What Not To Include In Your Labor Day BBQ

Texans: They're just a different breed, aren't they? Well the Lone Star State has some suggestions for you if you're wondering what to serve at your Labor Day barbecue. You'll probably want to hide the menu from your cardiologist, but here are the finalists in the eighth annual Big Tex Choice Awards -- a competition at the Texas State Fair that in the past has included such delicacies as Fried Bubblegum and Fried Butter. Fried is clearly the operative word in Texas.

Some of this year's dishes competing for blockage of your arteries are:

Chicken Fried Cactus Bites: Hand-picked prickly pear cactus pads, thinly slicked and then chicken-battered and deep fried. They are served with a sweet and spicy jalapeno ranch dressing and agave nectar dipping sauce.

Fried Bacon Cinnamon Roll: We admit, bacon on our cinnamon roll was a stretch. Here's how the website describes them: Deliciously fresh cinnamon roll dipped in a special sweet pancake batter, rolled in crispy fried bacon crumbles, deep fried and sprinkled with powdered sugar. It's a main course and a dessert all in one.

Fried Mexican Fire Crackers: A yummy, spicy chicken, cheese and jalapeno mix wrapped in fresh-made masa dough and deep fried to a crispy, crunchy, explosion of flavor. OLE, JOSE! Served with fiery TNT sauce.

Fried Pork Wing: This juicy morsel is slow-cooked for six hours then lightly deep fried, rolled and tossed in a smoked bacon chipotle glaze. Accompanied by old-school homemade potato chips lightly dusted in barbecue seasoning, it's a sure crowd pleaser.

Check out the slideshow below for the other four finalists.

Loading Slideshow

• Deep-Fried Jambalaya

  Via <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/headlines/20120829-see-the-fried-finalists-announced-for-the-big-tex-choice-prize.ece?ssimg=695244#ssTop695585" target="_hplink">The Dallas Morning News</a>

• Deep-Fried Jambalaya

  Via <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/headlines/20120829-see-the-fried-finalists-announced-for-the-big-tex-choice-prize.ece?ssimg=695243#ssTop695585" target="_hplink">The Dallas Morning News</a>

• Picnic On A Stick

• Deep-Fried Divine Chocolate Tres Leches Cake

• Deep Fried Mac-N-Cheese Slider

 

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Comments

[TabaskoKat]

01:37 PM on 09/08/2012

Eewwwww

None of that sounds appealing

I wonder if eating any of this crap has anything to do with our obesity, cardiovascular or diabetes epidemic?

[ejv1234]

01:46 PM on 09/05/2012

The best I have had were grilled pickled polish sausages. ( www.picklepolishsausages.com ). They taste like grilled keibasa with a zing to them. Awesome stuff!

[SimonBao]

03:30 AM on 09/04/2012

It may be worth observing that not a single of those Texas BBQ dishes is prepared anywhere near a grill, and none have even diddly doo to do with barbecuing of any kind.

How and when did Texas BBQ become a showcase for deep-fried foods? Many of them deep-fried cr@p?

[pixeloid]

12:09 AM on 09/04/2012

With the possible exception of the deep-fried mac & cheese, all of that stuff seems absolutely disgusting.

[zanzig]

04:58 AM on 09/04/2012

How, no, WHY would you deep fry chocolate cake?

[pixeloid]

05:28 AM on 09/04/2012

I've heard of worse. How about deep fried butter on a stick?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2024999/Deep-fried-butter-goes-sale-Iowa-State-Fair.html

[lightnessandjoy]

11:39 PM on 09/03/2012

I don't know. Seems like this stuff would all be better if it was deep-fried.

[RosyS]

09:15 PM on 09/03/2012

okay y'all, all this food talk is making me awfully hungry! my mouth won't stop watering...hahaha...

[jbhg1990]

07:00 PM on 09/03/2012

What the hell is this? Im from Tx and I feel bloated reading this crap. IDK where in TX this is going on, but not in my part of Houston. There is nothing there that i would eat, not even on my cheat day!

[RosyS]

09:13 PM on 09/03/2012

really, nothing you would eat? wow... on the other hand I lived there for 20 yrs. Dallas and we enjoyed all the basics like brisket, chicken fried steaks, sweet tea, I got hooked on Dr. pepper and learn home made Mexican food. really enjoyed living there, made some great friends, drove all over TX met a lot of characters and interest old timers.lots of joyful memories.

[jbhg1990]

09:54 PM on 09/03/2012

Granted, I am on a diet(should of mentioned it) but some of these things look like they could clog arteries in one sitting Lol - I am from Houston, been to Austin(helped keep it weird), San Antonio(boardwalk) and Galveston-Kemah. I've had some great food too, I am just not a fan of man deep fried concoctions. I am Mexican, so homemade is all I get !! Lol - you left TX?? Dont think I could, I've been to Mass, NY, CT, (east coast basically) - but cant find Mexican food like we have it, I'll give it to the East though, they make one HELL of a pizza, Santarpios in Boston is the most authentic pizza I've had, EVER.

[goldengirl43]

04:17 PM on 09/03/2012

Typical Southern heart attack fare. My heart is seizing up just reading about this nauseating stuff.

[Deftguy]

03:13 PM on 09/03/2012

I thought the author was going to ask me to give up my BBQ steak. Not going to happen I am afraid.....

[RosyS]

09:14 PM on 09/03/2012

BBQ steak? is the best! don't ever give it up.

[cornel]

11:25 AM on 09/03/2012

I'm having a lot of guest this year so I went for a Shawarma with all the trimmings !

[Stoplyingtous]

10:19 AM on 09/03/2012

I would make Regressive Republicans and their minion tops on a list of what not to include at any kind of "Labor" Day gathering.

[garystartswithg]

01:46 PM on 09/03/2012

lol -- being gay you learn never to invite republicans -- they show up empty handed and complain about everything. not to mention the tone deaf anti-obama erupitions. so there is the gay guys guide to having a good party -- no republicans.

[goldengirl43]

04:23 PM on 09/03/2012

You don't have to be gay to have guests like this. I can't go anywhere in SW FL without hearing Repug talking points ad nauseous the whole time I'm at ANY function around here. There's nothing but damned Baggers around here. Drives my husband and I nuts....and then they inundate your email with this garbage when you're at home. I feel like I live in Karl Rove's basement!

[saturnia3]

09:47 AM on 09/03/2012

Hello! I'm celebrating this Labor Day in Mumbai, Yes! I've come to India, where are the US jobs are. I also prefer Indian cuisine to...ah....whatever Americans eat. Anyway, it's inspiring to be in a country where people can take off from long work weeks to say, yes!!! everyone is entitled to the opportunity to gainful employment!

[cornel]

11:28 AM on 09/03/2012

Do me a favor and eat a good Batatyacha Rassa (Potato Curry) for me ! Thanks

[chicgogo]

02:31 PM on 09/03/2012

Yummy, me too.

[RosyS]

09:18 PM on 09/03/2012

hello right back atya! last year my husband spent 7/4 in Bangalore.

[ThatsTheTheWayItIs]

09:20 AM on 09/03/2012

Per-capita meat and fat consumption has declined in the US, while obesity has doubled.
Carbs, processed and fried, cause our lifestyle diseases. Bread is the deadly food at a bbq.
We are not cows but we eat like them, so we look like them.

[bdgrizcp]

11:04 AM on 09/03/2012

Food has gotten a lot more expensive, expecially fish and seafood. But across the board, prices are spiking. Processed high-carb food probably less than meat, fresh produce, etc., but the relative cleapness of high-calorie low nutrition food is what sells it. For now. I have my suspicions about HFCS as a major part of the problem, but it could be the amount consumed rather than the fact it's in these products. Deep frying is not, in of itself, unhealthy. It's what you fry and what you fry it in that determines the fat content of the final product. I have heard that deep frying frozen food is healthier than fresh, because the ice crystals in frozen food convert to steam instantly and prevent over absorption of cooking oil. As for cows, I used to work on a dairy farm and our cows were not fat. Beef cattle are fattened up prior to slaughter because that's where the flavor is. No, I am not sure what became of these cows once their milk production went down.

[garystartswithg]

01:50 PM on 09/03/2012

its the calories -- portions of everything have ballooned as our waistlines do to. while meat consumption per capita is declining it means other people are making up for more and more vegans/vegetarians. i still eat flesh, about 100 lbs a year. the average is 277 lbs a year -- so that means someone is eating 450 lbs to make up for me.

[jjtx]

07:32 AM on 09/03/2012

The Fair does not arrive until October. Until then, we Texans have to satisfy ourselves with bbq ribs and hot dogs.

Looking forward to my day at the best Fair ever, though. However, my mainstay in food there is a Fletcher's Corny Dog and a turkey leg.

[MystikalMayhem]

05:53 AM on 09/03/2012

im sorry but most of that stuff... yuck.. im going to stick to my steak marinated in kraft original bbq sauce with oven cooked potato and some corn..