Jun 10, 2009 6:50 pm US/Central
New Fair Food Includes Peach-Glazed Pig Cheeks
(WCCO)
-
-
Famous Dave's will be offering peach-glazed pig cheeks. That may sound hard to swallow but not too Vincent Francoul the owner and chef of Vincent in Minneapolis. He says pig cheeks are a delicacy. (File)
Jupiter Images
There are only 78 days left until the start of the Great Minnesota Get Together. And while you probably aren't in State Fair mode yet, organizers are.
They have released their list of new foods. How does pig cheeks and a french-fry wrapped hot dog sound?
On Wednesday, workers were already getting ready, cleaning at one of the fairgrounds Sweet Martha's Cookies stands. The Cookie Queen broke a fair record last year grossing more than $2 million. With that kind of dough at stake, vendors hope to create the next big thing.
Famous Dave's will be offering peach-glazed pig cheeks. That may sound hard to swallow but not too Vincent Francoul the owner and chef of Vincent in Minneapolis. He says pig cheeks are a delicacy.
"Its so tender when its braised I don't know how they're going to make it hold on a stick. But I mean it tastes like chicken," said Francoul.
Several of the new foods are potato oriented like a sausage wrapped in a spiral cut potato or the fry dog -- a hot dog encased in batter and fries.
It's not easy to get a new food booth at the Minnesota State Fair. The fair has 3,000 vendor applications on file and every year it gets about 150 new applications. This year there were only two openings for new vendors.
Veteran fair vendor George Wozniak's two french-fry stands grossed more than $900,000 last year. He said he is not threatened by the newcomers.
"The more new food that the Minnesota State Fair brings in the better it is for everybody because it brings the attendance back, it brings people that are curious to see the new foods. I think competition always is good for everybody," said Wozniak.
The fair runs from Aug. 27 to Sept. 7 this year.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
