Beef sundaes and doughnut burgers

My brother Mark Pescovitz visited the Indiana State Fair today where he was tempted by a variety of fine cuisine such as Hot Beef Sundaes, Doughnut Burgers, and, of course, Fried Butter (not pictured).

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

MORE: Weird

More at Boing Boing

Eurovision 2013: An American in London

The technology that links taxonomy and Star Trek

millrick

can i get a diet coke with that?
jenjen

I had a fancy version of this at a holiday party a few years ago. Martini glasses served with a big scoop of mashed potatoes, and then a whole array of serve-yourself toppings like duck, caramelized onions, fancy cheeses and so on. It was fun and delicious.
RufusTheGreat

If it was on a stick, maybe.
Anonymous

Weird stuff.
Caitlin

I was expecting a picture of Paula Dean when I clicked through the Twitter link…
Anonymous

This explains why so many of my friends from Indiana have bodies shaped like barrels.
TNGMug

Yes I want Cigerettes on that! What do I look like?
Chickie Pants

Guh, I’ve heard of those doughnut burgers. Just GUH. And there were NO good thoughts in my mind when I read the phrase “Hot Beef Sundae.”
Zaren

It’s a KFC Famous Bowl, only with beef instead of chicken. I like it. The only thing it’s missing is bacon sprinkles.
Anonymous

I’m going to do everything I can to get a photo of my brothers eating that hot beef sundae, with a full review to submitterate.

Maybe they’ll even throw in some Fried Coke for dessert.
Anonymous

Oh, fair season, how I love you. My local fair’s over the Labor Day weekend, so I’ve got a month to anticipate. Bring on the fried foods!
iburl

A failure pile in a sadness bowl, indeed. Needs more corndog.
Doran

This is why America is great.
Toma

Someone from Boing Boing needs to visit the Iowa State Fair. One minute you’re looking at fantastic stuff in the Arts Building and then minutes later you run into something like this.
Anonymous

Indiana State Fair has chocolate covered bacon. The beef sundae is very good. Anything with meat potatoes and gravy is great. Putting it in one bowl makes it easier to eat on the go. You can actually take it with you and still walk around the fair. I can’t wait to have mine tonight.
Mark Crummett

Actually, that sundae sounds pretty good!
Trotsky

Hey, Americans!

Nothing says “state fair” like refreshing soft serve.

http://j-walkblog.com/images2/mechsepchicken.jpg

Hint: It ain’t ice cream.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanically_separated_meat
Trotsky

Why don’t those vendors stop being coy and just fill a wading pool with lard and charge $10 for all-you-can-eat.
Trotsky

Care to wager on what percentage of cherry tomatoes get eaten? Most probably just lick it and say: “There’s my salad for the day!”
Twilight Tone

Seems to be just a roast beef dinner served in a bowl instead of on a plate. Not seeing the big deal there.
McLuhanesque

Better, and more classy, is the Duck Confit Parfait, courtesy of Bob Blumer, the Surreal Gourmet.
Teapunk

Oh, Americans … so similiar to Europeans, yet so very, very different sometimes.
- Wabsnasm
  
  @Teapunk
  
  Ever heard of Scotland?
Anonymous

Back when I was a young-un I used to -love- a place on Van Ness called “Hippo Burger”. Once, on my birthday, I was allowed to order The Hamburger Sundae. Which was a grilled burger patty, topped with vanilla ice-cream, hot fudge sauce, nuts, cherry, and dill pickle. This was ’72, or there-a-bouts.

So, yeah, waaay ahead of the curve on this one.
Verre

DO NOT WANT.
mgfarrelly

The Hot Beef Sundae is essentially a “Famous Bowl” from KFC. Or as Patton Oswalt calls them “sadness bowls”

“Can you take all those food items and pile them in a single bowl for me?”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfan5MacmsI
Anonymous

I was just standing in front of this booth, it is right next to the DEEP FRIED BUTTER booth (and DEEP FRIED PEPSI)…

Across is the 1st Aid Station which is where I would have been with just one bite of that heart attack on a donut burger…..
Rose M. Welch

I guess I don’t see the big hoo-ra. If it were spread out on a plate, no one would criticize it. It’s just… in a bowl. Is that a big deal now? :P
nerak

I think what bothers me about it are the cheese and tomato toppings. Cheese and a tomato on mashed potatoes with gravy?… I purposefully missed the boat on the “lets add cheese to EVERYTHING” craze, I thought it’d have gone away by now but obviously not…
davidbdale

Did they have a “Bring Anything and We’ll Deep-Fry It!” stand? That’s my favorite.
Thorzdad

Hey! David was in town! Cool!

LOL. This is funny. When I looked at those photos, and before I read any of the text, I thought to myself “This looks suspiciously like the Indiana State Fair.” Honest!

The fair has had an ongoing, unofficial battle between the concessions vendors to show up each year with an even more fat/cholesterol-saturated treat. Traditionally, the battle has been waged on the field of “what can you deep-fry now?” I’ve not seen the doughnut burger. That’s really…fascinating.

I love how topping the beef sundae with a cherry tomato is a big selling point. And…how does one marinate beef gravy???
- David Pescovitz
  
  No, sadly I missed it. My brother attended but I was stuck in San Francisco suffering through another meal of “Slow Food.”
vonnegutlives

Here’s an article from the Indy Star about this stuff: http://www.indystar.com/article/20100808/LOCAL/8080367/1343/NEWS15/2-words-Doughnut.-Burger.

I’ll be going on Tuesday, but I don’t think I’ll be partaking in these culinary curiosities. Elephant ear and a corn dog will do it for me.
Anonymous

And thus Indiana cements its position as the least of the contiguous I- states.
WaitWhat

What, no deep-fried Twinkies?!
jacques45

“Year of Pigs”, indeed.
Anonymous

I know I would have to try these three items! Then hopefully walk around the fairgrounds at a good pace at least twice!
irksome

I believe in Minnesota they serve chocolate-covered bacon. Of course they do lend it a smattering of dignity by putting it on a stick.
dbeckett

Reminds me of comedian Jim Gaffigan’s “doughnut ham hamburger.” A burger topped with a ham sandwich and doughnuts instead of bread. Then of course there’s the diet doughnut ham hamburger…
- JonStewartMill
  
  It reminds me of the Luther Burger from an episode of “The Boondocks”: “A full pound burger patty covered in cheese. Grilled onions, five strips of bacon, all sandwiched between two Krispy Kreme donuts.” When Riley tries it, he says “this is what crack must feel like.”
  - Anonymous
    
    LOL! I remember that episode. Hilarious!
bruhinb

The doughnut burger isn’t a new idea: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Luther_Burger

I first heard of them back in 2008 when they were served in Google’s cafeteria. http://www.slashfood.com/2008/08/28/krispy-kreme-cheddar-bacon-cheeseburgers-at-the-google-cafeteria/

The day after I read about them, I went to the diner across the street and had them make one for me. http://bruhinb.livejournal.com/2008/08/29/ It was surprisingly good!
Anonymous

I tried the deep fried butter at the Indiana State Fair. Yes it is really bad for your health, but it was soooooo good. They add vanilla, cinnamon and sugar to the butter and then freeze it. Then they scoop it out and dip it in batter and fry it. It taste like a cinnamon roll drenched in butter. If you did it all the time you would have health problems, but one time a year shouldn’t cause to many problems.
Anonymous

When I was in Indiana, I got some Hangook at 10.30. It was delicious.
adamnvillani

You can find stuff like this at a lot of fairs. At the L.A. County Fair a couple years ago I had chocolate-covered bacon and a deep-fried Snickers bar. My wife had a deep-fried White Castle, which is odd because (a) we don’t have White Castles here, and (b) my wife doesn’t particularly care for them anyway.

I also saw deep-fried avocado (maybe that’s health food) and some other stuff… fried Pepsi (not sure exactly how that works), fried strawberries, etc.
Anonymous

This has nothing on the Iowa State Fair. The hot beef sundae has been there for years and is considered tame fare compared to the other artery-hardening treats that can be found throughout. Deep fried twinkies, anyone?
Teapunk

@Wabsnasm: Yeah, right, Scotland and the rest of Great Britain and probably Ireland does that strange kind of frying, too.
No wonder their descendants in the American colonies are at it, too, no?
And still, I can’t imagine finding food like that at fairs in Spain, Portugal, Greece, Italy, France, hell, not even in Germany. Unless there are usually a lot of British tourists around who demand fried everything.
Why do people eat this stuff? Is is some kind of dare? Or sort of “this sounds so disgusting, I *have* to try it”?
Anonymous

All the best pick-up lines start with “Do you like hot beef sundaes?”
Anonymous

When I was a small child, my family would be invited to share my oldest brother’s vacation in Myrtle Beach. They would travel all the way from Atlanta with a VW pulling a collapsible camper, while we traverse 90 miles due south. In the camp grounds, individuals would drive around selling Krispy Kreme donuts and my family would buy a box or two. While everyone else thought that they were absolutely delicious, I could not stand them and thus had no use for Krispy Kreme until I discover the cruller, a wonderful delight!

NEWS Flash!!!
From Wikipedia;

On July 1, 2010, Krispy Kreme introduced a doughnut that included the soft drink Cheerwine, which was to be sold in grocery stores in North and South Carolina during July.[6] The doughnuts proved so popular the Salisbury, North Carolina Krispy Kreme location, in the town where Cheerwine is made, sold them as well,[7] and after July 31, this was the only place to get them.[8]

I want this!