Posted by DeMoines Register, IA on July 30, 2008 at 08:15:12:
Pineapple on a stick - and more new foods at the Iowa State Fair
By TOM PERRY • tperry@dmreg.com • July 29, 2008
John Mortimer knows it may seem strange to be planning meals on fancy china at a place where food on a stick is all the rage.
But he knows nothing ventured, nothing gained.
So it will be like special company is coming to dinner at Wine and Prime, a new Iowa State Fair event.
"This will be a very different dining experience than food on a stick,'' said Mortimer, manager of Cattlemen's Beef Quarters, which will co-sponsor the event with the Iowa Wine Growers Association.
Wine and Prime will feature Iowa wines paired with a prime rib dinner. The backdrop will be pure State Fair, but the garden tent setting will be as white-tablecloth as one can get at the fair.
The idea to veer in a different direction grew from a neighborly relationship at the fair, Mortimer said.
"The Iowa Growers place is fairly close to ours,'' he said. "We had some people go over and bring a bottle of wine over as we ate prime rib, and so we were sitting there visiting one evening and thought, 'Well, wonder if fairgoers in general would go for something like this?' ''
That question will be answered between Wednesday and Aug. 16 at the fair. Seatings will be offered at 6 and 7:30 p.m. each day. The cost is $75 per couple. Each seating will be limited to 18 couples. Reservations can be made at www.whofarm.com.
Pineapple on a stick
The idea to skewer a bit of the tropics on a stick came to Larry Fyfe as a suggestion.
"A friend of mine mentioned pineapple,'' he said. "We just started playing with it at home, and we saw it was going to work.''
Fresh sliced pineapple dipped in funnel cake batter, deep-fried and served with powdered sugar will be served for the first time at the State Fair for $4 a stick.
The treat debuted last month at a festival in Urbandale, said Fyfe, who has been a concessionaire at the fair for 40 years.
"It met with a lot of approval there and in Ankeny, too,'' he said. "People really liked it.''
Cinnamon roll contest
Something will be missing this year from the Iowa State Fair Elwell Family Food Center - Dianna Sheehy's baking prowess.
A 59-year-old Audubon resident, Sheehy has been toting baked goods since 1978 to State Fair food competitions.
But this year, for the first time, she'll be judging contests. This is not necessarily her choice. She's sitting out by virtue of the fact that she was the overall winner of the 2007 Tone's Cinnamon Roll Contest, and rules stipulate that the overall winner has to sit out the following year.
"Those are the rules, and that's the way it is,'' Sheehy said of the imposed sidelining.
Over the years, she has taken home scores of ribbons. But last year, she did something unprecedented in the Tone's competition - she won first and second place, which netted her $4,500 in prize money.
"I do bake a lot,'' Sheehy said. "And pies and cinnamon rolls are my favorite things to bake.''
Her winning entries in 2007: country caramel rolls and frosted cinnamon rolls.
If Sheehy has any secrets, she's not sharing them.
"I think a lot of it is just practice,'' she said. "I've been making cinnamon rolls since I was 14.''
New contests
This is a boom year for new cooking contests. More than 60 new competitions have been added to the Iowa State Fair, which already has more cooking contests than any other state fair.
Some of the truly fun-sounding additions include:
- Iowa's best pot pie
- Breakfast on a stick
- Quiche Me in the Morning, sponsored by the Iowa Bed & Breakfast Guild
- Garnishing 101
- Favorite animal or pet cookie decorating
- Scandinavian desserts
All events will be held at the Elwell Family Food Center, except for the Mystery Sack, an event where entrants will make a dish after they've been given one brown paper grocery sack with random ingredients. The Mystery Sack competition will be held in the Homemakers Theater in the Family Theaters.
New cookbook
Putting together the Iowa State Fair Cookbook every two years may seem non-threatening enough, but precautions do need to be taken, one editor says.
"You don't want to work on it over lunch,'' state fair marketing director Lori Chappell said. "It just makes you really hungry.''
This year the fair is publishing its 14th cookbook. More than 5,550 cookbooks were printed. They will be sold for $15. Since 1983, when the first cookbook was printed, every edition, except one - 2002 - has sold out.
Chappell said she enjoys helping edit the cookbook, despite the temptations.
"It really is fun,'' she said. "How can it not be fun when you're dealing with recipes like 'Creamie Wienie Fettucini' and 'Bloody Mary on a Stick?' "
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