[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Things weren’t as hot as you might have expected at the State Fair of Texas’ fried-on-a-stick contest.

Only 21 dishes were entered — compared with the 236 entries in Saturday’s blockbuster pecan competition — and most were a little soggy on their sticks by the time they arrived at the fair Monday.

The sticking point — because of concerns about discarding all that hot grease — was that contestants had to fry and skewer their dishes at home and bring them to the fair cold.

“I had to take that into consideration when I was tasting,” said Jake Depew, a local chef and one of the judges of the “Stick with Canola Oil — Fry It for the Fair” contest.

“They aren’t as crunchy and crisp as you might imagine they would be.”

But Kristina Gilbert’s Fried French Toast on a Stick was crunchy enough to take home the blue ribbon, $200, an at-home deep fryer and apron.

“This is so overwhelming,” the Lindale resident said. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

Fair organizers are still working the kinks out of the contest, which was offered for the first time —shockingly — this year.

Although the fair might claim itself the Fried Capital of Texas, the logistics of mass deep-frying could have been too scarring, organizers with the Creative Arts Department thought.

“Getting rid of large amounts of grease would be difficult for us,” said Barbara Jones, the department’s director. “And we don’t have that many outlets.”

But this year — spurred on by Canola Oil’s sponsorship — the fair decided to give the frying contest a try.

The first attempt wasn’t all fun for the judges, who had to taste many of the dishes after being zapped in the microwave.

Anyone who’s eaten a day-old, reheated French fry knows what they went through.

“I’ve been in this business long enough that I can tell what was once crispy and what wasn’t” said judge Jake Levy of Desperados Mexican Restaurant and a fair concessionaire.

Despite the sog, many of the entries were delicious, the judges said. What some lacked in crispness was made up for in imagination.

There was beef Wellington, strawberry wontons, chicken-fried steak, pears, caramel apple fritters and coconut shrimp with orange marmalade — all fried and all on sticks.

Mary Ehrenberger of Dallas won second place for her Chocolate Banana Egg Rolls on a Stick with strawberry marshmallow cream sauce.

She said it was reminiscent of a frozen, chocolate covered-banana in an egg roll wrapper that’s dipped in a melted Pink Thing from Six Flags Over Texas.

She got points for taste and, obviously, creativity.

“That dipping sauce was so, so good,” said Mr. Levy said.

Ms. Gilbert said she came up with her fried French toast and cream cheese recipe the night before the contest as a back-up to her first idea.

“We had tried bacon and pancakes on a stick, but it didn’t turn out too well,” she said.

She even had to improvise with her sticks because her original skewers didn’t work.

“I just broke the ice cream off Popsicle sticks in the freezer and used those,” she said.

Ms. Gilbert also recently lost 50 pounds on a diet. She said she was excited about winning her first deep fryer, nonetheless.

“I just won’t use it too much,” she said.