2. TASTE IT!

WHAT:

Culinary experimentation

WHERE AND WHEN:

Fairgoers can sample smaller portions of fair fare on Aug. 8, Crazy Grazin’ Day; Sporkies are judged on

Aug. 9, starting at 11 a.m.

HOW MUCH:

Crazy Grazin’ Day samples range

from $1 to $7. It’s not often you see a Bloody Mary Burger or a Deep-Fried Ol’ Fashioned. But every year the fair’s culinary creations get crazier.

Professional chefs start cooking up ideas months in advance, perfecting off-the-wall dishes that can be mass-produced for sale at the fair.

For many, it’s the opportunity to win a coveted Golden Spork – Wisconsin’s culinary equivalent of an Oscar – and the chance to showcase some extraordinary combinations of food groups that motivates them.

Saz’s Hospitality Group has presented several spectacular dishes since the awards began in 2013, including last year’s Fairgoers’ Fave winner – Klement’s Famous Racing Sausages Corn Dog.

“We start brainstorming in January, thinking about unique things that we can cook on a large scale,” says Kristal Kaiser, Saz’s marketing director. The company’s concessions sold 2,000 deep-fried bread pudding bites on a stick for $6 apiece last year. The sugar-coated treats – weighing in at 716 calories each – have been on Saz’s regular menus ever since.