Utah has a claim to fame other than Mormons and The Osmonds. It's fry sauce. The pinkish concoction has been around for more than 50 years and is the states condiment of choice for French fries.The stuff is so popular at home and in fast-food spots that there was a fry sauce pin made for the 2002 Olympics. The basic recipe for fry sauce is simple: one part ketchup to two parts mayonnaise. Of course there are numerous variations on the coral-colored condiment. Some restaurants add salt, spices, garlic, relish, horseradish and even pickle juice.
As with many flavors that have captured the public's palate, there's a secret recipe. Gary Roberts, president of Arctic Circle restaurants, which claims to have invented fry sauce in 1948, keeps his fry sauce formula in a safe.
Utah, however, no longer leads the country in fry sauce consumption. Washington and Oregon now consume more of the stuff than the state where it originated. Go figure.
1-20-2007 @2:15PM Kalyn said... Imagine my surprise when I'm reading Slashfood and see the word "Utah" and "fry sauce" pop out at me. Indeed, it's quite a thing around here. Among my family and friends, the fry sauce from Hire's Hamburgers is considered to be the best. Dill pickle juice is our favored addition, although a number of places add just a smidgen of barbecue sauce.
I take my nieces and nephews to Hires whenever they visit Salt Lake, and we always get extra fry sauce, so it's a kid pleaser too.
Many Utah burger joints also put a little of some similar type of "sauce" on their hamburgers. This week is the Sundance Film Festival here, so you have to wonder if there are any movie stars at Hires Hamburgers discovering the great fry sauce.
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1-20-2007 @2:32PM DanGarion said... Oh you mean thousand island dressing?
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1-20-2007 @2:38PM MJ said... Is Hires the one that has kept their grease fo 50 years????????know for their hamburgers. Anyway I have been making this sauce for years! Wow....mines good too!
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1-20-2007 @3:47PM AVB said... Yep, this was Thousand Island Dressing when we grew up, too. Sometmes a smidge of pickle relish or juice; sometimes some beet juice; sometimes some seasoned salt, but basically, Mayo-Ketchup was our Thousand Island Dressing for burgers and salads (and later, I heard this is actually Russian Dressing, by adding some chopped egg).
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1-20-2007 @6:04PM kelly said... hey mj that would be Dyers hamburgers in Memphis,,and their grease is supposedly 92 years old....hmmmm.?
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1-20-2007 @6:19PM MJ said... Hey, thanks kelly! Also this sauce to me doesnt tatse like thousand island, not sweet enough. I also love the red russian dressing by wishbone I grew up on very sweet,but good never could make it from scratch though.
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