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This article is about a particular kind of food that is known by the specific name "Fried dough."
For a comprehensive overview of many different foods that are all made by frying kinds of dough, see Fried dough foods.

Fried dough

Fried dough stand

Dough being deep-fat fried

BeaverTail pastry at Byward Market, Ottawa

Beavertail from street vendor in downtown Ottawa

Fried dough is a North American food associated with outdoor food stands in carnivals, amusement parks, fairs, rodeos, and seaside resorts (though it can be made at home). Fried dough is the specific name for a particular variety of fried bread made of a yeast dough; see the accompanying images for an example of use on carnival-booth signage. Fried dough is also known as elephant (or oliphaunt) ears, whale tails, pizza frita, frying saucers,Buñuelos, and in the case of smaller pieces, doughboys; these foods are virtually identical to each other, and recognizably different from other fried dough foods such as doughnuts, beignets, or fritters.

In Canada, pieces of fried dough are sometimes called "Beaver Tails." A writer of books on Canadian word origins the name referred to quick-baked dough "especially in early 19th-century places where people might camp for one night and where there was no frying pan."^[1] Some sources identify "beaver tails" as an Ottawa local specialty^[2]. BeaverTails is the name (and Canadian trademark) of a chain of restaurants specializing in the item, founded in Ottawa in 1978.^[3]

An Italian variant common in North America is zeppole.

It is made by deep-fat-frying a portion of risen yeast dough. It is often served sprinkled with powdered sugar and cinnamon or topped with fruit sauce. Sometimes it is also topped with chocolate sauce, cheese, apple cinammon, maple syrup, whipped cream, and tomato sauce. The dough acquires an irregular, bubbly appearance from being fried.

1. ^ Bill Castleman. Canadian Food Words. Retrieved on 2006-12-17.
2. ^ Culinary Ottawa. Ottawa Tourism. Retrieved on 2006-12-17.
3. ^ However, the best fried dough pizza is said to be made in East Haven, Connecticut, where at summer carnivals lines are so long it can often be a 45 minute wait BeaverTails History. BeaverTails, Inc.. Retrieved on 2006-12-17.: "Beavertails® and Queues de Castor® are registered trademarks of Hooker-Harbrecht, Ltd.: used under license by BeaverTails Canada Inc."

• SERTOMA (service organization) club site with photo of "elephant ear"
• Elephant Ear Recipe baked type.
• Elephant Ear Recipe the kind made at fairs.
• St. Petersburg (Florida) Times article,[1] Distinction between funnel cakes and elephant ears

• Fried dough foods
• Funnel cake