The Minnesota State Fair's new foods: What we will and won't try
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Two Buffalo Chicken Doughscuits from The Blue Barn. Photo courtesy of the Minnesota State Fair
This year's lineup of new Minnesota State Fair foods is out, and it's heavy on the sweets, salt and cheese. But it also offers a bit of weird.
- Just take a look at the the Buffalo Chicken Doughscuit — a biscuit-style doughnut stuffed with shredded chicken and drizzled with Buffalo sauce icing and bacon bits — from the Blue Barn.
Driving the news: The state fair, as it does every year at this time, released its list of new foods Tuesday, with 27 items for 2021.
Why it matters: The state fair is back after a one-year, pandemic-driven hiatus. This feels normal.
The big picture: A small handful of new food vendors are making their debut this year.
- Scenic 61, the food truck operated by The Scenic Cafe on the North Shore, will have a stand and serve sashimi tuna tacos.
- Herbivorous Butcher, the wildly popular meatless butcher in Minneapolis, will make its debut in the Midtown Global Market with a ChoriPop — meatless Chorizo dipped in corndog batter and fried.
- Fluffy's Hand Cut Donuts will serve donuts topped with soft-serve ice cream.
- Hot Indian Foods will have a permanent booth this year, and Mpls. St. Paul Magazine critic Dara Moskowitz-Grumdahl wonders if this is a step for the growing company to win the "Race To Create An Indian Chipotle."
What we want to try most:
- Audrey: The Spufull Puff by Potato Man & Sweety — Mashed sweet potatoes blended with sweetened cream cheese, wrapped in dough and fried.
- Nick: Both of Hot Indian Foods' new items, the Kerala Fried Chicken Kati Roll and the Paneer Pakora (Seasoned paneer cheese cubes fried in a gluten-free batter and served with tomato butter).
- Torey: Banh Minn Bun and Banh Minn Bowl by Sausage Sister & Me — Asian-inspired sausage, one in a baguette and the other in a bowl. Lots of toppings.
What we're not so sure about: The Blue Raspberry Blitzed, a "traditional hand pie filled with a raspberry, blueberry and apple blend infused with UV Blue Vodka and topped with cotton candy sugar."
- Sounds like gut rot.