Basque culture — and food — are right at home in Idaho

BOISE — Victoria Fitzgerald loves her Basque heritage and looks forward each year to the traditional day when her Basque friends and neighbors gather to make morcilla — also known as blood sausage.

But she realizes it might have little appeal to non-Basques. "It's kind of gruesome because you have a tub of sheep's blood," says the 32-year-old, whose Irish-American husband nevertheless loves morcilla.

So the couple is lucky to live in one of the few areas of the country where access to traditional Basque ingredients is good.

Though it's been over a century since the Basques emigrated to Idaho from the mountainous Basque region in Spain and France in search of sheepherding jobs, their culture — and especially their foods — remain a strong influence in the region.

Some 15,000 Basques call Idaho home, one of the largest populations in the country. In and around Boise, there are Basque restaurants, dancing classes, a food market, social clubs, even a Basque-language preschool and games of native Basque sports.

And at the Boise Basque Center, a meeting place for Basques, Fitzgerald (maiden name Urresti) helps make blood sausage, ensuring a steady supply for her husband. "I actually have them in my freezer. You put salt on them and eat them on bread."

Basque food isn't significantly different from the Spanish and French food around it. The small region has 110 miles of coast, which has contributed generous amounts of seafood to the cuisine.

Dan Ansotegui, who owns a Basque bar and restaurant in Boise called Gernika and teaches weekly Basque cooking classes at Boise State University, says the Basques have put their own spin on many dishes traditional to the wider region.

For example, they have their own way of cooking baby inkfish in their own ink, and a particular way of serving salt cod. Lamb also is common, seasoned with olive oil. And as in Spain, paella is popular. So are baguettes from the French side.

Ansotegui's Gernika always serves beef tongue on Sundays, prepared in a traditional Basque pepper sauce. But there's nothing that grows in Basque country that doesn't grow elsewhere in Europe, said Ansotegui (pronounced an-SAH-teh-ghee).

"It's more the techniques" that are slightly different, he says. Meat is almost always well done, and spices are used very sparingly. Some of the best culinary schools in Europe are now in Basque cities like Bilbao and San Sebastian, he adds.

During one of his recent classes, Ansotegui drew his menu from his grandmother's repertoire — roast lamb with white wine sauce, calamari strips with a spicy sauce and Idiazabal (a Spanish sheep's milk cheese) potatoes gratin.