What’s Up With Those Aggie Fries at the West Texas Fair & Rodeo?
As I spend more and more time in Abilene, I am learning that Abilenians take a great amount of pride in some wacky and wonderful traditions during the year.
The West Texas Fair & Rodeo is a hallowed rite of passage, and Rudy “Fearless” Fernandez himself has been working to slowly win me over to the idea of Aggie Fries at the Fair. Initially, I wrote his efforts off, because I couldn’t foresee anything special about a paper bag full of homemade French fries. I’m ever the potato connoisseur, though — which is how I found myself in front of a long, looming Aggie maroon trailer at the Taylor County Expo Center.
In defense of the folks of the Abilene A&M Club, I originally purchased a “basket” (shallow brown bag) of their plain French fries, which were just as good as any other homemade fries I’ve tasted in my fair-and-rodeo career. What really stood out was the order of Bonfire Fries I purchased shortly after, since my taste-test buddy hijacked the regular fries.
If you are on the hunt for an ideal fair food, Bonfire Fries fit the bill.
Those genius Abilene Aggies take a basket of their delicious but traditional French fries and dust them thoroughly with what they call “Bonfire seasoning”. No one is entirely certain what goes into that delectable spice mixture, but the resulting fries are crispy on the edges, fluffy on the inside, and ready to kick your taste buds into gear. Better yet, the subtle heat of the Bonfire Fries washes down well with some fresh-squeezed lemonade.
So, on behalf of the uninitiated and the skeptical, take it from me: Aggie Fries are not to be missed at the West Texas Fair & Rodeo in Abilene. And if the Abilene A&M Club sees this… I’d like the recipe, please.
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