Oh, the Margaritas You'll Deep Fry

Twenty-five fascinating fried foods from the Texas State Fair

For years, county fairs have been at the forefront of deep-frying science, splicing and creating mutant "foods" that are all at once monstrous and wondrous. The Texas State Fair -- the largest state fair in the country -- holds a yearly competition for the most innovative deep-fried foods. Here are 25 fried Frankenfoods from fairs past:

Bubblegum

Collin Harvey/Flickr

It's actually bubblegum-flavored marshmallows, battered and deep fried and sprinkled with Chiclets. Do you chew this? Eat it? Who knows, but you can buy it.

Butter

mgerskup/Flickr

Frozen balls of butter, battered and fried and served with four sauces. Because why not.

Beer

Stacy Huggins/Flickr

Nope, this isn't beer battered. This is beer: battered and fried. The beer is poured into little ravioli pockets which burst with scalding suds upon first bite.

Peanut Butter Banana Cheeseburgers

Cheryl Reas via NBC

Elvis would probably make a special trip to Texas just to see this.

Coke

L. Richarz/Flickr

An enterprising chef found a way to deep fry soda without the 3rd degree burns.

Chicken Fried Bacon

ladybugbkt/Flickr

This is self-explanatory. And probably delicious.

Jelly Belly Jelly Beans

RosieTulips/Flickr

It's really just batter with some Jelly Belly jelly beans mixed in, like a fritter on a sugar high.

Cadbury Creme Eggs

Easter doesn't have nearly enough fried foods... until now.

Pizza

Siggi Churchill/Flickr

It's not just pizza ingredients inside a ball of dough. No. It's an actual slice of pizza, breaded and fried.

Kool-Aid

nineminutes/Flickr

With an extra sprinkle of Kool-Aid powder over the top instead of powdered sugar.

French Fry-Coated Hot Dog

phil.lees/Flickr

See? It exists.

Pecan Pie

erichcpeters/Flickr

There's probably not a more delicious way to gain five pounds.

Lattes

Traveling Fools of America/Flickr

This one is a bit of a misnomer, it seems; the fried part is a sweet dough, which is topped with coffee-flavored ice cream, whipped cream and shaved chocolate.

PB&J

bittermelon/Flickr

With a banana thrown in for good measure.

Salsa

thestir.com

Deep-fried condiments can't be a good thing, but according to some people, this is the best-tasting item at the fair. It's salsa mixed with masa, then rolled in crushed tortilla chips before frying.

Pop Tarts

RosieTulips/Twitter

It's hard to see, but there's a pop tart in there.

Margaritas

David Berkowitz/Flickr

Funnel cake batter made with margarita mixer, fried and soaked in more margarita, all served in a salt-rimmed glass.

Club Salad

New York Daily News

The thing about salad is that it's good for you, usually. Not this time. This is a spinach wrap filled with ham, bacon, cheese, chicken, tomatoes, shredded lettuce and carrots, fried and served on a bed of lettuce.

S'mores