Inspired by Idaho
“Potatoes, rolls, [blueberries], and some red meat deep fried?! Perfection!”
—My Sister Who Lives in Idaho
THE MEAL
(Click on the links above to jump to that part of the post!)
I’m finally setting off to another state, and yet I’m still pretty much in my comfort zone. I’ve never lived in Idaho, but my relatives have property up there that I’ve visited about once a year since I was born. Also, my sister married an Idahoan and has lived there with her family for over a decade, so I visit them occasionally, too.
However, any time I go to Idaho, we either pack our own food (because the property is remote), or my sister cooks, or we eat out at some chain restaurant. I had no idea what an iconic Idaho meal would be! But with the help of my sister and Google, I came up with a plate of food that might not be cohesive but has all the elements that Idahoans seem to love!
While my Instagram account hasn’t made much headway, since I’ve just barely started, my family has quickly latched onto this idea. I was going to just make this meal for myself and my sister (who takes the photos) and offer some to my parents (whose kitchen I use), but I wasn’t going to make a big deal out of it. Luckily I decided to buy a little extra of everything in case I messed up, because when cooking day came, my whole immediate family turned up to participate, and it became an impromptu, informal Sunday luncheon!
I just wish my Idahoan sister and her family could have been there! My original plan was to go visit them and make this meal with them, but for various reasons, it didn’t work out. But they still got to participate in a way, as you’ll see later.
FINGER STEAKS
You guys. I deep-fried something and didn’t burn it! Or burn myself! Or cause a grease fire! Hooray!!
I’ve always been a little intimidated by deep-frying. I’ve pan-fried things before, and I used an industrial deep-fryer when I worked at a restaurant in college, but I’d never deep-fried anything at home. It was my first venture out of my comfort zone thanks to this challenge!
According to the interwebs, finger steaks were invented in Boise, Idaho, by Milo Bybee, who was looking for a use for leftover tenderloin. That was back in 1957, and they’ve been a popular food in Idaho ever since!
The recipe I found is purportedly close to the original, and it was really simple. First, you need steak strips. The recipe I used called for sirloin steak, but I’ve also seen fried steak (usually chicken-fried steak) made with cube steak, and the original was apparently tenderloin. I also realized as I was perusing the meat section that pre-cut stir-fy steak is already about the length and width that the recipe called for, and it was cheaper than whole cuts. So I’d say go with whichever steak you want, but I used both cubed and stir-fry steak, and both turned out good. I liked the cube steak a little better because it had a more uneven, crunchy texture after frying.
Anyway, I marinated the steak strips for a couple of hours in a mixture of buttermilk, egg, flour, and McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning. Then I dredged them in flour seasoned with garlic powder, salt, and pepper, and froze them for about an hour just to firm them up before frying.
As I said before, the frying went surprisingly well! I finally bought a candy/oil thermometer (it was like $6; I don’t know why I didn’t get one sooner) to make sure that I would do it right, and that helped a lot. Dropping the steaks into the oil took me back to my college restaurant job, where I remembered my boss telling me that the food was done when it floated to the surface and stopped bubbling so much. I also just kept an eye on the color to make sure they got brown but not too dark.
When they were done, I let them drain on paper towels, then served them with homemade fry sauce. They were pretty good, and I’m glad I chose to make them. The successful deep-frying was a confidence-booster (I know I’ll be doing a lot of it for the southern states later), and it was a new taste for me.
But if I’m being honest, I wasn’t a huge fan! Fried chicken is one of my favorite foods, so I think maybe my mind wanted them to taste like chicken fingers, and the difference in taste and texture was a bit of a let-down. Again, they weren’t bad, they just weren’t my favorite. My family devoured them, though, and I ate my fair share, too, but mostly just as a vehicle for the fry sauce. 🙂
FRY SAUCE
Sorry, Idahoans, you may claim fry sauce as your state’s food, but you got it from Utah!
Fry sauce has had variations around the world, but the kind that we Utahns and Idahoans were raised on comes from Arctic Circle, a fast-food restaurant that started in Utah in 1950 and spread to Idaho and other nearby states. Wherever fry sauce came from, though, there’s no doubt that it’s now a true Idaho staple. And Utahns and Idahoans alike can agree that Heinz’s “Mayochup” is an insult and a travesty. #notmyfrysauce
Anyone in our two states knows that if the restaurant you’re at doesn’t have any fry sauce on hand (*gasp*), then you just have to mix together some mayo and ketchup, with maybe a bit of BBQ or hot sauce to shake things up. This recipe I used had a few more components that all worked really well together. It had the traditional mayo and ketchup, plus a little pickle relish, worcestershire, and paprika.
It’s SO GOOD. Before even making the finger steaks, I made a little extra fry sauce to eat with some leftover chicken tenders I had in my fridge. I had fry sauce pretty often as a kid, but it’s been a while since I’ve had any as an adult. Making this fry sauce rekindled my love for it, and I’ll definitely be making it again!
CHEESY SCALLOPED POTATOES
Of course, I couldn’t make an Idaho-inspired meal without potatoes!
Whenever you mention Idaho, the first thing people think of is potatoes. Researching for this challenge, I finally learned why that is: potatoes grow best in volcanic soil with mountain water, clean air, sunny days, and cool nights. Those are exactly the growing conditions that Idaho provides!
I’m about to make Idahoans mad again, but potatoes were also brought to them from Utah, when settlers from the Salt Lake Valley moved north to cultivate the land and found that the soil was perfect for potatoes. It’s been a huge industry in Idaho ever since–they grow ⅓ of all US potatoes! Idaho is now officially “The Land of Famous Potatoes,” and the potato is their state vegetable.
Apparently that “state vegetable” thing is pervasive, because when I asked my Idahoan sister which vegetable to make for this meal, she said potatoes! My dad always taught us that potatoes were a starch, not a veggie, but she legitimately couldn’t think of any other vegetable. So this ended up being a pretty starchy, greasy meal, but I’m not complaining!
It took me a while to decide which kind of potatoes to make. There must be a thousand ways to prepare them, and I like most kinds! French fries and mashed potatoes are probably the most popular ways to make potatoes in Idaho, but since I didn’t make any cheesy potatoes for Utah last time, I settled on cheesy scalloped potatoes.
Another milestone thanks to this challenge: I used a mandolin! And I didn’t slice my fingers off! Hooray!! Thank goodness my mom had a finger guard to use with her mandolin–it was so sharp that when I first started, I thought it wasn’t working! It wasn’t until I turned it over to see what was wrong that I saw the little pile of perfect potato slices underneath. It was by far the sharpest blade I’ve ever handled.
I sliced the potatoes REALLY thin, then layered them with a creamy sauce, diced ham, and shredded sharp cheddar cheese. They took about an hour and a half to bake, and I probably could have baked them even longer–if my potato slices hadn’t been so thin, they would’ve needed more time to be truly tender. The recipe said to bake them uncovered for the last little while, but when the time was up and I saw that the cheese on top was melted but not browned, I had a spark of inspiration and turned on the broiler to get the top really toasty. I know that’s a really basic thing to do, but I’m proud of myself for thinking to do it. Watching all those cooking shows is paying off!
These potatoes were creamy and cheesy and starchy, but because of the layers and thin slices, they seemed lighter and more fancy than they really were. They were a good crowd-pleaser and easily fed all seven of us with a little left over. 9/10–Would make again.
FLAKY POTATO ROLLS
This meal didn’t really need more carbs, but I like making bread, and I wanted to try a new recipe. Plus, I wanted to include blueberry jam and needed something to put it on. PLUS, when is a better time to make potato flake rolls than in a meal representing a state that loves potatoes??
These rolls were a big hit! They turned out soft and fluffy yet chewy, thanks to the secret ingredient: mashed potato flakes. They have a distinct potato smell and a bit of the taste of potato flakes, but it wasn’t overwhelming. Trust me, I would tell you if it was, because I HATE instant mashed potatoes. LOATHE them. The taste and texture makes me gag, to the point that I held my breath while handling them for this recipe. It goes back to my childhood–I can’t explain it.
Anyway, I used Idahoan-brand potato flakes, of course, and they made great rolls! They were good with just a little butter, but we also enjoyed them with wild blueberry jam. They probably would’ve been great with some maple honey butter too!
There’s a little more to this story, though:
This meal involved a lot of roll-making practice, because the first batch I made was a terrible disappointment. I’m still not sure what happened–I’m generally really good at making rolls–but the recipe I found promised light, fluffy rolls, and what I got were lumps of gray dough too hard on the top and too raw on the bottom. I think the recipe was just badly written? Whatever happened, they were gross, and I was sad. I almost tried to salvage them, but they were so ugly and gross that I knew they would just annoy me if I put them with the rest of the meal.
So I scrambled and found a new recipe that also involved mashed potato flakes, and these ones turned out much better, and–one thing I forgot to mention–they were quick. If you want to whip up some delicious rolls in just a couple of hours, this is the recipe for you!
As frustrating as that was to have to scrap a dozen rolls and make another dozen in a short amount of time, it was really good practice! I’m very proud of how evenly I divided the dough to shape the rolls, and it was a satisfying exercise, especially when they turned out to be the fluffy, golden rolls I was hoping to get with the first recipe.
WILD BLUEBERRY JAM
I said before that I wanted to include blueberry jam with the rolls, but actually, I wanted to include huckleberry jam. Huckleberries are Idaho’s state fruit and grow abundantly there because they thrive at high elevation. Going into this, I felt like huckleberry was a pretty common flavor in jams and syrups and things.
But when I tried to find frozen huckleberries to make my own jam, there were none to be found. And when I resolved to just go with store-bought huckleberry jam, I couldn’t find that either! It was bizarre! For a berry common in the Rocky Mountains, it sure is hard to find out of season! I thought for sure it would be canned or frozen, at least. But all I could find was a 3-lb bag on Amazon for $50!
So I substituted Bonne Maman wild blueberry jam instead. Huckleberries are closely related to blueberries, and blueberries grow in Idaho, too, so it seemed like an okay replacement. Sorry, everyone, that huckleberries didn’t work out! If I ever find any, I’ll try to make the huckleberry jam recipe I was planning on.
ROOT BEER
I couldn’t really figure out what an iconic Idaho drink would be. I originally wanted to do huckleberry juice, but again, I couldn’t find any huckleberries… When I Googled popular beverages in Idaho, the only thing that came up was beer. My sister confirmed that beer is the most popular beverage there. But since I don’t drink, she suggested that I just go with root beer. I don’t know if this particular brand is even found in Idaho, but I chose it because it kind of looked like a beer bottle. 🙂
Someday, I will make root beer myself, I promise!
ICE CREAM POTATOES
Isn’t this dessert so cute??
I know these aren’t a common Idaho dessert (my sister had never heard of them), but I decided to go big on the potato theme. 🙂
Ice cream potatoes were created by Lou Aaron of the Westside Drive-In in Boise, Idaho. He’s been making them for over 40 years, and they’re a big hit at the Western Idaho Fair, where he sells over 10,000 in just over a week!
As I mentioned before, my original plan was to make this entire meal with my sister’s family in Idaho, but I ended up having to cancel. I contemplated just making this dessert for myself and putting it with the rest of the meal, but I was so sad that I didn’t have my niece and nephews there with me to make them. So instead, I asked my sister to put these together for me with her kids on my behalf!
They loved it! It’s really simple to make these, but they end up looking so delightful!
All you need to do to make your own ice cream potatoes is freeze vanilla ice cream in the shape and size of potatoes, then roll them in cocoa powder and top them with dyed shredded coconut to look like cheese, a dollop of whipped cream as sour cream, green sprinkles as chives, chopped licorice as bacon, and a yellow Starbust as a pat of butter!
I’m still amazed at how my sister managed to make that shredded coconut look EXACTLY like cheese.
I’m still sad that I wasn’t able to make these potatoes with my sister’s family, but I’m so glad that they still got to have fun with them! I’ll be keeping this recipe in mind for April Fool’s Day dessert ideas.
CONCLUSION
This meal was pretty simple to put together, and it turned out to be a delicious lunch for me and my family. Even though the finger steaks weren’t my favorite, I enjoyed making and eating them, and I probably would make them again for dinner guests who love steak.
But boy, between the fried steak, cheesy potatoes, and dense rolls, this meal settled like a rock in my gut. I took Riza for an hour-long walk shortly after, and it was not fun. Would not recommend. And this was without us eating dessert! Riza would’ve had to drag me home if I’d done that!
So how’d I do? Let me know in the comments if you have any suggestions for improvement, and be sure to tune in next time for my take on a meal inspired by Wyoming! If that’s where you’re from, what do you think I should make to represent your state? Bonus points if you have reliable recipes or pro tips before I make the attempt! Thank you for reading!