Making corny dogs at home

Football, cooler weather, and chili cook offs all signify that it’s autumn in Texas. But no October is complete without a trip to the State Fair of Texas.

Held in Big D, our fair boasts a 52-foot talking statue named Big Tex (whose signature phrase is “Howdy folks, I’m Big Tex!”), racing pigs, the Texas Star Ferris wheel, and the most impressive array of fried foods ever seen.

It’s become an unofficial annual competition to see what crazy concoctions the vendors will create: fried Coca-Cola, fried jelly beans, fried strawberry waffle balls, fried moon pies and fried guacamole are just a few of the fried foods on offer this year. And while I love fried foods as much as anyone, I have to admit that despite the fair’s bounty, I still prefer the original State Fair fried food—Fletcher’s Corny Dogs—most of all.


Carl and Neil Fletcher started selling their corny dogs—deep-fried hot dogs dipped in corn-bread batter—at the Fair in 1942. It has not been proven if they are the inventor of this treat, but I do believe they were the first to call it a corny dog as opposed to a corn dog, as it’s more commonly known. What makes a Fletcher dog so special is its crunch; theirs are the best corny dogs you’ll ever eat.
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