Dinner Tonight: Chicken Fried Steak with Cream Gravy
I'm not sure exactly where the urge came from, or even whether I've had chicken fried steak in the past decade, but for some reason a week ago it started to sound really good. For help I turned to Lisa Fain of the Homesick Texan (also our Serious Salsa bureau chief), whose love for the dish is impressive. "While many foods hold sway over my heart, none (except for my beloved refried beans) reigns supreme more than chicken-fried steak." Can't argue with that.
The name comes from the cooking process. Simply, it's breaded and cooked in much the same way you would make fried chicken in a skillet. I have some experience with that. This isn't aggressive deep-fat frying, but the more gentle art of frying over moderate heat in a skillet. Think a lazy afternoon and not the back of a fast food restaurant. It takes longer, but the outside becomes perfectly crisp and crunchy, while the inside remains wonderful juicy. It's an incredible transformation.
The beef is top round, which is pounded very thin with a meat mallet before being dredged and fried. Round is the perfect choice, not because it's terribly tender and flavorful, but precisely because it is neither. Pounding the living daylights out of it and then frying it in oil adds some life to this boring cut. The cream gravy is also another example of remarkably cheap ingredients (flour and milk) transforming into something luscious and decadent. I'll be having this again very soon.
Chicken Fried Steak
- serves 4 to 6 -
Adapted from The Homesick Texan
Ingredients
1 1/2 pound top-round steak, cut into 4 even pieces
2 cups flour
3 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning
2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
Vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups milk
Procedure
1. Preheat the oven to 200°F. Using a meat mallet, flatten each of the pieces of round until they are roughly 1/4 inch thick and twice as wide. Be careful not to break them apart. If you don't have a a meat mallet, a rolling pin or a heavy iron skillet might work, too.
2. In one large bowl mix together the flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon black pepper, and the cayenne. In another bowl whisk together the buttermilk and eggs.
3. Pour enough vegetable oil into an iron skillet to come up halfway up the side. Turn the heat to medium.
4. Add one piece of the flattened meat to the flour mixture and toss until coated. Remove, shake off excess flour, dip into the egg mixture, and then toss back in the flour.
5. When the oil is hot, remove the beef from the flour mixture and then gently slide into the skillet. Cook for four minutes, or until the bottom has turned a nice golden brown, and then flip and cook for another 4 minutes. When done, transfer the chicken-fried steaks to a wire rack set in the oven to keep warm. Repeat the dredging and frying process with the rest of the pieces of beef.
6. Now it's time to make the gravy. Remove all but 2 tablespoons of the oil from the skillet. Set the pan over medium heat and add two tablespoons of the flour from the dredging process. Stir constantly with a whisk until the roux starts to turn a dark chocolate brown.
7. Turn the heat to low, and slowly stir in the milk, making sure to get rid of any of the clumps of flour. Season with salt and plenty of pepper and cook until slightly thickened. It should easily coat the back of a spoon. You can thin it out by adding some more milk or water.
8. Serve the chicken-fried steak with the cream gravy right on top.
View other entries from Dinner Tonight.
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
36 Comments:
I've never had chicken fried steak. Might just have to try this.
lexophile at 5:35PM on 08/05/09
My recipe is similar but easier. I use cube steaks. So easy, so tender! And for my gravy, I whisk the flour into the milk and then add it to the drippings in the pan. It's just quicker and easier that way.
Trilby at 5:49PM on 08/05/09
A couple of decades ago, when I was a young guy in California, I asked a girl I was attracted to what her favorite food was. Her reply, chicken fried steak, sent me running in the other direction. What?!--not lobster, not sushi, not even something Mexican, but some oddball fried Southern thing?
I guess if one grew up with the dish, it's comfort food. Otherwise, the name alone--is it chicken, is it steak, and why fry a steak?--is enough to turn people off. Now that I live in the South I see it more often, and although in my older and more tolerant years I no longer find the idea revolting or slap an "ignorant redneck" label on people who like it, I still won't eat the stuff.
Lorenzo at 5:53PM on 08/05/09
OMG!!! This is absolutely one of my favorite comfort foods!!! You don't find this at too many restaurants (at least not in my neck of the woods) so we make this at home occasionally!
It is delicious so to those who haven't tried it, please do! You won't be disappointed! Oh and that doesn't look like the traditional cream gravy usually served with it-it should be white!
jlewfoodie at 5:57PM on 08/05/09
It's the national food of Texas.
mrbadideasdotcom at 6:18PM on 08/05/09
My husband adores chicken fried steak. Fortunately, there are A LOT of restaurants in Cleveland that serve it. He orders it at least once at every restaurant we go to that serves it.
I'm forwarding this to him so he can make some some time. :)
Cassaendra at 6:41PM on 08/05/09
One of my husbands hands down favorites. Not exactly healthy, but oh, sooo good. Add a dab of butter to that frying oil......for flavor, of course.
;oP
CJ McD at 6:44PM on 08/05/09
Chicken Fried Steak is the official comfort food of both Texas and Oklahoma...simply the best dish ever. Cubed Steak???? Please!!! Sacrilege!!!! It has to be round steak put through a tenderizer at least twice. Mashed potatoes, cream gravy, a side of pinto beans and God'll move in and call it home! A cast iron skillet is almost mandatory, but it can be done with a modern skillet as long as it's heavy.
sticky wicket at 6:44PM on 08/05/09
As a child when my dad would order chicken fried steak, I really thought that somehow parts of a chicken were flattened enough to be wrapped around the steak and then fried. Sounds like a Paula Dean concoction, perhaps?
July at 6:57PM on 08/05/09
Paula Dean told Bobby Flay that Chicken Fried Steak is served with a white cream gravy and Country Fried Steak (not sure of the dif) is served with the "beige" gravy pictured.
bessfour at 7:27PM on 08/05/09
Sticky wicket - cubed steak IS round steak, run thru a tenderizer, at least twice.
RKBill at 7:56PM on 08/05/09
@bessfour: Holy crap, I read that 4 times before I saw the difference between "chicken" and "country." :D
Cassaendra at 8:25PM on 08/05/09
My boyfriend thought that chicken fried steak was made of dark meat chicken for the first two years he lived in Texas. One day, a friend of his pointed out that it was actually steak. He was very surprised.
sandn8r9 at 9:06PM on 08/05/09
I adore chicken fried steak! There was a recent article about it in Saveur (maybe in the Texas issue?). I love the tradition, the history, and the family element of it -- what a great comfort food. My favorite chicken fried steak story is that when my grandmother, who does not eat red meat, first came to America, she ordered items off the menu that said "chicken." Imagine her surprise when chicken fried steak arrived at the table. I guess her reaction is the stuff of legends!
fanghsing at 10:02PM on 08/05/09
Try it for breakfast. Toss some par-boiled chunks of potato into the oil after the steak is done but before making the gravy and fry until crisp. Then pour the gravy over the whole thing. Add a couple of eggs on the side. And some toast, for mopping up the remaining sauce.
NotAmerican at 10:46PM on 08/05/09
NotAmerican, you must've lived here at some point in your life to know about CFS for breakfast, unless it has Brit lineage.
betteirene at 2:30AM on 08/06/09
I don't use eggs in the buttermilk dip, just a plain cup of buttermilk with a fair sprinkle of pepper, and then I add what's left in the pie plate to make the gravy.
betteirene at 2:34AM on 08/06/09
@bette; Grew up mostly in Chicago, and also lived in DC for a few years.
NotAmerican at 3:09AM on 08/06/09
I. LOVE. Chicken Fried Steak. It's quite possibly what I miss the absolute most about living in the great state of Texas. I've been meaning to try Homesick Texan's recipe for a while now, but I've never actually made this on my own....so maybe I'll get over my smidgen of intimidation and finally try my hand at it! Thanks for the nudge of inspiration. :)
misplacedtexan at 9:51AM on 08/06/09
I'm originally from Oklahoma, but I've been in DC for 25 years now. I've often made CFS for people who have never had it. They always love it. I use cubed stake too. It's easier, just as good, and I often pick them up on sale. This is a great comfort food.
edritch at 9:53AM on 08/06/09
Oops, I obviuosly meant cubed STEAK.
edritch at 10:16AM on 08/06/09
My basic recipe is fairly similar except that my preferred fat is lard in which I also fry crumbled breakfast sausage to make the gravy base.
JungMan at 2:46PM on 08/06/09
LOOOOOOVE chicken fried steak!!
caramel at 7:56PM on 08/06/09
Chicken/Country Fried Steak is so awesome.
I think my recipe is almost identical to this. Except I start with cubed steak and also pound it some more. So good and so inexpensive.
@sticky wicket & @RKBill: LOL.
wunami at 12:19AM on 08/07/09
this is my all time favorite comfort food! i learned to make it when i was 12 years old, gravy n all. been spreading the good word ever since. if you havent made this for yourself yet it's imperative, none other will ever compare once you've perfected it for yourself.
octopussy at 1:41AM on 08/07/09
Chicken Fried Steak almost makes me wish I came from Texas. I mean, what's not to love? Meat, covered with fried chicken crispiness, topped with cream gravy.
chisai at 2:11AM on 08/09/09
We eat this in Puerto Rico, but without the gravy!!
staria at 9:14PM on 08/09/09
lorenzo, thank you so much for not calling me an "ignorant redneck" because i enjoy chicken fried steak, what a wonderfully forgiving bigot you are.
olddad at 9:47AM on 08/10/09
Having grown up in Texas, CFS with cream gravy, mashed potatoes, and fried okra (end it all with peach cobbler and BlueBell Homemade Vanilla) just screams childhood and comfort. One of my favorite memories is of making the whole spread for my housemates while I was an intern in New Hampshire - talk about cultural immersion!
absenteetexan at 10:35PM on 08/10/09
I add a heaping teaspoon of Bacon Grease to oil for the flavour! And make the Gravy in a clean pan with bacon grease, cake flour, and half-and-half! Make the roux a medium biege for Cream Gravy.
I've been known to buy bacon to cook down for the fat.
boomer53 at 1:48AM on 08/11/09
You can get your REAL butcher to put the cuts thru his cube machine. Hence the term - cube steak. Make this stuff all the time. Ate it all the way to Alaska. Only real version in Texas. Many others pre-breaded and frozen Yuk.
simplejew at 9:41PM on 08/11/09
Sorry, but cubed steak is NOT the same as round steak. Not to be argumentative, but to be authentic CFS, you have to buy a big slab of round steak, have the butcher run it through the tenderizer twice, cut the result into pieces, then proceed. Cubed steak is a pre-formed, frozen and, in my opinion, too thin piece of meat, often time formed from chopped up meat. I know this because my mmother used to worl for Wilson & Co. Meat Processing and cube steaks were one of their products.
sticky wicket at 1:42AM on 08/12/09
Yes, simplejew....some people call that a cube steak. The one I am referring to is the pre-formed, froen things.
sticky wicket at 1:43AM on 08/12/09
I too love this dish but call it Country Fried Steak. My mother used to make it, and always sauteed some bacon as the base of the cream sauce. Living in Florida, it's often on breakfast menus. Then the problem is I have to choose between Country Fried Steak and Sausage Gravy over biscuits--another addiction. Just recently I found the right restaurant on Merritt Island--it serves Country Fried Steak and Sausage Gravy IS the topping--wonderful. Biscuit on the side so I get it all. a new version--best I've ever had out --at a restaurant on Merritt Island. They use sausage gravy for the topping. [I note one responder
aurora89 at 12:03PM on 08/12/09
I too adore COUNTRY Fried Steak. My mother (right out of Sweden) adopted it early and made it for us with bacon as the sauteed starter for the cream sauce. Minute steaks are too thin -- has to be round steaks pounded (my mom pounded with the side of a saucer). One responder above has the best idea--starting it with crumbled sausage. Only a month or so ago, I discovered a breakfast restaurant on Merritt Island (Florida) where I do not have to choose between Country Fried Chicken and (another Southern Food Addiction) Sausage Gravy over Biscuits, for they put sausage cream gravy OVER their wonderful country fried chicken! And you get a big oversize biscuit on the side. My gosh, I think I'll go right over and get it today. Maggy
aurora89 at 12:09PM on 08/12/09
I just made this recipe with cubed steak. I know we've discussed that its probably sacreligious to not use round steaks, but that's what I had on hand! I pounded it a little too thin, but the breading was absolutely perfect. And the cream gravy...yum! I made it with lemony green beans and it was the perfect meal. Does anyone ever make this to eat with grits?
alexandrapace at 8:54PM on 08/25/09