Seriously, just look at this mess. Your kitchen is ­covered in flour. There are hot-oil spatters everywhere. And, oh great, you just got a grease stain on your ­Sunday-best sleeveless T-shirt.

No getting around it—frying food is a labor-­intensive and messy affair. But we dredge and batter and drop grub into sizzling oil anyway. Why? Because deep-fried food is so good, it’s sinful, and because nothing says summer like a corn dog and a root beer. We know it’s been a while since hunting season, but we’re guessing that you can find a couple of wild-card packages in your freezer that’ll work with at least one of the recipes featured here. If not, you’ll have some grocery shopping to do on the bullfrog swamp and catfish pond. Also, just to be safe, you might want to stock up on some napkins.