{ FOOD & DRINK } 'NEW FLAVOR' OUR FOOT: FRY , A REGIONAL CULINARY DELIGHT, IS IN THE NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT

By JENNIFER K. BAUER • [email protected]

he company sparked an international internee temper tantrum lase month when it announced the potential launch of a new product: Mayochup. Heinz plugged ir as a new thing, a pre-made combo of ketchup and . Those of us in the western United Scares know it's norT a new thing. Ir's our beloved . Internee outrage poured our. There were those appalled at the idea of mixing ketchup and mayo. Others cried cultural appropriation. A Washington Pose srory listed multiple Latin American countries laying claim to the invention of fry sauce, &om where its legend begins in the 1920s as " golf," to Puerto Rico, whose residents call it "my-oh-ketchup." In Costa Rica, , and Venezuela it's called "salsa rosada" or "pink sauce." Germany has a version called rott weiss, which translates to "red-white." But probably those who cried fouJ loudest were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saines, who widely uphold &y sauce as a Mormon invention. According to this version of the origin story, the was PUBLIC DOMAIN invented by a Salt Lake City chef and Mormon named Don Carlos Joseph Smith receiving the golden plates. Edwards. Edwards got his start selling burgers at a stand at a Pioneer Day celebrarion in 1924 (Pioneer Day being the official Utah holiday commemorating the arrival of Brigham Young and the first Mormon pioneers to the Salt Lake Valley). Edwards' success grew into his Utah-based restaurant, Arctic Circle, Let there be fry sa~ce which opened in 1950. Fry sauce and kids' meals with a toy were two of his inventions, according ro the website for the chain, which now spans A speculative history on its origins six western states. Ics fry sauce recipe is a closely guarded secret. This is how fry sauce first came to our neck of the woods. hose of us who love &y sauce some other things the angel cold In 1958, Howard and Bethel Sharp, members of the LDS church, can't gee enough of it. Bur him about, to translate ·the Book of opened an Arctic Circle in Clarkston. In the 1970s, they opened Sharp's Tin the midst of pracrically Mormon. Unforrunatdy for those Burger Ranch in Lewiston. The Clarkston restaurant was later renamed drinking your fries slathered with us seeking proof today, he returned Sharp's, and to this day Sharp's is renowned for its fry sauce, which, anyone pink sauce, have you ever won­ the plates co Maroni, so they're nor who has eaten at both places can tell you, tastes a lot like Arctic Circle's. dered who invented it? available for public view­ People are now debat­ ing, so it's also possible ing this very issue. The they included a recipe e TH REGIO S BES FRY SAUCE Mormons claim it's their for &y sauce. That would We asked Inland 360 Facebook fans where they go for the best fry contriburion to cuJinary have been kept secret, sauce. Here's the top six, ranked by popularity, starting with the history, crediting one of of course, until the right No. 1 hands-down winner, Sharp's Burger Ranch . their own, Don Carlos time and place came for The post was viewed by nearly 5,000 Edwards, founder of it to be revealed. people. the Arcric Circle restau­ That time and place 1. Sharp's Burger Ranch, Lewiston and rant. As the story goes, was possibly the moment Clarkston sometime in the 1940s FAKE NEWS Edwards thought ro 2. Cougar Country Drive In, Pullman Edwards mixed some combine ketchup, mayo 3. Zany Graze, Lewiston ketchup, mayo and Stirring and whatever other 4. Zip's Drive In, Moscow and Lewiston pickle juice together, and Mayhim ingredient it is that 5. Humble Burger, Moscow the condiment was born. launched &y sauce into 6. Seasons Bites & Bu1gers, Lewiston Bur then he changed the recipe, the realm of heavenly concocrions. and now it's a secret. However, there's another ver­ Any historian knows there's sion that may be more likely, and always more to the story, espe­ that is that traveling Mormon Fry sauce aficionados know there is more to addictive fry sauce cially when che word "secret" is missionaries brought the idea back than just ketchup and mayonnaise. There's usually another Ingredi­ involved. Thar's why I went in to Utah. Argentinians also lay ent, and at some restaurants that is a closely guarded secret. search of the condiment's true claim to inventing the condiment. Here's a list of some of the most common additions and some sus­ origins, which I now suspect Their story dates back to 1925 picions. What do you think? reach back to the beginnings of when a bored teen named Luis the church, when Joseph Smith Federico Leloir blended ketchup, • Pickle juice • Butte·rmilk (Many claim this is the discovered the golden plates. mayo, cognac and Tabasco and · · • Lemon juice secret ingredient used by Arctic Circle.) According co church history, the called it . It became one • • · INLAND 360/IENNIFER K. BAUER places were revealed .to Smith in of the-country's favorite dips. • • Crack Sharp's fry sauce was overwhelming voted the best in an unofficial 360 Facebook poll. Palmyra, N.Y, by an angel named Leloir later won the :Nobel Prize, • You fill in the blank: ______Maroni. Smith used the r,lates, and although for a different reason.

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