Every Day Is 'Fry-Day' for Deep-Fried Oreo Innovator

(May 4) -- Charlie Boghosian makes his living selling deep-fried goodies at carnivals -- but don't tell him his food is only fair.

Boghosian, 41, has earned a national reputation to go boldly where other deep-fried pros dare not go, and, in the process, he is considered one of the carnival industry's biggest innovators.


In fact, Boghosian -- who is better known as "Chicken Charlie" -- is the guy who deserves credit -- or blame -- for such delectables as the deep-fried Oreo, the deep-fried avocado, the deep-fried Krispy Kreme chicken sandwich and the zucchini-weenie, a variation of the corn dog where the dog is stuffed into a zucchini before being -- what else? -- deep-fried.

Boghosian made his name on the California fair circuit, and dishes like his deep-fried Oreo have quickly been adopted by other carnie cooks around the nation.

There probably isn't an item that the San Diego-based Boghosian hasn't stuck in a fryer at some point during his 25-year career as a grease guru -- including his own shirt for the History Channel series "Modern Marvels."

"I made deep-fried frog legs and the Krispy Kreme chicken sandwich for the host, and she kept saying, 'Make something crazy.' I thought I was, but finally I just took off my shirt and fried that."

But he didn't eat it, unlike his other creations, such as his newest: a deep-fried Klondike bar, which he will debut in June at the San Diego County Fair.

"I love deep-fried ice cream, but half the time it's good and half of the time it's bad," he said. "I wanted this to be a variation of it, but what I do is, instead of a thin crust, I use a thick pancake batter and dip the whole bar in it."

Boghosian takes deep frying very seriously and won't sell anything that doesn't pass muster with his 35-member testing team, which he uses whenever he introduces an item.

"When they tasted it, they all liked it, but when 10 percent wanted seconds, I knew in my gut it would be a hit," he said.

That gut -- and the other 290 pounds Boghosian carries -- gives him an edge in the increasingly competitive world of carnival foods, where cooks battle each other over who is the better batterer. But Boghosian still stands heads above others because of his artery-clogging innovations.

"I've added a lot to the deep-fry world," he said humbly. "And people may call me the Deep Fry King, but what tastes good is still the key. Nothing makes me happier than when people see what I'm selling and start yelling to each other, or getting their phones out to call their friends and then deciding, 'I have to try that.'"

But, as the great Cervantes once wrote, "The proof of the pudding is in the eating," and while we don't know whether his pudding was deep-fried, Boghosian adheres to that philosophy in the same way that his food sticks to his customers' ribs.

"It takes a different type of person to eat deep-fried spam," he said. "And I know my Krispy Kreme chicken sandwich is not for everyone, because not everyone likes doughnuts. However, when you bite into it and taste the combination of flavors, it's incredible."

Although Boghosian has been deep-frying since the age of 14, he jokes that he wasn't a battered child.

"But I've always loved food, and when I was 14, I visited the fair in San Diego and asked for a job from a guy -- and it lasted for 12 years."

When Boghosian wasn't frying up french fries or corn dogs, he actually earned two degrees, in criminal law and pre-law, before deciding he'd rather fry foods than criminals. It's a calling, he says, and one he doesn't take lightly (but maybe lightly dusted with powdered sugar).

"Deep-frying is not as easy as people think," Boghosian said. "You have to know the right temperature, the right oil and the right batter. For instance, a cookie in tempura batter is disgusting, but put it in pancake batter and it's delicious. Also, when you fry chicken at 200 degrees, it will be oozing with grease, but you'll barely taste the oil if you cook it at 375."

These distinctions are important to him, and to the lasting legacy of his dishes.

"Take the deep-fried Oreo," he said. "I don't want to disparage Guy Fieri, but he recently cooked some up for Kim Kardashian after she said it was her favorite food. The way I fry it is to dip it in a sweet wet batter.

"He used milk, flour and bread crumbs, and when it came out, Jay Leno described it as 'disgusting.' It's not disgusting, but the way it was made there was disgusting. And what happens is, the people who try to copy me don't always use my methods."

Boghosian hopes to remedy things in the coming year by coming out with a line of flours, his own brand of deep fryer and a cookbook called "101 Ways to Blow Your Diet." He also hopes to open a restaurant that will combine his famous fried dishes along with the healthier, Mediterranean-influenced dishes that he tends to favor at home.

Yep, the man for whom every day is "Fry-day" is something of a health food nut, favoring bulgur wheat, vegetables and fruit when he isn't taste-testing new treats like the deep-fried strawberry Pop-Tart he sneak-previewed last year.

"I am 300 pounds, but I am in perfect health," he said. "My doctor can't believe it, but I have perfect cholesterol. I try to exercise on the treadmill, and I don't eat fried food day and night -- just a few times a week."