Latest Fair Fried Food Craze - Fried TANG

[308Mike]

Linkarooni:

Latest fair fare: Deep-fried Tang
By Hailey Persinger | Friday, June 29, 2012



DEL MAR — Did you know that Tang, the orange-flavored drink mix made famous in 1962 by astronaut John Glenn is still being made?

Did you know it can be deep fried? Well, it can.

The cooks at the Del Mar Diner stand at the fair have taken the “Out of this World” space theme of this year’s event and incorporated it into all sorts of foods. Tang, which became ultra popular in the early the ’60s after NASA sent Glenn to space with some of the powdered drink mix, couldn’t be left out of the space-themed menu.

Cooking up a batch of fried Tang begins with pancake batter. The powder is then mixed into the batter, rolled into balls and fried up on the griddle. Before it’s served, the Tang is smothered in sugar frosting.

The finished product tastes like an orange-flavored doughnut, and looks like a doughnut hole.

While Tang was once wildly popular with children, the fried Tang is drawing less of a crowd, said Dante Catalfo, who works at the Del Mar Diner booth.

“More people ask about it than actually try them,” Catalfo said. “People are confused about it.”

The booth sells about 20 batches — or 140 fried Tang balls — a day, said Alex Johnson, who also works at the booth.

The fried Tang follows the fry-anything tradition of the fair. Last year’s big hit was fried Kool-Aid, which is prepared in a similar way to the Tang.

Tang was first introduced to the masses in 1959 but didn’t sell well until Glenn’s Mercury launch three years later. The drink mix was added to the menu of that particular launch as an experiment in what could be eaten while in orbit.

[Greg]

This is not new. You might enjoy the Food Network.

[308Mike]

This is not new. You might enjoy the Food Network.

Well, the Del Mar Fair has had almost everything else deep-fried (other than mayonnaise), and people have bought and eaten it, and some of it has become popular!! UGH!!

I know they've had fried zucchini take off commercially, as well as many other fried foods:

Chicken Charlie is also bringing back some of the deep fried favorites of past Fairs, such as the Krispy Kreme Chicken sandwich, the Zucchni Weenie, Totally Fried Avocados, the Deep Fried Klondike Bar and Twinkie, and Deep Fried Frog Legs.

<SNIP>
The Deep Fried Butter Stand also is serving up some new dishes, such as Deep Fried Pigs in a Blanket, and a Chocolate Covered Corn Dog. They also are offering up a new twist on an old favorite – their Chocolate Covered Bacon can now be served deep fried!

There are many more new delectable delights to sample. At the Mexican Funnel Cake Stand, it’s Deep Fried Baby Ruth filled Jalapeño’s! Juicy’s is serving up Deep Fried Jerky, and hungry Fair Foodies will want to try the Deep Fried Candy Kabob at Funnel Cake Express.

Other new tasty treats this year include Oven Baked Sandwiches at Pat’s Pizza, and the Calamari Stand will feature Blue Mussels.

Bottom line, if they can cook something that people might eat and make a buck, they'll do it at our Del Mar Fair!

If you're down this way during the fair, I urge you to stop by and spend an afternoon here and grab some of the eats!! I've had corn-on-the-cob almost melt in my mouth, BBQ chicken that was simply AWESOME, corn-dogs you couldn't find anywhere else (whose batter was awesome), and soft-serve ice-cream which if not served in a cup would have been inhaled before it even got a chance to melt into the cup (but at least kept your hands from getting sticky).

The food is one of the MAIN reasons lots of folks even go to the fair. It's a chance to pig-out and not feel too guilty ('cause you're paying for it!!)!!

[Windy Wilson]

My Gall Bladder may never forgive you!

Deep-fried mayonnaise. Hmmm, give me a couple of weeks.