World-Class Cheeses and INSANE State Fair Foods You Can Only Find in America’s Dairyland

The craziest, most creative, most fun food that tastes really good too, this is straight hedonism. Only in America’s Dairyland can over 400 varieties of world-class cheeses compete and contribute to some of the most unique and dangerous state fair foods in the country. Minnesota and Texas don’t have the quality ingredients for this type of creme de la creme event. In this episode of Wisconsin Foodie, host Luke Zahm celebrates the Wisconsin State Fair. For many, the excitement starts behind the scenes at the Dairy Products Contest, months before the State Fair occurs, where dairy products from around the state come in to get judge and a Grand Master Cheesemaker is awarded. Nicole Barlass, president of Wisconsin State Fair Dairy Promotion Board, outlines this pre-event and boasts her passion for this moment to show off the number of amazing varieties, types and styles of products Wisconsin is known for and excels in. We are America’s Dairyland and #1 for top quality cheeses and dairy products. Chief judge, Randy Swenson, explains the scoring system this year’s 404 entries will undergo across 35 categories of dairy products, based on smell, texture, taste, and color. No cheese has ever scored 100, although the quality of cheese through the years has become more refined, partly due to all the Wisconsin master cheesemaker programs conducted at the Center for Dairy Research. Every year it gets better and better. The first, second and third place cheeses then get stored in coolers until the State Fair in August. Today is the day! Joined by special guest chef Adam Pawlak, owner of Egg & Flour Pasta Bar in Bayview, Wisconsin, the two experience all the fried deliciousness the fair has to offer. Adam is one of the judges of the State Fair Sporkies award, which is an annual food competition that honors the most interesting, unique and delicious dishes. With this in mind, Adam guides (or challenges) Luke through the top 3 Sporkies winners, trying the crazy food created specifically with this award in mind. The fair is now in control. It’s not just about creativity, it’s about how the food is cooked. While these winners are a MUST on your State Fair bucket list, you can’t forget about the classics on the main drag: chili cheese fries, pizza, funnel cake, deep fried Oreos, fried pickles, pickle pizza, mozzarella sticks, alligator ribs, footlong corndogs, dill dogs, and more. If you can eat it, it’s here, or if it’s here, you can eat it. Over in the wine pavilion, Luke and Adam relish in a Wisconsin wine flight chosen by Jessica Bell of the Wisconsin Winery Association, all highlighting grapes grown in the state. Wisconsin is cold so you get high acid grapes that complement sparkling wine styles and French techniques; all wines that are a perfect pair to fried foods. What an exciting market that’s emerging… local food and local wine with producers continually crafting world-class dry and sweet wines. The creme de la creme, literally, at the State Fair culminates in the cheese auction and the anticipated announcement of the best of the best, with all proceeds from the auction getting reinvested into dairy promotion. From the Wisconsin farmers, milk, cheesemakers, and butter…all of this is so deep in our identity and DNA and it makes it so amazing to celebrate America’s Dairyland and being so proud of the high quality products that are here in our state and all the people that put the time, effort and labor into making those products. Proud to say that as a chef in Wisconsin, we get to play with the finest quality ingredients anywhere in the world. 0:00 This week on WI Foodie 1:22 Showing off Wisconsin’s excellence with the Dairy Products Contest 5:29 Chefs in vans getting curds, Luke is joined by special guest 6:33 The Top 3 Sporkies Winners, this is straight hedonism 12:01 Enjoying the classic and the crazy on the main drag 13:41 Wine pairings for fair foods 16:27 The treasures found within the Products Pavilion 19:16 And the Grand Master Cheesemaker Award goes to… 21:49 Say what? (Outtakes) So much to explore: Wisconsin State Fair, the countdown is on, are you ready? https://wistatefair.com/fair/home/ Wisconsin State Fair Dairy Promotion Board, for what to do at the fair: https://wsfdairypromo.org/ Center for Dairy Research, innovate with dairy, we’re your Doctor on Call for the dairy industry: https://www.cdr.wisc.edu/ Sporkies food competition, look for the giant 13 ft. Golden Sporks: https://wistatefair.com/fair/sporkies/ Something Special from Wisconsin, ingenuity, pride, tradition, heritage, diversity, quality: https://www.somethingspecialwi.com/ Proudly Wisconsin Cheese, Master Cheesemaker program, we dream in cheese: https://www.wisconsincheese.com/ Featured food destinations: Egg & Flour Pasta Bar https://www.greateffingpasta.com/ WurstBar https://www.wurstbarmke.com/ Camp Bar https://www.campbarmke.com/ Saz’s https://sazs.com/