Gunnar's recent chili post (http://milescity.com/foru...0540#10749) reminded me that the "Food, Dining, Restaurants & Bars Forum" seems to be lacking some of those great Montana recipes which need to be shared.

Since everything has to start somewhere, I figured I might spark some interest by posting the following "Finger Steaks" recipe that my grandmother clipped out of the Billings Gazette back in 1984.

I tried it out, and it was pretty good. The original was printed as follows:

--/snip,snip/--

Dear Joyce: Here's my recipe for Finger Steaks. I usually make several recipes and keep on hand in freezer for quick company dinners.

FINGER STEAKS

Cut 1 1/2 pound round steak, tenderized according to directions on tenderizer container, into 4x1 inch strips. Make seasoned flour:

    1 cup flour
    2 tsp. salt
    2 pinches garlic salt
    1 tsp. cayenne pepper

Coat strips of meat with seasoned flour. Dip in batter made of:

    1/2 cup milk
    1 well-beaten egg

Then dip again in seasoned flour. Place on floured cookie sheet and freeze. Freeze these even if you intend on using them that same day as it keeps coating on the meat when it fries.

When ready to serve, fry in deep fat at 350 degrees until brown. Need not thaw first. Peg Woolston, Billings.

Dear Peg: Thanks for the recipe.

Don't forget to mix a little bit of horseradish sauce into ketchup for dipping the steaks in before consuming.

My finger steak recipe is very similar, except (1) the second coating I dip the steak into bread crumbs and (2) I use venison.

These sound yummy! Is this s regional food? I've never heard of it before. I write about different cuisines at http://www.foodvirgin.com, and would love to know more about where this dish comes from.

It comes from needing to eat and having a lot of animals around not doing anything productive...

I will say I was always amazed by the finger steak phenomenom. I've been on 5 continents and visited God knows how many countries, and all but 5 of the United States and aside from Montana there were only THREE places I found finger steaks served.

Everytime an establishment would have chicken fingers but no one managed to make the next logical leap and do the same with beef. Upon inquiry, I would always be given a strange look and a slight nod accompanied by a soft-spoken "yea, I guess that could work" and then the person would walk away.

On second thought, I think I'll establish a nation-wide finger steak chain and rule the world... or I'll go take a nap.

I don't think I have ever managed to come back to Miles City and be in town longer then 24 hours before heading to the Airport Inn.

[This message has been edited by J. Dyba (edited 6/29/2006).]

This recipe is very similar to the steak strips that the pack in Miles City makes. They actually distribute them to big suppliers out of Montana and North Dakota, who in turn distribute them to restaurants. You can also get them in grocery stores.

I worked for the company that started selling the finger steaks other places than Airport inn back in 1968. The process used freshly cut strips of beefsteak approximately 3-4 inches long and 2 inches wide. The freshly cut meat was kneaded into a flour mixture with a large jar of Lawrey's seasoning salt and some white pepper........not much. The floured strips were removed, shaken to remove excess flour, and dumped into an egg and milk batter.They were stirred to ensure all were coated with milk, and thrown into a drainer. They were tossed back into the flour mix and kneaded thoroughly, We took them from the flour and patted them flat an large cookie sheets. The sheets were sent to the freezer for 24 hours, then removed from the freezer, popped off of the sheets and packed in 25 lb. boxes. Freezing them rather than using them fresh allowed them to stay moister while cooking.

They're all over the place down here in Boise...

Jeez........Now I have to eat again!

This recipe looks interesting to me. Some guests are coming to my home this weekend I will cook this recipe for them and will then share my reviews regarding the recipe.

Tom Pettigrew tried promoting them nationally when he first took over the Airport Inn. Rotarians or Kiwanis or somebody took them to a big national convention to try to sell them. For whatever reason, they just never caught on.

Flour, season salt, thyme, black pepper and a pinch of cayenne pepper is my go-to steak strip flavor combination. Make some gravy using 1/4 of the drippings, 1/4 c of the flour mix that you used to coat the strips and milk to your desired thickness. DELICIOUS!
I typically measure with the heart so just add more/less as you see fit!