Blue Ribbon USA: Prizewinning Recipes from State and County Fairs - Hardcover

Orcutt, Georgia; Margolies, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0811854841 ISBN 13: 9780811854849

Publisher: Chronicle Books, 2007

Synopsis

Everyone loves a winner. These prize-winning recipes from state and county fairs across the country bring together the best in American cookingand it's not all apple pie. Mary's Sticky Biscuits won at the Alabama National Fair; Cool Fruit Strata won at the Iowa State Fair (which draws more than a million visitors!); and in California, the winner of 600 blue ribbons took home another for her unique Salsa Jam. Facts about the fairs plus colorful ephemera bring memories of cotton candy, corn dogs, and funnel cake. There are even tips on how to garner your very own blue ribbon.

About this title

About the Author

John Margolies is a writer and photographer focusing on American commercial design.

Georgia Orcutt is a food writer and editor. She collaborated on Cooking USA and Cookout USA with John Margolies. She lives in Massachusetts.

Reviews

The most interesting part of this slender volume is not the collection of odd prizewinning recipes (Five-Minute Crock-Pot Burritos, anyone?), but rather the illustrations, anecdotes and ephemera that come out of the 150-year history of the state fair. Tales of prize-winning livestock and oversized vegetables abound; the authors deem fairs "a rare opportunity...to be recognized for an astounding array of superlatives: the perfect pie...the sweetest fudge, the farthest-spit watermelon seed." The superlative recipes selected for this volume, one from each state, prove hit-or-miss. Take Korean Oven-Roasted Turkey SPAM Stir-Fry, winner of the New Mexico State Fair's "Best SPAM Recipe competition"; it's an intrepid mix of soy sauce, cornstarch, snow peas and canned meat that ends up tasting like Chinese take-out-not necessarily a bad thing in the wake of Oregon's Bacon Cheeseburger Potato Salad. More appealing is Marjorie Johnson's Sour Cream Streusel Coffee Cake, winner at the Minnesota State Fair (perhaps because it contains two sticks of butter and three kinds of sugar). Don's Peach Pie, out of Ohio, is another winning dessert perfect for summertime. Surprisingly, Maine's Common Ground County Fair produced a simple recipe for New York-Style Half-Sour Pickles that gives its Empire State forbearers a run for their money. More curiosity than cookbook, this whimsical volume is sure to please fairgoers, even if they never set foot in a kitchen.
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Edition details

• Publisher: Chronicle Books
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0811854841
• ISBN 13: 9780811854849
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 128