Minnesota State Fair To Unveil Their New Foods For 2014 On June 23; Here’s A Recap Of What Made Food News Last Year

As the Minnesota State Fair gets ready to unveil their new food offerings on June 28, I thought it might be a good time to review what made food news last year - as an "appetizer" of sorts.

Do you go to the Minnesota State Fair to see the animals, ride the rides, or - eat the food?  Chances are - if you're like most people - you're interested in what kind of gourmet (or not-so-gourmet) offerings they have from year to year.

In 2013, the "Great Minnesota Get Together" unveiled the following items to fair-goers:

• Bacon-Wrapped Grilled Shrimp On-A-Stick
• Big Andy, a quarter-pound hamburger topped with Philly steak, sauteed onions, red and green peppers and American-Swiss cheese
• Bourbon Wurst, pork sausage seasoned with sage, caraway and nutmeg and infused with bourbon whiskey
• Breakfast Sausage Corndog -- sausage link in corndog batter, deep-fried, with a side of maple syrup
• Cafe Caribe's Taco Slider Trio -- A sampler of three bite-size tacos: grilled jerk chicken with cheese; pulled pork; and crunchy shrimp topped with creamy chipotle sauce
• Cajun Pork Rinds
•  Candied Bacon Cannoli
• Chipotle Chicken Salad Fajita, with walnuts, craisins and apples with shredded lettuce,chipotle sour cream and a hint of honey in a tortilla
• Chocolate Chili Ice Cream
• Chop Dogs -- A Kramarczuk all-beef wiener chopped into pieces and grilled
• Cocoa Cheese Bites -- Wisconsin cheddar cheese nuggets breaded with cocoa puffs, fried and served with a chocolate dipping sauce
•  Comet Corn -- a "futuristic" caramel corn made with liquid nitrogen that's icy cold and leaves a trail of comet dust when exhaled out of the nose and mouth
• Craft Beer Battered Onion Rings -- Thick-cut onions dipped in Indeed Daytripper, a local craft beer, then battered, deep fried and served with a spicy beer mustard
• Deep Fried Bread Pudding -- Bite-size cubes of deep fried bread pudding served hot and drizzled with caramel sauce
• Deep Fried Olives -- Extra large, pitted green olives dipped in a seasoned batter, deep fried to a golden brown and served with dipping sauce
• English Toffee Fudge Puppy -- chocolate-covered bits of English toffee baked in the middle of a fudge puppy (Belgian waffle on-a-stick) then dipped in chocolate and layered with whipped cream, a toffee sauce and more bits of chocolate-covered English toffee
• Flavored Corndogs -- Double Bacon Corndog, Jalapeno Cheese Corndog and Sweet Corn Corndog, with condiment options including mustard, ketchup, honey, double-bacon maple syrup, double-bacon mustard, double-bacon ketchup, nacho cheese, hot sauce, flavored salts and honey barbecue sauce
• Fried Pickles 'n' Chocolate, deep-fried pickles dusted with powdered sugar and served with a side of chocolate for dipping
• Funnel Cake Sundaes, served with soft-serve ice cream and sundae toppings
• Grilled Glazed Donut, served with a strawberry-mint dipping sauce
• Hawaiian Dog, pineapple wrapped in ham and baked in pretzel dough on-a-stick
• Idaho Nachos -- waffle fries topped with taco-flavored ground beef, nacho cheese, lettuce, tomato, scallions, sour cream, black olives and salsa
• Idaho Taco -- a baked russet potato topped with taco-flavored ground beef or chicken, nacho cheese, lettuce, tomato, scallions, shredded cheddar, sour cream, black olives and salsa
• Minnepumpkin Pie, an individual deep fried pumpkin pie with cinnamon and sugar-dusted flaky crust and served with vanilla or cinnamon ice cream
• Lobster Macaroni & Cheese
• Cicchetti Cones, spiral cones of fresh-baked bread with one of the following fillings: Shrimp Fresco (tossed in a lemon and tarragon-based dressing with fresh leaf lettuce); the Original Meatball; and Antipasti, of fresh zucchini, cherry tomatoes, roasted peppers, provolone cheese and fresh leaf lettuce topped with a light dressing.
• Mancini's Signature Steak Sandwich, on grilled focaccia and served with sauteed peppers and onions
• Porketta Pig Wings seasoned with Mancini's Iron Range-inspired seasoning
• Mini Donut Batter Crunch Ice Cream
• North Woods BBQ Taco, barbecued pulled pork on a house-made corncake and then wrapped in a flour tortilla
• Peanut Butter & Jelly Malts and Sundaes
• Persian Kabob Koobideh, ground beef or chicken seasoned with onion, saffron and Persian spices and served alone or in a dish with basmati rice topped with saffron and butter
• Philly Fries
• Pitchfork Sausage, mild sweet Italian sausage; Polish sausage; jalapeno cheese-infused hotdog; and a gluten-free sausage
• Pork Belly Sliders
• Portobello Bites, grilled sourdough toast brushed with creamy roasted garlic sauce, topped with aged romano and parmesan cheeses, and a slice of Portobello mushroom, served warm from the grill
• Deep Fried Monte Cristo, Curry Turkey Bacon Melt and pressed Cuban Sandwich
• Three Little Pigs Torta, with pork loin, black forest ham and applewood smoked bacon
• Wine Glazed Deep Fried Meatloaf

Visitors will have their choice of more than 300 food vendors to choose from in 2014.  The 2014 edition of the "Great Minnesota Get Together" runs from August 22 to September 2.