PB&J Bacon Pickle Dogs and More Absurd Foods Are Among This Year’s State Fair Semi-Finalists

Somehow, it is already almost time again for the State Fair of Texas, which means that the annual fried food bonanza has announced its list of semi-finalists for the 2019 Big Tex Choice Awards.

As always, this year’s semi-finalists are seriously over-the-top. Divided into two categories, savory and sweet, 33 deep-fried delights were chosen from an overall pool of 49 entries to move into the semi-final round. This pool of candidates will be further whittled down to the top ten entries next month, when the finalists will compete against each other during the Big Tex Choice Awards ceremony on Sunday, August 25 at Fair Park.

This year’s newcomers follow in the footsteps of last year’s absurd Big Tex Choice Awards semi-finalists, which included cotton candy tacos and deep-fried hoppin’ john, both of which were winners in the Most Creative and Best Taste - Savory categories, respectively.

Scope out some of the highlights from this year’s Big Tex Choice Awards semi-finalists below, the names of which sound like they could’ve been created in a Ridiculous Food Mash-Ups generator.

• Deep Fried Chicken Cordon Bleu Stuffed Waffles — An unholy mashup of two foods that should never be in the same place at the same time.
• Fried Burnt End Burritos — A burrito stuffed with burnt ends? This seems promising, depending on where the burnt ends come from.
• PB&J Pickle Dogs — It’s unclear exactly how this terrifying mashup of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, bacon-wrapped hot dog, and pickle will come together. It will either be completely disgusting or the best thing at the fair in 2019.
• Texas Cream Corn Casserole Fritters — Fried nuggets of creamy corn? Seems good!
• Peanut Butter Cup Snookie — It’s unclear what a “snookie” is, and how it differs from a Snooki.
• Fried Creme Brulee Berry Crunch — Because creme brulee, a deep-fryer, and berries all sort of make sense together, this dish seems pretty tame for the State Fair of Texas.
• Deep Fried Street Corn — How this newcomer is different than the deep-fried elotes that made the menu in 2018 remains to be seen.
• Big Red Chicken Bread — According to Google, “chicken bread” is a braided bread stuffed with chicken. How Big Red, a bright red, bubblegum flavored soda, factors into this mix remains to be seen.
• Extreme Fried Bananarama — No clue.
• Fla’Mango Tango — Ditto.
• Southern Fried Chicken Fettucine Alfredo Ball — A self-explanatory monstrosity that will absolutely attract one of the longest lines at the Fair.
• Stokin-Smokin Cowboy’s Bacon and Brisket Egg Roll — What even?

Folks who are just dying to try those Stokin-Smokin Egg Rolls and PB&J Pickle Dogs can buy tickets to the Awards on August 25, or wait until the State Fair of Texas kicks off in earnest on September 27.

• All State Fair of Texas Coverage [EDFW]