Fair celebrates Oklahoma Centennial with ‘Fare' cookbook

A new cookbook is coming to the Oklahoma State Fair Centennial Expo, which will open Sept. 13. "Oklahoma State ‘Fare'” will have some prize-winning recipes from past fairs as well as recipes provided by Oklahoma celebrities and plenty of Oklahoma Centennial-related information and recollections.

The book, available beginning on the fair's opening day, will focus on 100 years of cooking and statehood, said Gina Burchfiel, assistant general manager for the state fair. The book will be sold in the Creative Arts Building information booth and at Oklahoma Centennial Commission booths in the Centennial Building and on 14 Flags Plaza, Burchfiel said.

Cost of the book will be $10. Though I have not seen a copy of the cookbook, Burchfiel provided one of the book's recipes, which I am sharing elsewhere in this section.

Blue ribbon winners

While the state fair doesn't get under way for a few weeks, you can get a head start on cooking like a state fair champion with a monster-size new book, "Blue Ribbon Recipes: 693 Award-Winners From America's State and County Fairs” written and compiled by Barbara Greenman.

With 400 pages, the hefty book from Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers is a great bargain at just $19.95. I discovered it during a recent late-night visit to my neighborhood bookstore and couldn't wait to get home and go through it, page by page. With recipes from 85 fairs and festivals across the country — including the Oklahoma State Fair and Tulsa State Fair — this book is a winning selection for cooks and bakers.

I love the trivia in this book, including where our favorite fair foods were invented. The St. Louis World's Fair in 1904 is credited with the beginning of the ice cream cone, the hot dog, cotton candy and maybe even the hamburger, although it shares credit with a county fair in New York. Recipes for our favorite fair foods are found throughout the book in special boxes, separate from the award-winning recipes. These recipes include Soft Pretzels, BBQ Corn, Bloomin' Onion and even Deep-Fried Twinkies (you may hesitate doing this one at home, unless, of course, you have the proper equipment for deep frying).

I've already marked the pages of all those must-try-soon recipes with colorful sticky notes. Among the recipes I'll be whipping up soon: the Double-Ginger Bundt Cake made with both ground and crystallized ginger; Coffee-Brown Sugar Angel Food Cake; Jalapeno Cheese Wheat Rolls; Cheesy Apple Bread; Chimayo Corn Pudding from the New Mexico State Fair; Ranch Cheddar Chicken with just five simple ingredients; Pear Salsa With Cinnamon Chips; BBQ Deviled Eggs, a winner from the Oklahoma State Fair; and Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Muffins.

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