The ultimate tailgating item is coming to the State Fair of Texas next week. It's called the Fried Tailgate Party, and it's an entire menu of tailgate-type food wrapped into dough and dipped in the fryer.
"We starting thinking about what has been done and we thought something like this was missing," said Tom Grace of Dallas, who has had a stand at the fair for the past 27 years. "You have the premier state fair in the country where everything is fried and you have one of the premier football games in Texas-OU, where people love to tailgate foods. So it made sense to put it together.
The Fried Tailgate Party includes baby back ribs and Buffalo wings off the bone, together with pulled pork, sausage, jalapeno poppers wrapped in bacon, a hamburger and cheese. The combination is then wrapped in biscuit dough and fried. When it's done, it's made into a "football" thanks to laces made of ranch dressing.
The offering, which costs $7, comes with sides of ranch and sweet barbecue sauces.
"Then we'll give you a Texas or Oklahoma napkin, depending on who you're rooting for," Grace said.
The fair opens Sept. 25 and runs through Oct. 18. The 110th football meeting between Texas and Oklahoma -- now called the Red River Showdown -- will be played at the Cotton Bowl on Oct. 10.