You know what they say about great minds…

"They" say great minds think alike.  I can't vouch for his greatness, but George Duran of Food Network's Ham on the Street spent the first segment of the "Guilty Pleasures" episode discussing the wonders of deep-fried goods.  He takes 5 already-guilty pleasures and fries them to a deep and golden goodness.  Obviously, this isn't a novel gastric breakthrough – deep-fried twinkies and such have been cropping up more and more at county fairs.  I could do more research on this phenomenon, but why pull the curtain on the machinery?  Let's let wonders remain wonders.

Anyway, the five items George deep-fries:

1. Hot dog and bun
2. Mac and cheese
3. Brownie
4. Oreo cookies
5. Cheesecake

Simply amazing.  George seems to be a man after my own stomach.  I've actually had deep-fried Snickers (at the fair) and deep-fried Oreos (in Vegas), so I feel well-qualified to comment here.  The deep-fried desserts are actually not as much of a stretch as you'd think – the batter lends a funnel cake-like flavor and texture to the proceedings.  

Deep-fried hot dogs and deep-fried mac n' cheese, however, seem like riskier propositions.  The random diners George convinced to sample the goods seemed to like the desserts fine but, like me, were a bit skeptical of the deep-friend dogs and mnc.  However, the deep-fried hot dog seemed to go over well, but the ball of mac and cheese was less well-received.  

I may have to corral me a deep-fryer and perform some experiments myself.  Who said television isn't inspiring?