Abel Gonzales Jr. (born November 1969), also known as Fried Jesus, is an "extreme fryer" and the five-time winner of Big Tex Choice Awards, an annual contest at the

Texas State Fair The State Fair of Texas is an annual state fair held in Dallas at historic Fair Park. The fair has taken place every year since 1886 except for varying periods during World War I and World War II as well as 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It ...

, and the inventor of several

deep fried Deep frying (also referred to as deep fat frying) is a cooking method in which food is submerged in hot fat, traditionally lard but today most commonly oil, as opposed to the shallow frying used in conventional frying done in a frying pan. Norm ...

items including

Fried Coke Fried Coke or Deep Fried Soda is a frozen Coca-Cola-flavored batter that is deep-fried and then topped with Coca-Cola syrup, whipped cream, cinnamon sugar, and a cherry. It was introduced by inventor Abel Gonzales Jr. at the 2006 State Fair of ...

and

deep-fried butter Deep-fried butter is a snack food made of butter coated with a batter or breading and then deep-fried. The dish has often been served at fairs in the US; among them, the State Fair of Texas in Dallas, Texas, the South Carolina State Fair, the I ...

. He has also been a judge on the television show ''Deep Fry Masters''.

Early life

The son of a

Tex-Mex Tex-Mex cuisine (derived from the words ''Texas'' and ''Mexico'') is a regional American cuisine that originates from the culinary creations of Tejanos, Tejano people. It has spread from border states such as Texas and others in the Southwestern ...

restaurateur, Gonzales was born in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, in November 1969. In his youth he grew up working long hours around his father's restaurant, ''A. J. Gonzales’ Mexican Oven'' and graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School where he was later inducted into their hall of fame in 2014.

State Fair of Texas

Since 2004, Gonzales has been entering into the Big Tex Choice Award contest, a contest for the most creative deep fried food, and has been a finalist every year except for 2014. He has won the contest five times in categories such as "best taste" and "most creative" with multiple deep fried inventions. In 2004, he won with the fried peanut butter and jelly sandwich, in 2005 with Fried Coke, in 2006 with fried cookie dough, in 2008 with deep-fried butter, and in 2011 with Fried

Jambalaya Jambalaya ( , ) is a savory rice dish that developed in the U.S. state of Louisiana fusing together African, Spanish, and French influences, consisting mainly of meat and/or seafood, and vegetables mixed with rice and spices. West Africans a ...

. Other finalist inventions have included chicken-fried cactus bites, jelly and banana sandwiches, and deep fried pineapple rings.

Career

Gonzales worked as a database analyst before quitting his job in 2009 to work selling his deep fried foods at the Texas state fair. This allows him to spend the rest of the year traveling and experimenting with new forms of deep fried foods. He has also been hired previously by a beer distribution company to create a variant of deep fried beer. In 2014 he became a judge on the deep fried themed cooking show ''Deep Fry Masters''. In 2017, Gonzales opened a Dallas restaurant called ''Republic Ranch'' which featured "a blending of Mexican food and barbecue". It featured tacos with fillings such as ribeye and pulled pork as well as fried chicken and

brisket Brisket is a cut of meat from the breast or lower chest of beef or veal. The beef brisket is one of the nine beef primal cuts, though the definition of the cut differs internationally. The brisket muscles include the Pectoralis major, superficial ...

. Gonzales left ''Ranch Republic'' in 2018 and the following year opened a New York-style Italian cuisine restaurant called ''Cocina Italiano'' in Dallas. It focuses on low cost pastas, sandwiches, and salads similar to food he encountered in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzales, Abel Living people 1969 births Chefs from Texas Deep fried foods Woodrow Wilson High School (Dallas) alumni