The curds are cooked and pressed to release any lingering whey and voila- cheese curds!
You can tell a quality/fresh curd because they squeak when you chew them. You can eat curds ‘raw’ or for the purposes of State Fair (and other festivals) you batter and then deep fry them. And then sometimes eat them on poutine or a burger or some other crazy concoction.
The perfect cheese curd has 3 components- quality (squeaky) curd, tasty batter, crispy fry job.
Overall there is general consensus on where to find the best curds at the MN State Fair- the Mouth Trap in the Food Building, or the Original Cheese Curds outside the Food Building We have taste tested both products (what a burden) and found them to be pretty comparable, though with Mouth Trap being slightly better (and usually less busy. And maybe cheaper? Not sure).
Although, I will say my absolute favorite cheese curds are actually found at the MN Renaissance Festival
Patrick: I don’t think I need to toot Cheese Curds’ horn. Everyone knows Cheese Curds are the salty, crispy, cheesy ambrosia handed down by Husky Jesus himself, and slam dunked into your mouth. Amen!
There are probably hundreds of stands that offer this immensely satisfying and greasy confection throughout the fair, but there are two locations that I have found (through years of sampling and listening to people say “don’t get those cheese curds, get these cheese curds”) surpass all the wannabe’s and are consistently great. That is the Mouth Trap Cheese Curds and Original Cheese Curds.
I love both of these vendors and I always have to have my curds every time I visit the fair (sometimes more than once in a day). They may be little fat cholesterol bullets straight to your heart and your hips, but damn if they aren’t great!
Cheese Curds are one of those things where even okay ones are still good, but the great ones are GREAT. Definitely agree that the ones inside the food building are the best of the fair - maybe it's just that they're the payoff to standing in a hot sweaty line inside a muggy building crammed with people, but the other stands just don't compare.
ReplyDeleteSidebar: is it really called the Mouth Trap? All these years, I thought it was the Mouse Trap (cuz, you know, cheese), but Mouth Trap is such a fantastic pun, it makes those curds all the better!
We also thought it was called the Mouse Trap, and only when checking on its location did we discover that it is, in fact, the Mouth Trap. It's a delightful pun.
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