Pickle Dawgs: Iowa State Fair Food

1 Comment | Written on August 15, 2012 at 10:00 am, by Cheryl Brown

Everything about the pickle dawgs at the Iowa State Fair is so wrong. So wrong. but they taste so … so right. (Full disclosure: I loooove pickles, but this was a preparation I couldn’t have dreamed up if you’d paid me.)

A rolled slice of ham or pastrami (your choice) is filled with cream cheese (regular or spicy) and a pickle. You can take it straight, just like that, or have the whole thing deep fried, which makes the cream cheese wonderfully warm and melty.

It may sound like a horrible combination, but trust me, it’s fabulous, especially the spicy version — the perfect balance of salty and creamy, crisp and soft. As soon as my pals and I downed the first dawg, we cried out in unison: “More!”

My Des Moines friends tell me that the non-fried version is a common party appetizer, served sliced into pinwheels. It’s really got me thinking about whether I should move to Iowa. And get invited to some parties.