This year, the most surprising finalist in the State Fair of Texas' Big Tex Choice Awards is likely a fried ball of chicken fettuccine Alfredo. Or is it the burrito stuffed with burnt ends, a barbecue delicacy?

The annual food competition is proof that the buzziest celebrities at the State Fair of Texas every year are not the musicians, athletes or TV personalities. They're 10 plates of food.

The State Fair of Texas has cultivated a competitive event that entices fairgoers from all around the world to come to the Lone Star State and try a spate of strange dishes. More than 2 million tickets were counted at least year's fair.

"Texans are some of the most innovative people when it comes to food," says Karissa Condoianis, spokeswoman for the State Fair of Texas.

"Many live for trying the new food every year."

Here's a list of the 10 Big Tex Choice Award finalists at the State Fair of Texas in 2019:

Calypso Island Shrimp Bowls (Lynda M. Gonzalez / Staff Photographer)

Calypso Island Shrimp Bowl: One of the healthier options on this year's list, this bowl is a mix of carrots, kale, red bell peppers and more, served on yellow tropical rice with grilled shrimp. Creator Steve Alade operates a Caribbean booth at the State Fair and just opened a restaurant called Doc's Street Grill in Roanoke.

Christi Erpillo holds up Fernie's Fried Burnt End Burrito during the unveiling of the Big Tex Choice Awards. Erpillo has worked at the fair since she was a teenager. (Lynda M. Gonzalez / Staff Photographer)

Fernie's Fried Burnt End Burrito: From the family that brought funnel cake to the State Fair of Texas, this new entry dips into the barbecue craze. The burrito is filled with cream cheese, bacon, cheese, jalapenos and smoked burnt ends. The whole burrito comes lightly fried, with a side of onion rings. Concessionaire Christi Erpillo sources the burnt ends from Ferris Wheelers, a barbecue restaurant in the Dallas Design District.

Ruth Hauntz and her Stuffed Fried Mexi-Cone (Lynda M. Gonzalez / Staff Photographer)

Ruth's Stuffed Fried Mexi-Cone: Barbacoa, black beans and cilantro-lime rice are packed inside an ice cream cone-shaped tortilla shell. The concessionaire is 85-year-old Ruth Hauntz, who created 2016's best-tasting Big Tex Choice Award dish, Fried Jell-O.

Southern Fried Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo Ball (Lynda M. Gonzalez / Staff Photographer)

Southern Fried Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo Ball: Roll up Parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, Alfredo sauce and fried chicken and you've got a Texified Italian dish. It's described as having "rustic Italian flavors" that are "treated to our Southern hospitality," though it isn't this family's first foray into fried Italian food: Greg Parish mentions that they also sell fried spaghetti and meatballs at the fair.

Texas Cream Corn Casserole Fritters (Lynda M. Gonzalez / Staff Photographer)

Texas Cream Corn Casserole Fritters: Concessionaire Clint Probst takes the classic corn casserole ingredients of corn, sour cream, cheddar cheese and cornbread mix and rolls it into a ball and fries it. The dish comes topped with bacon and jalapenos and with a side of creamed corn queso. Clint's son, 19-year-old Evan Probst, says his dad "took a side dish and made it an entree."

Big Red Chicken Bread comes from Brent and Juan Reaves, of Smokey John's Bar-B-Que in Dallas. (Lynda M. Gonzalez / Staff Photographer)

Big Red Chicken Bread: "So long, chicken and waffles. Hello, Big Red chicken bread," says Condoianis as she unveils this concessions item from the family behind Dallas restaurant Smokey John's Bar-B-Que. It's a fried chicken wing sitting on a Big Red-infused doughnut. And, score: Every piece of chicken will be served with sunglasses, says Brent Reaves.

Deep-Fried Bayou Fruit Bites (Lynda M. Gonzalez / Staff Photographer)

Deep-Fried Bayou Fruit Bites: It starts with fried pieces of peaches, apples and pears, which then get drizzled with caramel. Those with a serious sweet tooth can top it with candy or chocolate chips.

The Fla'Mango Tango (Lynda M. Gonzalez / Staff Photographer)

Fla'Mango Tango: From the family who won "best taste-savory" last year for its arroz con leche comes another sweet dish. The Fla'Mango Tango is fried mango, topped with a "kicky citrus glaze," says a statement. Strawberry mango sorbet comes on the side.

Peanut Butter Cup Snookie (Lynda M. Gonzalez / Staff Photographer)

Peanut Butter Cup Snookie: Simple and sweet, this not-fried dish is a peanut butter cookie served with vanilla ice cream. It was Michelle Edwards' first year entering the Big Tex Choice Awards, though her family has run the Highland Park Soda Fountain booth at the fair for seven years.

Quick Fried "Black Gold" Truffles (Lynda M. Gonzalez / Staff Photographer)

Quick Fried "Black Gold" Truffles: The concessionaires behind this dish crush up chocolate cookies, then add cream cheese and white chocolate chips. The mixture is rolled into balls, coated with vanilla wafers, corn flakes, cinnamon and nutmeg, then fried. It's Sherri and Glen Kusak's first try entering a sweet dish in the contest.

I got up at 4:30am to help cover this! Check out all the finalists for this year's Big Tex Choice Awards at the @StateFairOfTX. Get all the juicy details on these foods from @sblaskovich & @lyndamgonzalez. https://t.co/U7DxoH0obC pic.twitter.com/Vgq5rCgzUk — Tommy Noel (@TommyNoel) August 14, 2019

Superfans who want to try all 10 finalists in one sitting can attend the award ceremony on Aug. 25 at Fair Park. For $125 per person, ticket holders can taste the gut-busting foods, meet the concessionaires and hear in real time which finalists are crowned winners. This year, a panel of judges will choose winners for the best-tasting savory dish, the best-tasting sweet dish and the most creative entry.

Last year, those awards went to a fried hoppin' john cake, a cinnamon-rice dish called arroz con leche and a cotton candy taco. Two of those three dishes were created by families who have made careers out of entering — and winning — the State Fair's contests.

Every year, we wonder if they've tried everything that can be fried. And every year, concessionaires unload a bevy of dishes that come fried. Liquified. Butterflied. Double-baptized.

Of course, the effort has financial motivations: The Big Tex Choice Awards is the fair's highest-profile food competition, and all 10 finalists have the opportunity to net significantly more money during the fair's run than if they were not picked. Many fairgoers specifically seek out the Big Tex Choice Award finalists, and the State Fair adds special signage to make those items more prominent.

The Big Tex Choice Awards started in 2005, when fried ice cream was named its most creative dish. The contest got wacky, fast: Soon, concessionaires were frying Coca-Cola, coffee, butter, beer and bubblegum.

"I don't think a lot of people understand the science that goes into frying items," said Condoianis before the award ceremony in 2018.

By "people," she means those of us who shell out coupons to buy fried food at the State Fair of Texas. We don't spend months or years obsessing over a recipe before it's entered into the Big Tex Choice Awards. Concessionaires at the State Fair of Texas, on the other hand, are thinking about the science of frying year-round. It all culminates in this one contest.

"For us, this is like Christmas," Erpillo says.

The 2019 State Fair of Texas runs Sept. 27-Oct. 20 at Fair Park. Go to guidelive.com/state-fair early and often to read about the latest food and fun at the fair.

For more food news, follow Sarah Blaskovich on Twitter at @sblaskovich.