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Speaker 1: Good morning, guys. Love listening to y'all every morning on the way to work.
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Speaker 2: We love it here.
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Speaker 3: It's like a carnival.
00:00:06
Speaker 1: Gotta be proud.
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Speaker 4: Oh, yeah.
00:00:08
Speaker 1: That's the most fitting term ever for this show. We're a carnival.
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Speaker 5: The only way to become president is to win the homecoming carnival.
00:00:15
Speaker 1: This is Good Morning BT. That's right, Arnold. And that's exactly what we're going to do.
00:00:22
Speaker 5: Well, in a way, yes, we are going to become a carnival right now of sorts.
00:00:29
Speaker 1: It is that day once a year.
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Speaker 5: And I can tell you, I know Charlotte looks forward to it. I know this room looks forward to it. It's the day after Mark Garrison heads to the North Carolina State Fair.
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Speaker 1: I'm hungover this morning from fatty foods.
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Speaker 5: And we should say that the State Fair begins for North Carolinians.
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Speaker 1: And, well, really anybody on Thursday, right?
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Speaker 5: That's where you can go for the first time?
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Speaker 3: Yeah.
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Speaker 1: Thursday is when the gates open at 10 o'clock, I think. But yesterday, gates opened for members of the media.
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Speaker 3: Oh, and my taste buds live vicariously through you.
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Speaker 1: Well, I got a couple coming up that I think you'll like. There are 80 new foods altogether this year. Now, we only got to sample 30 of them yesterday. And the thing that really strikes me, fair food is a culinary creation for the common man because a lot of the vendors are folks who have day jobs, but they have this passion to cook up crazy eats for the fair, like this guy. His name is James Bennett. Actually, he's known by another name. I'm the hot chicks guy, Mr. Hot Chicks. Now, don't get the wrong idea. Mr. Hot Chicks is into fried chicken. That's the name on his food truck.
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Speaker 6: We have food trucks, so I drive a truck that says Hot Chicks on the side of it, and as I'm driving down the street, I see people pass me and then look in the window, and they're disappointed.
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Speaker 1: Well, James, Mr. Hot Chick, is not disappointed in his side hustle. His day job is designing logos for companies, and he actually came up with the logo for his food trucks before he ever put one on the road and came up with the product.
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Speaker 6: Had this idea maybe 15 years ago and actually designed the logo then.
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Speaker 1: In fact, he sat on the idea until he came up with fried chicken wrapped like a taco and warm buttermilk pancakes.
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Speaker 6: Kind of sat on it for a couple years, and then I met somebody in the food truck business who was like, yeah, this would work.
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Speaker 1: Now he's back at the State Fair. His new creation this year is called Macked and Loaded. It's homemade bagel bread hollowed out and loaded up with mac and cheese and chicken.
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Speaker 6: Creamy white cheddar mac and cheese. We're going to top it with our cut-up fried chicken. It has our hot chick signature sauce on it, which is a honey mustard barbecue sauce.
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Speaker 1: All stuffed into that bread.
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Speaker 6: All in that bread.
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Speaker 1: Oh, man, that is crazy good. What's the crunchy thing in there? It's a crispy onion.
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Speaker 6: A lot of mac and cheese.
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Speaker 1: That white cheddar, creamy mac and cheese.
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Speaker 7: Huh.
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Speaker 1: Oh, it's awesome. I got to tell you, when I looked at it at first, it's kind of messy looking. It was fabulous. The mac and cheese stuffed into that bread is some of the creamiest I've ever had. It was just awesome. That sounds amazing.
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Speaker 3: Mac and cheese in a sandwich, basically, with fried chicken and sauce and crispy onions.
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Speaker 7: Oh, yeah. What?
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Speaker 3: It's all of the textures you want in your mouth.
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Speaker 5: Yep.
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Speaker 1: And the problem, normally when I would do this, I would just eat a little bit of everything. I ate the whole thing. Oh, I'm so proud of you. Now, how often does that happen? Thank you, man. Not very often. I mean, I ate everything that was in front of me yesterday, and I've never done that before. So that's the case with this next guy, a young guy named R.J. Perry. He got out of business school, but what he really liked doing was grilling barbecue. He opened a food truck. But this year. He is serving up something that's kind of messy in a bucket. Now, what is in this bucket?
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Speaker 6: So it's called the sweet potato s'mores slop bucket.
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Speaker 1: Yes, it's a bucket of sweet potato fries with a lot of gooey add-ons. So we have sweet potato fries. We dust that with cinnamon sugar. Then we drizzle it with marshmallow cream, caramel, and chocolate. RJ says he thinks God gave him the idea. It was pretty heavenly. Oh, wow. Crazy good.
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Speaker 7: Oh, thank you.
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Speaker 1: We appreciate it. Sweet potato with chocolate and marshmallow?
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Speaker 7: Yes, sir.
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Speaker 1: What's not to like? Absolutely good.
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Speaker 5: Wow.
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Speaker 1: Now, at this point, after the fries, I was thirsty, and I was drawn by the sound of what Tucker Cranford was mixing up.
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Speaker 7: Liquid cotton candy is like a dirty soda.
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Speaker 1: Yes, liquid cotton candy. Now, dirty soda, in case you don't know, is a soft drink dirtied up with different flavors, even cream or milk. supposedly Mormons came up with the idea, mixed drink with no booze. Not sure they called it dirty, though. Anyway, for Tucker Cranford, who runs a little restaurant in Hickory, his idea starts with a lemon-lime drink like Sprite, and then he adds... Cotton candy syrup and half-and-half mixed together. We top it with some cotton candy. Oh, some real cotton.
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Speaker 2: Real cotton candy as well. And it just melts, turns right into liquid, and melts right into the drink.
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Speaker 1: They sound strange, but... It tastes just like cotton candy. It does.
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Speaker 5: Yeah.
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Speaker 1: We were like, what are we going to call it? We're like, well, it's liquid. Tastes like cotton candy. We're going to call it liquid cotton candy. That is awesome. Yeah, the name makes sense. He did another dirty soda last year that sold like crazy. So this year at the fair, he's blunt about what he expects. This balls-to-the-wall, very busy. It's 10 days of chaos. I love that guy. And you might... Several people said to me, cotton candy drink. It was unbelievable.
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Speaker 5: I kept going, can I have another? So here's what I'm here to tell you, Mark. Today, I just so happen to be drinking, as I do the show, a dirty Mountain Dew.
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Speaker 7: Really?
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Speaker 5: And there's a place, a food truck, a drink truck, really, that was in one of the shopping centers near where I live.
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Speaker 1: Called Sips and Dips.
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Speaker 5: And my wife said, you got to go try one of these dirty sodas. And so we did one the other day. It was like a, it was a Diet Dr. Pepper, but they put all kinds of, it was really good. So I said, all right, I'm going to try the Dirty Mountain Dew thing. And I'm drinking a cream soda dew this morning. And so I get it. Like I, like not until today, may I, now I really get what you're talking about with the one they had up there. Cause You know, this is kind of the thing right now, these dirty concoctions. And now it's really dirty.
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Speaker 3: Dirty and covered in cotton candy.
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Speaker 1: Well, what was interesting was, so he puts this blob of cotton candy on, and it just sort of melts away in the drink. And you think, oh, this is going to be like syrup. No, it was refreshing, and it was cold, and it tasted like cotton candy. I lost count. I think he wanted me to go away. It was like, this fat guy interviewed me, and now he keeps coming back.
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Speaker 5: So you're drinking a dirty cotton candy drink just to wash down your bucket of sweet potatoes and whatever?
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Speaker 3: Marshmallows and caramel and chocolate and dusted with cinnamon and sugar.
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Speaker 1: And here's the thing. My wife loves French fries made with sweet potatoes. I'm not that big on them. I ate the whole thing. It was so good. He ate all of this and yet. There's more. There's more coming up.
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Speaker 7: Yes, there is.
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Speaker 1: We are back.
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Speaker 5: Seven before eight on WBT. Mark Garrison goes to the state fair.
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Speaker 1: Eats his way for Raleigh. Part two. There's more.
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Speaker 5: Yes.
00:07:31
Speaker 1: Now, Beth, you like boiled eggs, right? Oh, I love them.
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Speaker 3: I have one every morning.
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Speaker 1: I know. So have you ever had a scotch egg? Oh, oh, oh, my gosh, yes. Scotch, scotch, scotch, scotch. Oh, so good. See, I never had this, and I was like, what is this?
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Speaker 2: We take a hard-boiled egg.
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Speaker 7: We have it wrapped in a seasoned sausage, rolled in breadcrumbs, and then we fry it to perfection.
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Speaker 1: Yep, it's a boiled egg in a deep-fried sausage ball.
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Speaker 7: It's actually been around for a long time in Irish and English pubs.
00:08:01
Speaker 1: That's Chris Taylor from Iowa, and he is in the construction business. But he and his sons decided when construction was slow, they needed a side hustle.
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Speaker 7: Just some friends convinced us that there were some good ideas out there, and we should give it a try.
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Speaker 1: One thing led to another. So they do five big fairs a year, burgers, fries, all kinds of stuff, and now the Scotch egg, which has been a big hit. Breakfast on a stick.
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Speaker 2: That's right.
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Speaker 1: I like that. And then, of course, every year at the fair, something just sounds weird. And that was the case with pickled cheesecake. The creation of Philip Davis from Canada. He and his wife have an interesting life.
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Speaker 2: My wife and I and baby over there.
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Speaker 4: And we travel and go fair to fair for about seven, eight months a year.
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Speaker 1: They travel the fair circuit selling two things.
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Speaker 2: Pickles and cheese curds.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, apparently you can make a living selling pickles and cheese curds. Their stand is called Mr.
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Speaker 7: Pickle.
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Speaker 1: And this year, pickled cheesecake. He starts, of course, with a fresh slice of cheesecake.
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Speaker 4: We dip it in a pickled chocolate, pickled white chocolate to be specific, and then we roll it in pickled chips.
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Speaker 2: So every layer's got a little bit of pickle.
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Speaker 1: Oh, that is so good.
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Speaker 3: I know, right?
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Speaker 4: We've had a lot of requests over recent years to bring in more sweet items.
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Speaker 2: People want sweet, and it works surprisingly well.
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Speaker 1: I'm telling you, that was just, oh, man. And I sat at a table yesterday with a couple of writers from Raleigh Magazine. And they said, the thing about this cheesecake is it's just too much flavor. Oh, no. And I looked at her and I said, is there ever really such a thing as too much flavor? Exactly. And she sort of looked down her nose at me, fat guy that I was, and I ate the whole thing and hers. because she didn't want to eat it. I said, well, I'll finish it.
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Speaker 3: Will you describe what it tastes like and what the texture is like? Because I'm trying to imagine, is it dill pickles.
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Speaker 1: Sour pickles? No, they're more sweet pickles. And the flavor is actually a little hard to describe. You've got the basic creaminess of cheesecake, but then you've got this little pickly flavor that's sweet with it and a little bit of a crunch. And it's I mean, it's magnificent.
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Speaker 3: I think it sounds remarkably interesting. And the fact that this guy travels around the country selling pickles and cheese curds, I mean, he knows pickles and cheese.
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Speaker 1: With his wife and little baby. Sounds like Beth's dream.
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Speaker 5: I find it remarkably interesting. No, I want to go back to the eggs for a second, though. That sounded amazing. It was really good. It was breakfast on a stick.
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Speaker 1: And what's interesting is, you know, he's in construction, but he came up with this or, you know, borrowed the idea from Scotland. But he uses, he said, I use North Carolina eggs while I'm here and North Carolina sausage. It was really good.
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Speaker 3: I'm telling you, Scotch eggs will change your life. There's a place called Sunup Cafe in Mooresville that serves them. And they do it with like a little sriracha sauce. So it's so good. But I'm thrilled to know that Scotch eggs have made their way to the North Carolina State Fair.
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Speaker 1: I got one more here for you. What's a fair without... So this is what we call the boss hog. It's our new item. That is Miles, too. And like so many vendors here, he has a day job. He sells telephone systems. But five times a year, he cranks up his smoker for big events like the fair. And this year, he came up with.
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Speaker 2: Double smoked pork belly burnt ends, what we call meat candy.
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Speaker 1: Burnt ends are meat candy. If you've had them, you know, come from a fatty, tasty part of the brisket. So Miles double smokes them, then deep fries them, and then.
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Speaker 6: We serve that over french fries with our version of an Alabama white sauce that we call the hog sauce.
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Speaker 1: They are so good. His wife says Miles knows how to cook what he likes.
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Speaker 2: He's always liked pork belly. And he loves fries.
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Speaker 1: Well, on this day at the fair.
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Speaker 3: The winner goes to Fat Boy's Barbecue.
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Speaker 1: For the Port Valley Bar and... Miles the Telecom Guy became Miles the State Fair Culinary Champ.
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Speaker 2: I think I'm about to fill.
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Speaker 5: Out.
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Speaker 1: It was pretty awesome. I'm so glad that guy won. It's such a nice family from Smithfield. And let me tell you, those burnt ends... And the Alabama white sauce, which is so creamy. Set you free, man. Wait, what did you say the guy's name was? Boss Hog? Oh, no, Boss Hog is the name of the dish. Oh, okay, okay. Yeah, his name is Miles.
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Speaker 4: All right.
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Speaker 1: Well, look at you, Mark. Also, a Dubai burger, which patty with lamb and ground beef and pistachios on top was good. It was a jerk lobster roll, a family with secret jerk sauce. And my favorite sweet actually was some guy can cut, you know, these Hawaiian rolls you buy at the store, throw it in the deep fryer for a couple of seconds, get it crunchy, cover it with cinnamon icing, and oh, baby. It was so good. This sounds like maybe your best trip so far. Oh, yeah. I'm just so fat and full this morning. Well. I'm so jealous.
00:13:05
Speaker 5: Mark Garrison goes and tests so you know what to expect. The State Fair opens up for North Carolinians and all on Thursday.
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Speaker 1: Thank you, Mark.
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Speaker 6: Yes, sir.
00:13:14
Speaker 1: All right.
00:13:14
Speaker 5: Mark will be back at 835 for Dirty Restaurant Tuesday. Speaking of food, Jim Noble. will join us at 8.05.
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Speaker 3: We sent out the bat signal and he showed up.
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Speaker 1: That's exactly right.
00:13:26
Speaker 5: And if you weren't with us, something big is coming to western North Carolina.
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Speaker 1: Mark was east.
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Speaker 5: Now Jim Noble will tell us what's coming west here on Good Morning BT.
00:13:37
Speaker 1: Step right up.
Speaker 1: Good morning, guys. Love listening to y'all every morning on the way to work.
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Speaker 2: We love it here.
00:00:04
Speaker 3: It's like a carnival.
00:00:06
Speaker 1: Gotta be proud.
00:00:07
Speaker 4: Oh, yeah.
00:00:08
Speaker 1: That's the most fitting term ever for this show. We're a carnival.
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Speaker 5: The only way to become president is to win the homecoming carnival.
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Speaker 1: This is Good Morning BT. That's right, Arnold. And that's exactly what we're going to do.
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Speaker 5: Well, in a way, yes, we are going to become a carnival right now of sorts.
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Speaker 1: It is that day once a year.
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Speaker 5: And I can tell you, I know Charlotte looks forward to it. I know this room looks forward to it. It's the day after Mark Garrison heads to the North Carolina State Fair.
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Speaker 1: I'm hungover this morning from fatty foods.
00:00:44
Speaker 5: And we should say that the State Fair begins for North Carolinians.
00:00:49
Speaker 1: And, well, really anybody on Thursday, right?
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Speaker 5: That's where you can go for the first time?
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Speaker 3: Yeah.
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Speaker 1: Thursday is when the gates open at 10 o'clock, I think. But yesterday, gates opened for members of the media.
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Speaker 3: Oh, and my taste buds live vicariously through you.
00:01:03
Speaker 1: Well, I got a couple coming up that I think you'll like. There are 80 new foods altogether this year. Now, we only got to sample 30 of them yesterday. And the thing that really strikes me, fair food is a culinary creation for the common man because a lot of the vendors are folks who have day jobs, but they have this passion to cook up crazy eats for the fair, like this guy. His name is James Bennett. Actually, he's known by another name. I'm the hot chicks guy, Mr. Hot Chicks. Now, don't get the wrong idea. Mr. Hot Chicks is into fried chicken. That's the name on his food truck.
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Speaker 6: We have food trucks, so I drive a truck that says Hot Chicks on the side of it, and as I'm driving down the street, I see people pass me and then look in the window, and they're disappointed.
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Speaker 1: Well, James, Mr. Hot Chick, is not disappointed in his side hustle. His day job is designing logos for companies, and he actually came up with the logo for his food trucks before he ever put one on the road and came up with the product.
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Speaker 6: Had this idea maybe 15 years ago and actually designed the logo then.
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Speaker 1: In fact, he sat on the idea until he came up with fried chicken wrapped like a taco and warm buttermilk pancakes.
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Speaker 6: Kind of sat on it for a couple years, and then I met somebody in the food truck business who was like, yeah, this would work.
00:02:20
Speaker 1: Now he's back at the State Fair. His new creation this year is called Macked and Loaded. It's homemade bagel bread hollowed out and loaded up with mac and cheese and chicken.
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Speaker 6: Creamy white cheddar mac and cheese. We're going to top it with our cut-up fried chicken. It has our hot chick signature sauce on it, which is a honey mustard barbecue sauce.
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Speaker 1: All stuffed into that bread.
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Speaker 6: All in that bread.
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Speaker 1: Oh, man, that is crazy good. What's the crunchy thing in there? It's a crispy onion.
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Speaker 6: A lot of mac and cheese.
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Speaker 1: That white cheddar, creamy mac and cheese.
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Speaker 7: Huh.
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Speaker 1: Oh, it's awesome. I got to tell you, when I looked at it at first, it's kind of messy looking. It was fabulous. The mac and cheese stuffed into that bread is some of the creamiest I've ever had. It was just awesome. That sounds amazing.
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Speaker 3: Mac and cheese in a sandwich, basically, with fried chicken and sauce and crispy onions.
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Speaker 7: Oh, yeah. What?
00:03:13
Speaker 3: It's all of the textures you want in your mouth.
00:03:16
Speaker 5: Yep.
00:03:16
Speaker 1: And the problem, normally when I would do this, I would just eat a little bit of everything. I ate the whole thing. Oh, I'm so proud of you. Now, how often does that happen? Thank you, man. Not very often. I mean, I ate everything that was in front of me yesterday, and I've never done that before. So that's the case with this next guy, a young guy named R.J. Perry. He got out of business school, but what he really liked doing was grilling barbecue. He opened a food truck. But this year. He is serving up something that's kind of messy in a bucket. Now, what is in this bucket?
00:03:54
Speaker 6: So it's called the sweet potato s'mores slop bucket.
00:03:57
Speaker 1: Yes, it's a bucket of sweet potato fries with a lot of gooey add-ons. So we have sweet potato fries. We dust that with cinnamon sugar. Then we drizzle it with marshmallow cream, caramel, and chocolate. RJ says he thinks God gave him the idea. It was pretty heavenly. Oh, wow. Crazy good.
00:04:17
Speaker 7: Oh, thank you.
00:04:17
Speaker 1: We appreciate it. Sweet potato with chocolate and marshmallow?
00:04:21
Speaker 7: Yes, sir.
00:04:22
Speaker 1: What's not to like? Absolutely good.
00:04:24
Speaker 5: Wow.
00:04:24
Speaker 1: Now, at this point, after the fries, I was thirsty, and I was drawn by the sound of what Tucker Cranford was mixing up.
00:04:32
Speaker 7: Liquid cotton candy is like a dirty soda.
00:04:35
Speaker 1: Yes, liquid cotton candy. Now, dirty soda, in case you don't know, is a soft drink dirtied up with different flavors, even cream or milk. supposedly Mormons came up with the idea, mixed drink with no booze. Not sure they called it dirty, though. Anyway, for Tucker Cranford, who runs a little restaurant in Hickory, his idea starts with a lemon-lime drink like Sprite, and then he adds... Cotton candy syrup and half-and-half mixed together. We top it with some cotton candy. Oh, some real cotton.
00:05:07
Speaker 2: Real cotton candy as well. And it just melts, turns right into liquid, and melts right into the drink.
00:05:12
Speaker 1: They sound strange, but... It tastes just like cotton candy. It does.
00:05:16
Speaker 5: Yeah.
00:05:17
Speaker 1: We were like, what are we going to call it? We're like, well, it's liquid. Tastes like cotton candy. We're going to call it liquid cotton candy. That is awesome. Yeah, the name makes sense. He did another dirty soda last year that sold like crazy. So this year at the fair, he's blunt about what he expects. This balls-to-the-wall, very busy. It's 10 days of chaos. I love that guy. And you might... Several people said to me, cotton candy drink. It was unbelievable.
00:05:43
Speaker 5: I kept going, can I have another? So here's what I'm here to tell you, Mark. Today, I just so happen to be drinking, as I do the show, a dirty Mountain Dew.
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Speaker 7: Really?
00:05:53
Speaker 5: And there's a place, a food truck, a drink truck, really, that was in one of the shopping centers near where I live.
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Speaker 1: Called Sips and Dips.
00:06:01
Speaker 5: And my wife said, you got to go try one of these dirty sodas. And so we did one the other day. It was like a, it was a Diet Dr. Pepper, but they put all kinds of, it was really good. So I said, all right, I'm going to try the Dirty Mountain Dew thing. And I'm drinking a cream soda dew this morning. And so I get it. Like I, like not until today, may I, now I really get what you're talking about with the one they had up there. Cause You know, this is kind of the thing right now, these dirty concoctions. And now it's really dirty.
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Speaker 3: Dirty and covered in cotton candy.
00:06:29
Speaker 1: Well, what was interesting was, so he puts this blob of cotton candy on, and it just sort of melts away in the drink. And you think, oh, this is going to be like syrup. No, it was refreshing, and it was cold, and it tasted like cotton candy. I lost count. I think he wanted me to go away. It was like, this fat guy interviewed me, and now he keeps coming back.
00:06:50
Speaker 5: So you're drinking a dirty cotton candy drink just to wash down your bucket of sweet potatoes and whatever?
00:06:58
Speaker 3: Marshmallows and caramel and chocolate and dusted with cinnamon and sugar.
00:07:03
Speaker 1: And here's the thing. My wife loves French fries made with sweet potatoes. I'm not that big on them. I ate the whole thing. It was so good. He ate all of this and yet. There's more. There's more coming up.
00:07:17
Speaker 7: Yes, there is.
00:07:20
Speaker 1: We are back.
00:07:21
Speaker 5: Seven before eight on WBT. Mark Garrison goes to the state fair.
00:07:26
Speaker 1: Eats his way for Raleigh. Part two. There's more.
00:07:30
Speaker 5: Yes.
00:07:31
Speaker 1: Now, Beth, you like boiled eggs, right? Oh, I love them.
00:07:34
Speaker 3: I have one every morning.
00:07:35
Speaker 1: I know. So have you ever had a scotch egg? Oh, oh, oh, my gosh, yes. Scotch, scotch, scotch, scotch. Oh, so good. See, I never had this, and I was like, what is this?
00:07:47
Speaker 2: We take a hard-boiled egg.
00:07:49
Speaker 7: We have it wrapped in a seasoned sausage, rolled in breadcrumbs, and then we fry it to perfection.
00:07:53
Speaker 1: Yep, it's a boiled egg in a deep-fried sausage ball.
00:07:58
Speaker 7: It's actually been around for a long time in Irish and English pubs.
00:08:01
Speaker 1: That's Chris Taylor from Iowa, and he is in the construction business. But he and his sons decided when construction was slow, they needed a side hustle.
00:08:11
Speaker 7: Just some friends convinced us that there were some good ideas out there, and we should give it a try.
00:08:15
Speaker 1: One thing led to another. So they do five big fairs a year, burgers, fries, all kinds of stuff, and now the Scotch egg, which has been a big hit. Breakfast on a stick.
00:08:25
Speaker 2: That's right.
00:08:26
Speaker 1: I like that. And then, of course, every year at the fair, something just sounds weird. And that was the case with pickled cheesecake. The creation of Philip Davis from Canada. He and his wife have an interesting life.
00:08:39
Speaker 2: My wife and I and baby over there.
00:08:41
Speaker 4: And we travel and go fair to fair for about seven, eight months a year.
00:08:45
Speaker 1: They travel the fair circuit selling two things.
00:08:48
Speaker 2: Pickles and cheese curds.
00:08:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, apparently you can make a living selling pickles and cheese curds. Their stand is called Mr.
00:08:54
Speaker 7: Pickle.
00:08:55
Speaker 1: And this year, pickled cheesecake. He starts, of course, with a fresh slice of cheesecake.
00:09:00
Speaker 4: We dip it in a pickled chocolate, pickled white chocolate to be specific, and then we roll it in pickled chips.
00:09:05
Speaker 2: So every layer's got a little bit of pickle.
00:09:07
Speaker 1: Oh, that is so good.
00:09:09
Speaker 3: I know, right?
00:09:10
Speaker 4: We've had a lot of requests over recent years to bring in more sweet items.
00:09:14
Speaker 2: People want sweet, and it works surprisingly well.
00:09:17
Speaker 1: I'm telling you, that was just, oh, man. And I sat at a table yesterday with a couple of writers from Raleigh Magazine. And they said, the thing about this cheesecake is it's just too much flavor. Oh, no. And I looked at her and I said, is there ever really such a thing as too much flavor? Exactly. And she sort of looked down her nose at me, fat guy that I was, and I ate the whole thing and hers. because she didn't want to eat it. I said, well, I'll finish it.
00:09:45
Speaker 3: Will you describe what it tastes like and what the texture is like? Because I'm trying to imagine, is it dill pickles.
00:09:52
Speaker 1: Sour pickles? No, they're more sweet pickles. And the flavor is actually a little hard to describe. You've got the basic creaminess of cheesecake, but then you've got this little pickly flavor that's sweet with it and a little bit of a crunch. And it's I mean, it's magnificent.
00:10:10
Speaker 3: I think it sounds remarkably interesting. And the fact that this guy travels around the country selling pickles and cheese curds, I mean, he knows pickles and cheese.
00:10:17
Speaker 1: With his wife and little baby. Sounds like Beth's dream.
00:10:22
Speaker 5: I find it remarkably interesting. No, I want to go back to the eggs for a second, though. That sounded amazing. It was really good. It was breakfast on a stick.
00:10:31
Speaker 1: And what's interesting is, you know, he's in construction, but he came up with this or, you know, borrowed the idea from Scotland. But he uses, he said, I use North Carolina eggs while I'm here and North Carolina sausage. It was really good.
00:10:44
Speaker 3: I'm telling you, Scotch eggs will change your life. There's a place called Sunup Cafe in Mooresville that serves them. And they do it with like a little sriracha sauce. So it's so good. But I'm thrilled to know that Scotch eggs have made their way to the North Carolina State Fair.
00:10:57
Speaker 1: I got one more here for you. What's a fair without... So this is what we call the boss hog. It's our new item. That is Miles, too. And like so many vendors here, he has a day job. He sells telephone systems. But five times a year, he cranks up his smoker for big events like the fair. And this year, he came up with.
00:11:18
Speaker 2: Double smoked pork belly burnt ends, what we call meat candy.
00:11:22
Speaker 1: Burnt ends are meat candy. If you've had them, you know, come from a fatty, tasty part of the brisket. So Miles double smokes them, then deep fries them, and then.
00:11:33
Speaker 6: We serve that over french fries with our version of an Alabama white sauce that we call the hog sauce.
00:11:39
Speaker 1: They are so good. His wife says Miles knows how to cook what he likes.
00:11:45
Speaker 2: He's always liked pork belly. And he loves fries.
00:11:48
Speaker 1: Well, on this day at the fair.
00:11:50
Speaker 3: The winner goes to Fat Boy's Barbecue.
00:11:54
Speaker 1: For the Port Valley Bar and... Miles the Telecom Guy became Miles the State Fair Culinary Champ.
00:12:02
Speaker 2: I think I'm about to fill.
00:12:06
Speaker 5: Out.
00:12:06
Speaker 1: It was pretty awesome. I'm so glad that guy won. It's such a nice family from Smithfield. And let me tell you, those burnt ends... And the Alabama white sauce, which is so creamy. Set you free, man. Wait, what did you say the guy's name was? Boss Hog? Oh, no, Boss Hog is the name of the dish. Oh, okay, okay. Yeah, his name is Miles.
00:12:29
Speaker 4: All right.
00:12:30
Speaker 1: Well, look at you, Mark. Also, a Dubai burger, which patty with lamb and ground beef and pistachios on top was good. It was a jerk lobster roll, a family with secret jerk sauce. And my favorite sweet actually was some guy can cut, you know, these Hawaiian rolls you buy at the store, throw it in the deep fryer for a couple of seconds, get it crunchy, cover it with cinnamon icing, and oh, baby. It was so good. This sounds like maybe your best trip so far. Oh, yeah. I'm just so fat and full this morning. Well. I'm so jealous.
00:13:05
Speaker 5: Mark Garrison goes and tests so you know what to expect. The State Fair opens up for North Carolinians and all on Thursday.
00:13:13
Speaker 1: Thank you, Mark.
00:13:13
Speaker 6: Yes, sir.
00:13:14
Speaker 1: All right.
00:13:14
Speaker 5: Mark will be back at 835 for Dirty Restaurant Tuesday. Speaking of food, Jim Noble. will join us at 8.05.
00:13:23
Speaker 3: We sent out the bat signal and he showed up.
00:13:25
Speaker 1: That's exactly right.
00:13:26
Speaker 5: And if you weren't with us, something big is coming to western North Carolina.
00:13:30
Speaker 1: Mark was east.
00:13:31
Speaker 5: Now Jim Noble will tell us what's coming west here on Good Morning BT.
00:13:37
Speaker 1: Step right up.
