Whose turkey leg reigned supreme at the Washington State Fair? We took a tour
Food-on-a-stick is a perennial go-to at the Washington State Fair.
The famous Krusty Pup corn dog is my favorite portable food. Diners also will find potatoes, strawberries, apples and even bacon threaded onto a stick.
How about food that’s naturally on a stick?
I’m talking about turkey legs. It’s the quintessential street food and built — naturally — to be eaten by hand.
Four fair booths now serve turkey legs. They’re meant to be wielded like a food sword and devoured in your best barbarian-meets-Fred Flintstone pose, in front of your friends. They also happen to be a pretty good value considering that one leg easily feeds two.
I sampled smoked, baked and flame-grilled turkey legs at the Washington State Fair, which runs through Sept. 23.
Whose turkey leg reigned supreme? Read on.
Young Life BBQ Booth
Where: Near the Blue Gate
Cost: $12.50
Winner: All around winner for flavor.
When your dining partner declares, “It tastes like Thanksgiving,” you know you’ve hit the turkey-leg jackpot. Head straight to the Young Life BBQ booth for the fair’s best tasting turkey leg. The meat tasted evenly seasoned, the skin was beautifully shellacked, as if it had been well-basted. Note: The booth opened the fair with smaller legs at $8.50 each, but upgraded to jumbo turkey legs last week and increased the price to $12.50.
BBQ Pete’s
Where: Near the Paulhamus Arena, in the small building next to the BBQ Pete’s restaurant area
Cost: $14.65
Best for: Smokiest flavor, best seasoning.
This tasted like a pit master set up a smoker in your driveway on Thanksgiving and tended that bird for an entire day. The leg tasted well-seasoned — either brined or well rubbed— with even seasoning all the way to the bone. The skin was shellacked with a mahogany bark, with a smoke ring that penetrated throughout the leg. Smoky, salty and plenty juicy. Diners can watch as the legs are pit smoked over wood.
Big Mama’s Meat Shack
Where: Across from the Village Restaurant building
Cost: $14.56
Best for: Juiciest of the bunch.
This one tasted the juiciest of the four. Cooking turkey is a difficult task at an event where food must be mass produced to keep up with demand, so kudos to the grill master for not overcooking. My dining group liked the even seasoning. The skin looked well-basted. I liked that turkey juice squirted out at first bite. Also available at a sister booth in the Outpost 47 beer garden area.
Juicy’s Outlaw Grill
Where: Near the Blue Gate
Cost: $12.75
Not recommended: Dry texture, burned flavor.
Was it a bad day for the food stand with the massive open grill? Maybe. The turkey leg here was the biggest of the tour, but also the most dry. It lacked any true turkey taste beyond an unappealing burned flavor.
This story was originally published September 19, 2018 at 12:00 PM.