Twoesday Pairings: Fried + Butter

Mm, hmm. You read that right: Fried Butter.

It’s time for another edition of Twoesday Pairings. In honor of summertime county fairs and the hallowed tradition of food stands that will fry anything and serve it on a stick, I’m bringing you the one fair dish that stood out amongst the crispy Twinkies, crunchy avocados, and Oreos glistening with more oil than a Venice beach body builder.

“But Drew,” you say, “why would someone subject their body to such gastronomical suicide?”

Funny you should ask. The food stand was called The Heart Attack Cafe. Consider that their legal disclaimer, friends.

I know you’re wondering, as was I, what exactly is fried butter? Do they literally just bread a stick of Land-o-Lakes, drop it in the deep fryer, and call it a day? Or maybe they break up a funnel cake into pieces and drop it into a bowl of melted butter so you can eat it like silky, heart-clogging cereal?

I must hand it to these folks. They really thought outside the box.

Turns out that fried butter is a crispy, sugary churro that’s been stuffed down its hollow center with a shaft of butter like a gold vein running through the hills of the Yucatan. The churro is sealed at both ends so when it hits the fryer, the inside just starts to melt into warm semi-liquid goodness. They top the bad boy with whipped cream and surround it with sugary chips (the better to scoop up excess pools of butter and cream, my dear).

BEHOLD

Of course, this delightful delicacy should be only a once-a-year treat, because — as they say — you are what you eat. Just ask the butter sculpture family we found nearby.