Abel Gonzales | |
|---|---|
| Born | Abel Gonzalezs Jr. November 1969 (age 54) Dallas, Texas, US |
| Other names | Fried Jesus |
| Known for | Deep fried food |
Abel Gonzales Jr. (born November 1969), also known as Fried Jesus, [1] is an "extreme fryer" [2] and the five-time winner of Big Tex Choice Awards, an annual contest at the Texas State Fair, and the inventor of several deep fried items including Fried Coke and deep-fried butter. [3] He has also been a judge on the television show Deep Fry Masters.
The son of a Tex-Mex restaurateur, [4] Gonzales was born in Dallas, Texas, in November 1969. [2] In his youth he grew up working long hours around his father's restaurant, A. J. Gonzales’ Mexican Oven [2] [5] and graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School where he was later inducted into their hall of fame in 2014. [1]
Since 2004, Gonzales has been entering into the Big Tex Choice Award contest, a contest for the most creative deep fried food, and has been a finalist every year except for 2014. He has won the contest five times in categories such as "best taste" and "most creative" with multiple deep fried inventions. In 2004, he won with the fried peanut butter and jelly sandwich, in 2005 with Fried Coke, in 2006 with fried cookie dough, in 2008 with deep-fried butter, and in 2011 with Fried Jambalaya. [1] [3] Other finalist inventions have included chicken-fried cactus bites, [4] jelly and banana sandwiches, [6] and deep fried pineapple rings. [2]
Gonzales worked as a database analyst before quitting his job in 2009 [6] to work selling his deep fried foods at the Texas state fair. This allows him to spend the rest of the year traveling and experimenting with new forms of deep fried foods. He has also been hired previously by a beer distribution company to create a variant of deep fried beer. [2] In 2014 he became a judge on the deep fried themed cooking show Deep Fry Masters. [7]
In 2017, Gonzales opened a Dallas restaurant called Republic Ranch which featured "a blending of Mexican food and barbecue". It featured tacos with fillings such as ribeye and pulled pork as well as fried chicken and brisket. [5] Gonzales left Ranch Republic in 2018 and the following year opened a New York-style Italian cuisine restaurant called Cocina Italiano in Dallas. It focuses on low cost pastas, sandwiches, and salads similar to food he encountered in New York City and Boston. [8]
The cuisine of the American Midwest draws its culinary roots most significantly from the cuisines of Central, Northern and Eastern Europe, and Indigenous cuisine of the Americas, and is influenced by regionally and locally grown foodstuffs and cultural diversity.
Deep frying is a cooking method in which food is submerged in hot fat, traditionally lard but today most commonly oil, as opposed to the shallow oil used in conventional frying done in a frying pan. Normally, a deep fryer or chip pan is used for this; industrially, a pressure fryer or vacuum fryer may be used. Deep frying may also be performed using oil that is heated in a pot. Deep frying is classified as a hot-fat cooking method. Typically, deep frying foods cook quickly since oil has a high rate of heat conduction and all sides of the food are cooked simultaneously.
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The State Fair of Texas is an annual state fair held in Dallas at historic Fair Park. The fair has taken place every year since 1886 except for varying periods during World War I and World War II as well as 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It usually begins the last Friday in September and ends 24 days later. The fair claims an annual attendance of over two million visitors through ticket scanning. The State Fair of Texas is considered one of the best in America as well as Dallas' signature event despite its troubled history.
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Fried Coke or Deep Fried Soda is a frozen Coca-Cola-flavored batter that is deep-fried and then topped with Coca-Cola syrup, whipped cream, cinnamon sugar, and a cherry. It was introduced by inventor Abel Gonzales Jr. at the 2006 State Fair of Texas; Gonzales is also the creator of recipes for deep-fried butter and deep-fried beer at later Texas State Fairs. The concoction won the title of "Most Creative" in the second annual judged competition among food vendors. It proved very popular in Texas, selling 10,000 cups in the first two weeks. It quickly spread to other states, appearing in at least 47 state fairs in 2007; and now it is sold worldwide. It is unavailable in most European countries though. In 2009, Fried Coke was featured on the Travel Channel's Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern. Fried Coke is estimated to have 830 calories per cup.
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Deep-fried butter is a snack food made of butter coated with a batter or breading and then deep-fried. The dish has often been served at fairs in the US; among them, the State Fair of Texas in Dallas, Texas, the South Carolina State Fair, the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, Iowa, and County Fairs across Ohio. Roast butter is a similar dish, for which recipes exist dating to the 17th century.
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