Deep Fried WHAT?

I mentioned the other week that on my cross country road trip I had the distinct experience of eating deep fried Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and deep fried Oreo Cookies at the Texas State Fair.

It was a mess-with-your-mind culinary experience--one that I simply had to share.

I know, I know. “Deep Fried” has become a thing now. Everybody’s doing it. Even at the Texas State Fair--where (arguably) the idea of deep frying bizarre things originated--every food vendor outdoes themselves now by deep frying weirder and weirder stuff.

And when I say weird, I really mean it. You can find anything from deep fried cheesecake, deep fried bubble gum, deep fried butter, even deep fried spaghetti and meatballs now. *shudder*

If you don't find deep fried spaghetti and meatballs at least somewhat weird, you're not... normal.

I'm not normal either, but thankfully, all of these extra-weird deep fried items were beyond my ability to eat, for the simple reason that after I'd finished a couple of deep fried Oreos and a deep fried Reese's, I'd blown past "full" and entered a state of existential fullness. I was so full, I literally couldn’t imagine eating anything else… ever.

Speaking of not normal, one quick anecdote about my Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. The instant I bit into it, a woman standing near me started asking me, “Well? Doyoulikeit, doyoulikeit... DOYOULIKEIT? How’s it taste? Does it taste good?”

This went a bit beyond normal Texas friendliness. Either way, I couldn’t answer. I simply couldn't wrap my mind around what I was tasting. It was too ...weird. But I wanted to be polite, so I answered, mouth full, “I… I don’t (mmph) know. (Mmph) I'm just not sure!”

She turned away, disappointed.

But I really wasn’t sure. What I was eating defied description. Intellectually, I understood what it was: a Reese’s covered in a thick, mildly-sweet batter (if you’ve ever been to a state fair and had a funnel cake, the batter was like that). It was right-out-of-the-fryer hot, yet the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup inside was still structurally secure, perfectly warm, and only just starting to melt. And to top it all off there was powdered sugar and a splash of chocolate sauce on everything.

Again, intellectually, I knew what a Reese’s tasted like. And I guess I knew what deep fried batter was going to taste like too. But the combination of the two was an altogether new and different taste sensation. My mind was literally melting as I chewed and tried to process what was happening in my mouth. A couple minutes later, I had decided: I really liked it.

But that lady? She'd already left.

Readers, what’s the weirdest food you’ve ever tried? Share it in the comments!

Some of the details of this story may have been exaggerated. A little.

Deep fried brownies? Pshaw. That's not weird.

...the deep fried stuffed olives looked really good.

Yes, you're reading that correctly: Deep. Fried. Butter.

Admit it, you're curious about this one.

The deep fried Snickers bars were really popular.

People really line up for this stuff!

Cake balls and chicken skin, baby!

This one? Don't even get me started. No way would I try this.

Related Posts:
A Can of Bud
Fake Maple Syrup
How to Team Up in the Kitchen
Wait... You Can DRINK An Apple Pie?

How can I support Casual Kitchen?
Easy. Do all your shopping at Amazon.com via the links on this site! You can also link to me or subscribe to my RSS feed. Finally, consider sharing this article, or any other article you particularly enjoyed here, to Facebook, Twitter (follow me @danielckoontz!) or to bookmarking sites like reddit, digg or stumbleupon. I'm deeply grateful to my readers for their ongoing support.

Boiled Peanuts: Foods You Only Need to Try Once

I'm still reeling from a culinary experience from our recent North Carolina trip: boiled peanuts. Or "burled peanuts" as we started calling them on our drive home.

I don't know what came over me. We were in peanut country, we saw homemade signs advertising them every few miles on the road, and I guess I got carried away. I wanted to try boiled peanuts.

Mistakes were made.

But instead of a total loss, these burled peanuts became the seed of an idea for a new (albeit hopefully infrequent) series: foods you only need to try once. I'll try them, and with any luck, I can spare you from the experience.

At first they looked harmless, just a can full of peanuts soaking in brine. How bad could they be?

Well, let's just say at least they weren't terrible.

Boiled peanuts are like regular peanuts in the sense that you still have to remove the shell. But you can't really "crack" open the shell like you would a dry peanut. It's too waterlogged from sitting in a can of brine.

Instead, you more or less smoosh open the shell. Unfortunately, in my first attempt, I smooshed open the shell a bit too vigorously, and I reduced the poor peanut inside to mush between my fingers.

This was not a good sign texture-wise, I thought to myself.

And, unfortunately, I was absolutely correct about the texture of the peanuts. They were mushier than mooshy beans. The experience was like eating a salty, wet, peanut paste.

But on the plus side, I found the information on the can label quite instructive, particularly the cautionary warning MAY CONTAIN: PEANUTS....

I'm slightly more concerned, however, with identifying erythorbic acid. I wonder, is it at all like sodium hexametaphosphate?

Like I said, I tried 'em so you don't have to.