How they make deep-fried ranch dressing, the most Minnesotan of new State Fair foods

Inspiration usually strikes Charlie Burrows in the middle of the night.

The proprietor of LuLu's Public House can't sleep when his brain starts coming up with new foods for the Minnesota State Fair. He'll fire off a two-word text to his son, Max Burrows, or jot something down in his journal.

Those nocturnal bursts of creativity have resulted in a reliable string of hits for the 24-year fair vendor. LuLu's is responsible for bringing fairgoers the sloppy Joe on a stick, a Tater Tot-wrapped hot dog, fresh-not-frozen chicken tenders (a novelty back in 2000) and last year's success, cheesecake curds. Burrows was one of the first vendors to skewer a food that wasn't a corn dog onto a stick — it was macaroni and cheese.

"I'll tell you what my mentality is," Burrows said. "People go to the traditional things they like to go to — they'll go get their French fries, they'll go get their cheese curds, they'll go get Sweet Martha's. There's X amount of room in their stomach. We're fighting for that little bonus space that's left, and so we have to be innovative in order to try.

"We're fighting for that real estate."

For 2024, LuLu's might have a winner. The team has invented a sure-to-go-viral food that couldn't be more Minnesotan: deep-fried ranch dressing. It has already struck a chord, not just with Minnesotans, but with anyone who has opinions about what Minnesotans eat. When it was announced last month, deep-fried ranch made the news in markets from Sacramento to Tampa.

Hidden Valley Ranch caught wind of this new invention, and plans to hand out samples of dressing on the first two days of the fair, so you can dip your deep-fried ranch in, well, ranch. (LuLu's will serve it with a dip of hot honey made with Cry Baby Craig's habanero sauce.)

Developing this newfangled snack — like a fried ravioli or a crab rangoon, with a tangy, creamy center and a strong hit of MSG on the breaded outer shell — took several rounds of testing in the kitchen at the Clover in Rosemount, one of several restaurants Burrows co-owns.

Max Burrows and Jeremy Bechtold, the Clover's general manager and chef, respectively, typically start experimenting with new ideas shortly after the conclusion of each State Fair. Charlie helps tweak them until they have a solid entry they hope will win one of the fair's coveted official new foods designations.

"We're just a couple of fat kids in the kitchen, just trying to make our dreams come true," Max said, laughing.

This particular food started with something for which Minnesotans have a reputation. "It's kind of an inside joke here that we've had since we opened, which is like, everybody wants a side of ranch with everything," Max said.

Could they make it the main course?

Max and Bechtold wanted to bread and fry Cool Ranch Doritos, but Charlie suspected the fryer would sap the chips of all their flavor. "And then it evolved in our talking process of making ranch dressing and stuffing it into something," Charlie said.

They tried wonton wrappers. They adjusted the filling, landing on a mix of buttermilk and cream cheese and dressing. They fried them with and without breading. At one point, they considered putting them on a stick.

Because the crunchy little ranch pockets are so labor-intensive, they're assembled by Blue Loon Concessions, a high-volume maker of cheese curds, corn dogs and such. The New Prague-based concessionaire started with 80,000 triangles — enough for 20,000 orders — with more on tap.

The pre-stuffed, frozen triangles will be sent into the fryer on site at LuLu's. And they come out hot. Approach deep-fried ranch like another Minnesota-made concoction: the juicy Lucy. (Nibble cautiously around the edges first, so you don't burn the roof of your mouth.)

A four-piece order is $12.

Other new items at LuLu's this year include a Betty & Earl's biscuit infused with peanut butter and jelly, and 12 drinks made in collaboration with Dual Citizen, Indeed, Lift Bridge, Sociable Cider Werks, Tattersall, Schell's and Surly.

Bechtold, who has years of experience in elevated scratch cooking (the Happy Gnome, Lucia's), can't help but be amused that deep-fried ranch might be the dish that becomes his legacy.

"I was actually joking with my wife the other day. I'm like, my culinary contribution is deep-fried ranch," he said. "No, it's fine."