2022 MN State Fair Food Preview Part 1 (Initial Thoughts; All Quacked Up through Chick N Swiss Sausage)

 Well here we are, just a few short weeks from the 2022 Minnesota State Fair (37 days to be specific, by the time you’re reading this).

This was an agonizing wait for the new food list- the latest we’ve ever seen since we’ve been tracking it. Who can say what the delay was about- maybe the fact that there are a WHOPPING 38 NEW FOODS PLUS 8 NEW VENDORS! It’s a record-breaking year on lateness of reveal AND total quantity of items.

Last year was a spectacular return to the fair- feels like it’s going to be hard to beat, but I guess overwhelming us with choice is one way to do it.

Per usual we’ll be breaking these foods into five separate posts so you don’t get as overwhelmed reading them as we did writing them.

So without MORE delay, let’s get to it!

 

Sarah Overall Thoughts

FINALLY!!!!

New foods!

Jesus though, why are we so late in the season? What the actual hell? Normally we’d be writing these thoughts sometime in June and here we are, MID JULY and only now are we getting a glimpse of what we can expect in just a few short weeks.

Big, put-out sigh.

And of course they finally are announced on a day that I’m out of town so it’s not even easy to access or read. I’m getting reaaaal pissy about all of this.

Last year was a killer year. It’s gonna be hard to really compete with it because things were amazing. Was it because it had been a year and so everything was spectacular due just being alive and happy we were at the fair again? Maybe. But also, I objectively think that things were just really great last year.

Let’s hope this year is the same.

 

Initial Thoughts

Holy shit this is a lot. I mean, a lot of new foods and a lot of new vendors, too.

But I have to say, there’s a lot that I’m already pretty excited for at first glance and am super jazzed to get into the deets about. I mean, did you see that fucking ice cream sammich? JESUS I can’t wait until I get to that entry and figure out what’s going on with that.

Seems like a lot of hot dog stuff or hot dog shaped stuff? We’ll find out I guess. TIME TO GET TO THIS!

 

Least Excited For:

Get the shit out of here with that Chilaquiles Breakfast

Most Excited For:

It’s a Tie between Breakfast Gnocchi and Sundae Sammie. It’s hard to choose because one is savory and one is sweet. I think the breakfast Gnocchi pulls ahead slightly, though.

Theme:

Looks like my thoughts about it being a sausage or hot dog theme was right on, followed closely by Vegan.

 

Patrick Overall Thoughts

Here we are again, new year, new foods.  Took them long enough!  Almost two whole weeks longer than when this list usually comes out.  Talk about a damn nail biter.  Seems like it was even longer than that, mostly since I was checking the state fair website every day, every damn hour, hoping it had finally updated. 

Well, well, well, it appears maybe there was a good (or at least “reasonable”) reason for the wait.  This has to be a record number of new foods.  I haven’t seen this many new foods and new vendors since…well since we started keeping track of this crap.  38 new foods and 8 new vendors.  That is insane!  For a comparison, last year was 26 new foods.  Hell, in 2019 it was 31 new foods with 7 new vendors.  You know what that means.  I’m gonna be fucking broke when this is done, and horribly boated.  Can’t wait!

 

Initial Thoughts

If I had to pick a theme for this year, it would be inclusivity for the vegan community.  A TON of the new foods these year are either vegan up front or come in a vegan friendly option.  Honestly, I think that’s pretty cool. I don’t know how vegans manage it with everything either coming stuffed with meat or having been cooked in meat juices, or just somehow having slapped a few animals before being packaged and sent off to market.  It has got to be real hard to avoid all that and not go hungry.  That so many places are making an effort to offer options for these hungry fair goers is just nice to see.  And hell, some vegan foods are daaaaamn good.  The ones that really put an effort into not just replacing meat with something like a big ole mushroom or smashing black beans into a patty but make a dish that really slaps and just happens to be meat and animal bi-product free, is just damn impressive.  Again, I’m going to emphasize that I am fucking intimidated by the number of new foods this year, and I don’t want to be defeatist, but are we shooting ourselves in the foot thinking we can handle all of this in a single-fucking-day?!  Maybe, so we better put on our steel toed shoes and take out a second mortgage if we’re going to make this happen.

 

Most Excited For:  Hmm, a lot of potential options this year and I think we’re gonna have some real good food, but nothing really stood out to me quite like the Concha Bacon Burger from Aldos.  It just sounds fun and innovative and like the really thought about the flavors and presentation.  Crossing my fingers this is as great as I picture it in my head.

 

Least Excited For:  All Quacked Up!  No contest.  I mean sure, I’m still a little peeved about a plain old corn dog making the list just because it is vegan, but I don’t think there is anyway in hell they could fuck up a corn dog so bad that it would be as disappointing as this sad bitch sandwich.  I can’t tell whether I get a sick satisfaction in the Hideaway Speakeasy just playing themselves or pissed off that I have to pay to see it happen.  I feel like one of those assholes who decides to boycott a coffee maker or shoe company and burn the product I already paid for to show them.  I laugh at the Speakeasy and rag on them mercilessly, but at the end of the fucking day, I’m paying for and taking a bite of their shitty, overpriced offal.

 

Anne Overall Thoughts

FINALLY!  Jeebus. Is this the latest the new foods have come out? At least in the amount of time that we’ve been tracking- the previous latest was June 29^th, and here we are July 12^th. That’s only like 45 days out. AND MNSF was all like “check back in the next few weeks” when everyone was like “WHERE ARE THE NEW FOODS??!!1!”, but what they really meant was give us like 2 more days.

Ok, you know what? It’s fine. We have the new foods, and that’s all that matters. Let’s take a look.

 

Initial Thoughts

Ok, this is looking preeeeettttyyy interesting I gotta say. Looks like there’s lots of sweets- ice cream in particular is making a strong showing this year. That looks like it’s going to be this year’s theme, which I am of course ok with, but probably a smidge disappointing for Packie. Or wait- vegan. Looks like there’s 10 vegan options this year compared to 7 ice cream options- was there like a specific call out for vegan foods? Or are they just making sure to highlight all the foods that are or can be vegan now?

Just a quick scroll through has me excited to figure out what some of this stuff is. AND 8 new vendors??! Wow! I do love a new vendor, but I hope they have like a signature new item because we can’t buy the whole shop, can we? (no. we cannot).

No Sara’s Tipsy Pies, Giggles, or Green Mill this year. Sad.

JESUS- 38 NEW FOOD ITEMS??! Wow this is going to be a loong freaking day.

8 New Food Vendors (with 3 not on the new foods list, so really we’re looking at 41 new items to try).

 

Most Excited For:

Sundae Sammie or Tot Dog- I CAN’T WAIT TO MEET YOU

Least Excited For:

Gray Duck Sundae or Reuben Rolls

 

 All Quacked Up!- Hideaway Speakeasy

Fried, farm-fresh duck egg from Graise Farm in Faribault atop shaved smoked ham, aged cheddar cheese, tomato and spinach, served open-face on toasted sourdough bread with paprika aioli.

 

Sarah

Okay, so immediately I was excited, but specifically because I LOVE eggs and so the first thing I saw was the fried egg so I was all in. But then I calmed down and was like, wait, is this just a Sammy with an egg on it? Then I read the name and I was like, oh, it’s gonna be a duck egg. And I bet they think that’s what’s gonna make this Sammy special enough for the state fair. So THEN I read about it and was like, okay, it is a Sammy. I’m not against that in theory, or at least this seems like an okay Sammy or whatever, but also, I don’t go to the fair to eat something I can make on my lunch break (yes, even with the duck eggs cuz Anne has a friend with ducks and so we keep getting duck eggs.)

And then I saw this was from the Hideaway Speakeasy and I sighed for so long that I literally died and now I am a ghost typing this.

On the plus side, if I don’t come back to life before the fair, it means I won’t have to pay for this because even if it’s fine, it’ll still break the bank.

So. My guess: $17.

It’ll probably be a straight C. Like, no big deal. Mostly because I feel like this would be hard to screw up. But then again…We’ve been here before.

I dunno. I’m glad bout the aioli, I guess? Worried there won’t be enough of it. Torn on whether I want that egg to be over easy or over hard (generally, over easy. But will I have a fork and knife to eat this with? (knowing the speakeasy, no.) And if not, do I want to get egg yolk all over me on day 1 of the fair. No. I do not.) So, yeah.

 

Patrick

Ahahahahah!  Look at this shit.  I can’t express how funny I found it that I glanced at this picture, thought it looked basic as shit, and then saw that, of course, it was from The Hideaway Speakeasy.  I could literally fucking make this myself at home.  This is a glorified egg sandwich, and they didn’t even give you the top fucking piece of bread!  The ONLY redeeming thing about this ‘sandwich’ is that they use locally raised eggs and ham.  I’m pretty sure I can get MN raised eggs at the grocery store.  Oh, but it’s a duck egg???  Aah, that’s why we can call it “All Quacked Up!”  Hahah, hurr dee hurr hurr!  Look how clever we are?  We used a duck egg, so we didn’t have to call it a pretentious, basic bitch egg sandwich!  Seriously with this?  Oh, and let’s make it open-faced, so we can use half the bread and save money, but we’ll increase the price at the same time, because open-faced is fancier.  The lack of creativity here is astonishing.  How the hell did this make the new foods list.  How does Hideaway Speakeasy EVER make the new foods list?  Are people actually clambering for their food?  Well, I’m pretty sure this is going to be expensive as shit, probably because they think a duck egg is as bougie as a quail egg or some shit and taking inflation into account (as I’m sure that’s another excuse for them to shoot the price up), I’m going to guess a bold $18 for this item.  Nice to get the worst out of the way first, so hopefully it’s only going up from here.

 

Anne

Well, starting us off with a bang I see but coming out strong with the worst food vendor (ok- that’s not entirely fair… the foods are sorted alphabetically).

This appears to be an open-faced egg and ham sandwich. Which fine- I do be liking an egg sammich. This is a duck egg which tastes the same as a chicken egg but usually has a richer yolk and some people are allergic to them, so bold choice eliminating part of your audience right out the gate. We regularly get duck eggs from a coworker (thanks Brigid!) so this isn’t a fun novelty for us. I feel like this will probably be just fine but is not really what I’m looking to get from (or be excited for) at the fair.

Per usual we need to make a prediction on price at the Speakeasy. IIRC I feel like last year’s prices were a little softer here. But inflation and supply is nutso right now so I’m going to say this sammich will run us $10.

 

Arepa Bar’s Three Arepas- Pulled Pork, The Queen, and Vegan- Midtown Global Market’s Arepa Bar/ Taste of Midtown Global Market

Baked Venezuelan crispy corn pocket with choice of three fillings (all arepas are gluten-free): The Pulled Pork Arepa is pork shoulder slow-roasted in red wine and vegetables served with shredded cheddar cheese, cabbage, carrots, green onions and parsley; The Queen (Reina Pepiada) is pulled chicken and avocado puree salad topped with mozzarella cheese and fresh arugula; and the Vegan Arepa is house- prepared black beans, fried sweet plantains, cabbage, carrots, green onions and parsley. (New Vendor) (Available Aug. 31-Sept. 5 only)

 

Sarah
I dunno, man. I just don’t have a lot of feelings about this. I mean, crispy corn pocket sounds great in theory, but the picture isn’t doing it any favors. It’s like literally all the same color, sort of a beige green. The vegan one is right out for me because Sarah doesn’t do beans. But the pulled pork one sounds pretty good, though cheddar cheese would not be my cheese of choice to go with pulled pork. So does the Queen, but I know Packie won’t want that one because it has avocado in it, which he hates because we can’t have nice things.

Ah I see this is one of those pop-up ones, too, that are only available for half the fair. We’ve yet to ever be impressed by any of those and I don’t think this year will prove any differently.

Just went back and looked at the pic for the, presumably, pork one and that cheddar cheese does not look good and now I’m kinda mad.

 

Packie

Here we have one of Midtown Global Market’s new vendors.  For those not in the know, they split their booth between two restaurants for each half of the fair.  This one will be available for the second half, August 31^st through Labor Day.  While it is kind of cool that you could try two different vendors at different points during the fair at the same location, it’s kind of tedious if you only wanted to go one time.  I mean, I don’t know how you could really justify only going to the fair once, but I’m sure some people don’t have it in their budget to go more than once or are just not Minnesotan enough to go multiple times.  Also, for three siblings who want to try all the new foods on the first day of the fair, this pretty much shoots that strategy in the fucking face, so thanks for that MGM.  Ok, that’s enough shitting on the vendor, let’s talk about the food.  This vendor is Arepas with a choice of three different fillings; a pulled pork, the queen (pulled chicken), and a vegan made of black beans and other stuff.  I tried arepas for the first time last year and I gotta say I really liked them.  The Queen (pictured 2nd) looks a little funky to be honest, and I’m not a big fan of avocado, which is included in the mix.  The Pulled Pork looks better, but also looks a little too busy.  I think arepas kind of work best when they’re kept simple, but hey it’s the fair, go big or go home.  The vegan one sounds like it could be interesting with those list of flavors, but again, it all seems like a LOT.  Given that I usually am not a fan with whatever MGM puts out each year (which seems statistically impressive considering they keep switching up vendors), I’m predicting this won’t impress me either.

 

Anne

Ok- first, the front page pic (the pic on the top) on this looked great. But when I clicked through wtaf is that food pic?? It’s like a blurry close up cellphone pic, and it looks not great?? Front page looks like the Pulled Pork probably, and the inside pic must be The Queen. Jeeze Arepa Bar- who looked at this and thought- yep, lock it in:

Anyway an Arepa is from South America (these are Venezuelan which I am excited about) and are sort of like a squishy taco- similar to a Gordita. Looks like The Queen is a Pulled Chicken option and the Vegan is made with plantains and beans. I’m glad they have a vegan option, and it’s extra nice that they’re all GF. Honestly the Vegan and the Pulled Pork look the best to me, but since Sarah doesn’t like beans and Packie doesn’t like plantains the Vegan is probably right out (those effers).

This is the split shift (totally accidentally typed “shit” first- still works) booth so we can’t get these until the second half at which point no one gives a crap about the new foods anymore by then.

 

Baba’s Two Hummus Bowls- Beauty and the Buffalo and Coco-Nuts- Baba’s

The Beauty and the Buffalo bowl features ranch hummus, buffalo chicken, crumbled bleu cheese, scallions, buffalo sauce and buffalo dust, served with pita puffs. The Coco-Nuts bowl features hazelnut chocolate hummus, chocolate chips, hazelnuts, shredded coconut and bananas, served with powdered sugar pita puffs. (Coco-Nits is vegan and can be gluten-free without the pita puffs.)

 

Sarah

Was this the hummus place from last year? Because if so, I am excited. All their hummuses were fantastic. Though I will say, I do not want a buffalo hummus. I don’t want buffalo anything, of course, so I’m real glad there’s two options and maybe I can convince my chump siblings to just skip that one altogether. I mean, come on. Look at how many new foods there are! TOO MANY! NO BUFFALO HUMMUS! Packie might even say no because it has crumbled bleu cheese on it, which he hates, so this may be looking pretty good.

Now the Coco-nuts! I’ve never had a chocolate hummus but I am VERY excited to try it, especially because hazelnut, too. Oh man, shredded coconut?? Now we’re fucking talking! SHIIIIIIIT Bananas?! Packie is going to be piiiiissed but I am SO EXCITED for this. Ope, chocolate chips. They lose me a little bit there. I don’t need chocolate chips in things unless they’re melted.

Though I have to say, I’m not sure how I’m gonna feel about the powdered sugar pita puffs. Guess we’ll find out. But I’m willing to trust these peeps because they did good work last year.

 

Patrick

Hey, Baba’s is back with their, frankly, fantastic hummus.  I’ve always thought of hummus as kind of dull, something I’d eat if it was at hand, but not go out of my way to have or get.  After trying Baba’s their debut year, however, I would certainly make time and space for their creative and tasty hummus bowls.  Looks like they have two new varieties to offer this year, including a Beauty and the Buffalo and a Coco-Nuts bowl.  I’m a fan of buffalo sauce, though not so much blue cheese, but I can usually get around that if it’s not too much and this looks like the case here.  Plus, buffalo dust?  Sounds intriguing.  Then with the Coco-Nuts they have a hazelnut chocolate hummus, flavors I am very much into, though I’ve never had a dessert humus before and don’t really know what to expect.  Throwing in some hazelnuts, shredded coconut sound like a good addition, but you lose me at the sliced bananas.  Packie don’t do bananas!  Get that mush fruit out of there.  Two new hummuses, each with one ingredient I would prefer to exclude, so we’ll see how this plays out.

 

Anne

Yay! Baba’s is back! Baba’s basically won best new food vendor last year (not including Summer Lakes Beverages), so I’m glad that they’re still here AND they’ve entered the new food foray. Last year they basically didn’t make a bad hummus bowl, and as soon as I saw this pic I knew it was from them.

Looks like they have two options- a Buffalo Chicken option (Sarah is drooling in anticipation, I’m sure) (ha! Just saw it has Bleu Cheese- now Packie is excited too) and a Hazelnut Coconut option. So looks like we’ll be getting the latter which I am obviously 1000% fine with, because I am interested to see what they do with a dessert. I also just realized it has bananas in it so just hitting it out of the park this year for Packie

 

Birthday Cake Paleta- Hamline Church Dining Hall

A Mexican frozen dessert-on-a-stick made with chunks of birthday cake, sprinkles and a vanilla extract base, specially created by locally owned La Michoacana Rose to celebrate Hamline Church Dining Hall’s 125^th yeah at the fair. Additional paleta varieties are also available: Strawberry, Oreo, Pistachio, Bubble Gum, Passion Fruit, a special flavor of the day, and more.

Sarah

Well shit. Look at all those flavors. It’s not just birthday cake. They got to make it real difficult and throw in like 12 other flavors that all sound great and probably WILL be.

I’m just straight happy about this. I really doubt it can be screwed up and I’m looking forward to partaking of one or all to celebrate the Hamline Church Dining Hall.

Also, I love ice-creamy things so it’s a win-win for me.

 

Patrick

Here’s another vendor I don’t usually put much stock into.  I know for some it is a staple of the state fair, and for them I’m sure a lot of their food is just quaint and good home style cooking that they enjoy.  I get that.  Usually, I think their new foods are just…fine.  Northing that really jumps out as exciting or innovative.  Maybe that might change this year with the addition of these paleta popsicles.  I had to look up what exactly a paleta was, and it seems like they are a Mexican-style popsicle with a focus on fresh natural fruits and sometimes include milk or cream.  Hamline Church Dining hall is offering several flavor varieties, some looking more tempting than others.  Not sure what exactly makes these stand apart from other popsicles, but I’m excited to try it and find out.  Of the flavors listed, I think the birthday cake, pistachio, and maybe one of the fruit ones (to try it traditional) stand out the most.  Also, a special flavor of the day?  That’s kind of neat, but I don’t think I’m going to get a chance to try ‘em all.  We’ll start with a couple and see if they’re worth coming back for.

 

Anne

Ok ok, what do we have here? I am familiar with Paletas though haven’t had too many opportunities to imbibe, so I’m glad to see it here.

Oh- this is from Hamline Church?? That’s…unexpected. Like- Mexican fare is not their usual mo… Not sure how I’m feeling about this now.

Oh- apparently they partnered with La Michoacana Rose to celebrate their 125 years. I feel better about this now.

I’m not usually a big Birthday Cake fan, but I get why they’re going with that. Oh! They have other flavors too! Well now I am even more interested (Oreo? Pistachio?? FLAVOR OF THE DAY??)

I am excited to try this

 

Breakfast Gnocchi- The Blue Barn

A bed of potato gnocchi topped with scrambled eggs, bacon, pesto cream, shallots and balsamic glaze.

 

Sarah

What the what now??!! BREAKFAST GNOCCHI??? No no no. Blue Barn, you are too much. I already love this. I just know it will be good. I mean, LOOK AT IT! Do you think those gnocchi will be crispy AND soft? Oooh, I hope so. Eggs and bacon? Sure thing! Pesto cream? Why not! Shallots and balsamic? Please!

This will probably be the very first thing we eat on the very first morning of the fair and I bet it’s gonna be very good. Blue Barn has done well for us over the last 3-4 years and they’ve easily moved into my favorite spot, so I think they’re gonna stay there after this year too.

This might be my favorite new food. Shit, I can’t stop thinking about this.

 

Patrick

The Blue Barn has been on a role lately, putting out fun, creative, and delicious food.  I used to not like them very much, but now they have several items I really have to have each and every year.  Will this be another one to add to the list?  Who can say, but I do like the look of it.  Are those gnocchi fried?  They look so crispy!  Throw some scrambled eggs, bacon, pesto cream, shallots and balsamic glaze on top, and I think this could really work.  Say nothing else about The BB, they really know how to make an interesting and elevated looking dish.  As long as they bring the flavor, I think it could be a real hit.  Crossing my fingers that this is as good as it looks.

 

Anne

Heh heh heh. I see you Blue Barn- this looks hella fun. Are those gnocchi FRIED??!

Blue Barn has definitely raised in our esteem over the last 2 or 3 fairs, and in general they’re usually pretty good with their brekkie options, and this looks right up there. There isn’t anything on this that I don’t like/want to try, and the nice thing about Blue Barn brekkie is that it’s served all day so we don’t have to scramble to get it before a certain time (not really an issue for us since we enter at the West End Market now, but still)

 

Buzz’n…Hot Honey Chicken Sausage Kebob- Sausage Sister & Me

Hot honey drizzled over chicken sausage skewered with cornmeal chunks and served on a bed of coleslaw.

 

Sarah

Eh. I dunno. I’ve never eaten a chicken sausage that I like. I’m mildly interested in the biscuits in this sort of sausage shish kebab, but I worry they will be dry, or gummy or just not good. There’s just a lot of ways this could go wrong and Sausage Sisters can sometimes do okay things, but generally they’re just subpar. Hot honey isn’t surprising since it’s kinda the new hot (heh) food right now. I’ll be interested in seeing if other new foods also take advantage of this trend.

Also, I realize that I’m kinda over food items that are, like, a whole big meal. We have sausage. We have biscuits. We have coleslaw. Like, when am I going to have time to sit down and eat that coleslaw? You put this whole thing on a stick, which makes for easy walking, but then add a platter of coleslaw? Doesn’t check out. If the coleslaw HAS to be present in the dish, it might need to be reimagined. Otherwise, ditch it.

 

Patrick

Nice to see Sausage Sisters in the running again.  They had their ups and downs, but I’m always excited to try what new idea they’ve put out and hope for some good flavors and good food.  Sticking to what they do best, sausages, they’ve put a chicken sausage on a skewer alongside some tasty looking cornmeal biscuit chunks and drizzled the whole thing in hot honey.  Not sure I need the coleslaw, but the rest of it looks like it could be a fun and tasty item.  If the price is right and the biscuits and sausage hit, I’m sure this will be a blast.

 

Anne

Ok, well first- I dislike the spelling Kebob instead of Kebab. I know they’re both a valid spelling because Merica, but still.

Anyway, moving on. At first I thought this was sausage with like some sort of fried dough and I was like hell yes. Then I saw the name and thought it was chunks of chicken breast in between the sausage and was like booo. But NOW I realize it’s chicken sausage in between BISCUITS and I’m back to hell yes.

Sausage Sister is just an ok vendor for us- they’ve had some Bs but have never knocked it out of the park- they’ve had 1 D, and they mostly land in C-ville. So I expect this will probably be sort of disappointing and end up being ok not great. I hope it’s not too spicy- we’ve been burned (heh) by Sausage Sister in the past.

 

Celebration Cake on a Stick- Mancini’s al Fresco

White cake infused with almond flavoring and decorated with white frosting. This mini version of Mancini’s house cake can be personalized on-site with short text to celebrate a favorite fair fan or special occasion.

Sarah

Okay. I don’t know how I feel about this. This is a big fucking cake pop, (though it’s not even a cake pop) so I was like, I don’t need a whole birthday cake or whatever to eat while I’m at the fair.

BUT. But you better BELIEVE we are gonna get ours personalized and all that jazz. So, for a photo op? I’m pretty frickin jazzed about it. But outside of that, it best be the best cake I’ve ever tasted if you want me to take more than a single bit of this huge thing.

 

Patrick

Um…ok.  Looks like this could be fun and cute for the kids, maybe?  White cake infused with almond flavoring and white frosting just seems preeeeeeetty boring.  Supposedly this is a mini version of Mancini’s house cake, which I don’t know…maybe is a really good cake?  I’ve never had it, so I couldn’t say.  I don’t really need the “personalize” your own dessert gimmick, so this better be same damn good cake or I’m just wasting my damn time.

 

Anne

Hmmmmmmmm.

Yeah I don’t know how I feel about this? Like my initial reaction was eh. I’m picky about cake. This looks like it’s sort of trying to be a cake pop but is giant? So maybe it’s actually a mini layer cake inside? White cake with white frosting is the most boring of choices. Also I like that they say the cake is “infused” with almond flavoring.  Sooooo you added almond extract to the batter? Stop trying to be fancy.

I AM impressed/excited that they can decorate it right there for you- do you think they can fit Fair Fest Feasts on it??!

 

Chick N Swiss Sausage- Gass Station Grill

Grilled chicken sausage custom-made with chunks of Swiss cheese and asparagus, ground pineapple, bacon and jalapeno, served on a bun.

Sarah

Starting to think my hot dog or sausage theme might prove right. But look, more chicken sausage. I just…I’m gonna say it. Chicken sausage is not good. Not unless you’re also blending it with pork or something to get some fat in it. And if you are, then it’s not really a chicken sausage. I’m getting pretty irritated that I’m gonna have to chow on so much subpar chicken sausage. Also, this sausage has chunks in it. Like, okay, I’m fine with the chunks of cheese. If I’m gonna have chunks in my sausage, it best be cheese. But this has chunks of cheese, asparagus, jalapeno, pineapple…Like, when does it stop being a sausage and actually turn into a salad here?

I think the flavor combo sounds all right. If I’m gonna eat chicken sausage, it’s nice that it’s gonna have all those things to go with it to, you know, add something to a boring chicken sausage. But I expect I’ll be underwhelmed with this one.

 

Patrick

Hah, there is a LOT going on in this sausage.  I like a good sausage in a bun as the next person, but clearly what’s in the sausage here will make it or break it, will have it stand apart from the myriad of other sausages at the fair.  Swiss cheese, asparagus, pineapple, bacon, and jalapeno is quite the mix, and at a glance I think it could be good.  Hope it hits all those flavors and packs a punch.  Good luck!

 

Anne

Ok- this sounds like a fancy sausage. It’s gonna allll come down to how that sausage is – if it’s too dry you’re outta here. Asparagus is not my favorite veg (I really only like it 1 way- when Packie cooks it), and I hope the Jalapeno is not too spicy.

But even if this is a great sausage, this is still just…a…sausage? So it’s a little hard to get excited about it.

 

 

That’s it for day 1- see you tomorrow with 10 more New Foods.