RALEIGH — A display of equal parts ingenuity and excess, food on a stick is quintessential state fair food.
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The North Carolina State Fair is full of caramel apples, corn dogs and other more typical skewered selections. But for those a bit more daring or otherwise willing to embrace something they'd likely never consider eating the other 50 weeks of the year, there are plenty of outlandish foods on a stick to fuel that curiosity.
Here are a few of our favorites:
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It's a large chunk of swiss cheese, dipped into a rye batter, deep-fried and served with a cup of spicy brown mustard for dipping. Who said mozzarella and marinara had to have all the fun? Hot Wisconsin Cheese sells these melty cheese lollipops for $6 a pop, which felt like a solid value.
The hot, stretchy cheese did start to slip down the wooden stick after a few minutes, which might prove to be a mess after a little while. Just eat it while it's still nice and hot and you'll be just fine.
Considering the NC State Fair only started serving alcohol in 2017, we're probably a ways away from a state fair martini. But ABC-willing, cocktails will hopefully arrive and when they do, here's to hoping someone garnishes their martini with a skewer of these fried olives.
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The skewer ($7) has six large green olives, dipped in a batter and then rolled in panko breadcrumbs before being fried and served with a creamy dipping sauce. The contrast of the hot, crispy exterior with the just-warm, briny, salty olives inside might take a little getting used to, but it's quite enjoyable. If you like fried pickles, you'll like these too.
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The "put bacon on everything!" fad of a few years ago has quieted down, but if it's going to make a return, a state fair seems like the appropriate venue for it. Bubba's Bacon, as its name implies, serves bacon in many different ways, including wrapped around sausage, on top of mac and cheese, on a stick with chocolate or maple syrup and even wrapped around a grilled cheese sandwich.
With a spread of marshmallow fluff and graham cracker crumbs, the s'mores bacon ($7) takes that chocolate-covered bacon to the next level. Yes, it's sugary, but the bacon is exceptionally smoky, which both helps counter the sweetness and helps play into the campfire s'mores illusion.
Even lobster tails aren't immune from being deep-fried and served on a stick. Oak City Fish and Chips, with two locations in Raleigh, including inside the Morgan Street Food Hall, has officially state fair-ified this fine-dining staple. Each tail pop is $25, so if you're looking for value eats, this isn't it, but if you want to say you ate a lobster tail while riding America's largest traveling Ferris wheel, which just so happens to be right next to the Oak City stand, then look no further.
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Kora's Cookie Dough is new to the NC State Fair in 2021, so for the uninitiated, expect to find cookie dough in all sorts of different forms — aside from baked. They offer about a half-dozen types of cookie doughs on a stick. If that's not enough, they'll dip it in chocolate and roll it in sprinkles. They'll even take cookie dough, wrap it in pastry, deep-fry it and top it with powdered sugar and chocolate sauce.
There is a chocolate chip cookie stand at the fair. Let me know when they start serving cookie skewers and I'll be right over.
Nonwoven Cleaning Cloth Jacob Pucci writes on food, restaurants and business. Contact him by email at jpucci@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @jacobpucci or on Facebook. Like talking food? Join our Fayetteville Foodies Facebook group.