Checking out the exhibits, listening to music and tromping up and down the midway at the Central States Fair can leave you needing a snack. The Journal features staff takes the guesswork out of what to order.

Don't be dainty with turkey legs

If the fair brings out your more primal tastes and you feel like you just have to gnaw something off of a bone, I suggest you pick up a turkey leg.

This meaty treat was available left and right at the fair this year. There were smoked turkey legs, grilled turkey legs and deep-fat- fried turkey legs - so many decisions for just one animal's appendage.

In the end, my date forked over $8 for a combo of the two. According to our vendor, Karim Shahin, our turkey leg was marinated, smoked and then frozen. Shahin and his partner at the ANA stand then grilled the legs for about 20 minutes.

The final result was a salty treat that had a slightly smoky flavor and texture that required me to put aside my attempts to be dainty. Although the meat was tender and tasty, it did have to be chewed off the bone.

- Crystal Hohenthaner

Learn these funnel cake lessons

My funnel cake sampling started off promising enough. I eagerly watched as the nice man drizzled batter into the bubbling oil and liberally topped my twisted treat with powdered sugar.

But as I bent to savor the aroma, the breeze kicked up, blowing powdered sugar in my face and all over my clothes. Drat!

After a quick coughing fit, I took the first bite: delicious. But as with many decadent treats, the first bite was the best. The funnel cake quickly cooled, becoming a bit sad and greasy. There goes $5.

Funnel cake lessons learned:

Avoid eating in high winds.

Don't wear dark clothes.

Share it a friend, eating quickly before it cools.

Don't inhale.

- Deanna Darr

Lemonade a sour experience

At every outdoor carnival, festival and fair I go to, I see people running around with fresh-squeezed lemonade. I've even heard people raving about it. Now, I'm not a big fan of lemonade, so I have never felt the need to shell out the five bucks for such an ordinary beverage. This time, I shelled out a fiver and sadly, my expectations weren't met.

It was good, and I liked it better than the average lemonade, but it certainly didn't live up to all the hype I've heard over the years.

The lemonade I had was actually half pre-squeezed and half fresh-squeezed, so that might explain my disappointment. It was good, but not $5 good.

- Crystal Hohenthaner

Restore your stamina with a tasty brat

After parking in the north 40 and walking miles of midway, nothing returns fading stamina faster than the famed German Tent's notable "The Brat." For 26 years, this German favorite has been charbroiled to perfection, then kept warm in a steaming broth of beer. Served on a roll with choices of a spicy yellow mustard, ketchup and sauerkraut, it is melt-in-your mouth fair food. One brat cost $4.50, but is worth every penny. Head grill master Matt Ramsey of Deadwood expects to sell 4,000 of these deliciously rich brats in nine days.

-Jomay Steen

Cream puff tradition lives on - deliciously

Ever since I was in middle school, I have made it most years to the Cream Puffery at the fair. After all, when else in life does one have a cream puff? An honest-to-goodness, plate-tipping cream puff?

The only problem with tasting cream puffs is which one do you choose? Since they are so large and filling, they are definitely best when shared with a friend. So I brought six eager young taste-testers with me.

The brownie cream puff was the overall favorite of our group. It had intense brownie flavor, even though my piece of cream puff had no actual brownie in the puff of cream. It was a mystery how the cream could taste like brownie! Mmmmm … tasty. Coconut cream was my second favorite. My son reported that the blueberry had so many blueberries, "it was amazing." His chin proved him right.

Our least favorite was peppermint. We thought the peppermint flavor was a little too strong. It was the only cream puff we didn't finish.

This year is the 30th year of the Cream Puffery at the Central States Fair. Pat Clanton and my favorite teacher ever, Catherine Dimock, started making cream puffs for the fair in 1978. It's fun to share with my kids and their friends the annual cream puff visit.

- Marinell Scott Thornburg

Hand-dipped corn dog could be best ever

For the die-hard corn dog fans, S&S concessions is the place to stop. In fact, I'd recommend S&S for the majority of your fair food treats. The group makes the majority of its food from scratch, including the cornbread on their corn dogs and the batter for their funnel cakes.

As the vendor handed me my almost completely homemade corn dog and my change, she said, "This is gonna be the best corn dog you ever had."

I haven't rated all of the corn dogs I've had throughout my life, so I can't say for sure, but she may have been right. It was a little bit greasier than I like, but that's what fair food is all about, right? Plus, for only $3, it was one of the best-priced and most satisfying items I had all night.

- Crystal Hohenthaner

Nothing like a plate of bangers and mash

The promise of air conditioning first drew me into Celt Hall, next to the Soule Building. After carefully considering the menu, I sat down with a plate of bangers and mash.

What had I ordered? Two friendly members of the Dakota Celts served the food and offered brief tutorials in Irish cuisine. The bangers were Irish sausages, mildly seasoned and cooked in beer, just as I suspected. The healthy mound of mashed potatoes was actually colcannon, potatoes cooked with green onion and cabbage (of course). The high-quality sausages were delicious, with no signs of mystery pieces and parts. The potatoes were flavorful and colorful. I'm trying these at home.

With the soft Irish music and delicious food, only the faint mooing of a nearby cow told me I was at the fair. Not bad for $4.

-Deanna Darr

Just like potato chips, only prettier

Before I went to the fair this year, I had never seen potatoes look so pretty. Called butterfly potatoes, these spuds are available in a long, curly, deep-fat-fried string.

I figured they just had to taste like regular potato chips, but I was still incredibly curious. Linda Aasen - the sweet woman who sat across from me as I finished my corn dog - offered me a bite of hers.

"They're just like potato chips," I said.

"Just greasier," Aasen said with a twinkle in her eye.

The butterfly potatoes are available at several stands and cost about $4.

-Crystal Hohenthaner

Smooth Oregon Chai a glass of happy

Oregon Chai is my favorite brand of chai, so when I saw the logo on the side of Gizmo's Coffee stand, I couldn't resist. Chai is a style of spiced tea and Oregon Chai is a brand that comes in liquid form, so it is much smoother in the final drink.

That's why I shelled out $4.50 for a nice, tall glass of it. I got a regular chai latte with a bit of whipped cream on the top. It was sweet, warm and smooth, and it helped warm me up at the end of the evening when the temperature dipped down a bit. My chai made me so happy that I actually gave the vendor a tip.

-Crystal Hohenthaner