Paul Yeager Samples 2025 Fair’s Newest Foods

[Paul Yeager] These are some of the new fair foods at the Iowa State Fair. I've had a chance to try them already in a special event, and now that it is the actual fair, they are all just gonna taste different. There are some classics. We all have our all time favorites, and we have some new standbys, of course.

But what's gonna be the possible palate pleasers this year that went out at the Iowa State Fair?

[Cashier] Hi, how can I help you today?

[Woman] Three little pigs to go.

[Paul] What is key, do you think, for a new fair to make it work?

[Paul Babberl] I think just having fun, having fun with the team, building things and creating and seeing what everybody loves.

[Calvin Wolfe] Ham balls are pretty good. If I had to pick one, I would probably go for the maraschino cherries. It was pretty sweet, but I think it was a good flavor.

[Paul] Take a bite. Let's find out.

[Jennafer Rozendaal] Yeah, it turned out good. Nothing not to like about it. Chicken, bacon ranch.

[Paul] I'm not gonna ask you to compare to last year's, but compared to last year's...

[Jennafer] Probably better. Big fan.

[Tessa Faris] This is new. Tell them about this potato half and half Korean corn dog.

[Paul] What do you think so far?

[Tessa] All right. Yes. We have mozzarella at the top and beef at the bottom wrapped in potatoes with the special sweet chili sauce. It's awesome.

[Diane Faris] Does it have a kick to it?

[Tessa] Not too bad. A little, but not really. Not much. I don't do spice.

[Diane] Yeah, I'm not much on the spicy side either.

[Paul] What does being the lobster princess mean?

[Mea Fehrer] It means I have to try all of the lobster, make sure it's perfect. And I get to talk to so many people. I get to take pictures. It's just. It's super fun.

[Paul] I get asked a lot about the lobster. Why lobster at the Iowa State Fair? Is it all about being different or it just wasn't an area that was covered before?

[Brooks Reynolds] Well, you know, here at the fair, there's, you know, Campbell's Corn Dogs has the corn dog market cornered. You know, there's turkey legs, there's Brad and Harry's Cheese Curds. You know, we have to bring new flavors. Yes, we want to be different, but we also, we bring kind of a culinary aspect to the Iowa State Fair. And it's just been fun. That's the fun part, is coming up with the new flavor profiles and things that are different, weird, and wonderful.

[Paul] Brooks, we are at a special table. This is a big deal this year. What is this?

[Brooks] This is our high roller combo table. So our signature lobster roll this year is the High Roller Roll.

[Paul] We got Great timing.

[Sarah Strong-Tuttle] This is our High Roller Roll. We wanted to do a little up level this year, like we do every year for the fair. For the bun we take duck fat and we add a bunch of gold shimmer. Then it's our fresh Maine lobster tossed with some clarified butter. And then it gets creme fraiche. And then three nice large dollops of our hackleback caviar.

And then of course, it wouldn't be a High Roller Roll without some 24 karat gold flake on top. And some dill.

[Paul] You have to walk off all that food. At least I do anyway. But you do have to save room for one more thing. And that's a sweet treat. We are going to try the Scotcheroo Shake. One last sweet treat here at the state fair. You can't try them all, but man, it has been fun trying.

This has been tough eating all this food by myself. If only there was someone to help me.

[Kenny] Oh, I volunteer.

[Paul] Thank you, Kenny. We're gonna try it. Enjoy yourself at the Iowa State Fair. It's time to eat.

[Kenny] Oh, man, that's really good.