To be honest, there’s really not any special voodoo that goes into deep-frying the perfect confection, but the Ogrodowskis have sharpened their technique enough that people may be convinced there is.
Diana and Angela Ogrodowski, of K & M Concessions, had already run out of deep-fried cookie dough and deep-fried peanut butter cups for the day Tuesday afternoon at the Lake County Fair. But fairgoers need not despair since the two had many other desserts to throw in the bubbling oil.
“We expanded our menu this year to include cheesecake and (peanut butter and jelly), which was my personal idea,” Diana Ogrodowski said. “We use (premade sandwiches with the bread crusts already removed) as the base, and people say it tastes like peanut butter doughnut with a jelly filling.”
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Diana Ogrodowski said there’s definitely a right way of deep-frying desserts as well. They’ve found, for example, that using a sweet batter works much better than the savory batter used in other frying delectables. Also, a heaping dusting of powdered sugar makes everything better.
One also has to coat the dessert just right, or the guts will explode into the oil as it cooks, which is no fun for anyone, especially those with food allergies, according to Angela Ogrodowski.
As they worked on expanding their offerings, there was one avenue they wouldn’t go down — and yet they’ve had people asking for it just the same.
“People have asked for deep-fried sticks of butter,” Angela Ogrodowski said, a look of concern spreading across her face. “I don’t know how you can even eat that.”
“That’s the most American thing I’ve ever heard,” Diana Ogrodowski added.
In keeping with the deep-fried theme, Maddie Edwards, 18, of Crown Point, headed down to Da Portable Rican food truck for a deep-fried mashed potato ball on her lunch break from, of all places, the Hot Wisconsin Cheese booth further west on the fairway. The love of the deep-fry runs, well, deep in her family.
“Hot Wisconsin Cheese is my absolute favorite thing to eat at the fair,” said Maddie Edwards’s mother, Debbie Edwards, also of Crown Point. “I’d been bringing them to the booth since they were little kids, and that’s how I got Maddie her job (with them).
“But we had the mashed potato balls last year, and they’re really good, too.”
A childhood favorite, tater tots, is also represented on the fairway this year, and Carrie Poulter and her family were there for it. No sooner did Poulter, of Crown Point, pull her bucket o’ garlic parmesan tots off the counter when several hands reached in for a bite.
“My sister bought some yesterday,” Poulter said.
“And she stole them,” the sister, Brittany Bosma, of Dyer, said as she and Poulter’s son, Jake, 10, dug in. “Our other sister (Jillian Spencer) was here, too, but she flew back to Texas.”
“So now, I don’t have to share as much,” Poulter said. “Maybe a third instead of a half.”
Poulter, who was there with her family to watch her daughter, Addison Spencer, 13, show her horse, said they all have their favorite things. Husband Randy Poulter grabbed some barbecue, and mom Patti Spencer had some fried vegetables. Poulter herself is a big fan of Spuds n’ Moo, the meat and potato booth, and had already grabbed sausage and gravy tots in the morning for breakfast.
“Well, when you’re here all day for 4-H, you have to get food,” she said.”
