One of my favorite dishes growing up in Texas is chicken fried steak. This is a tenderized steak that’s been battered and fried like chicken. The steaks are tenderized by the butcher because traditionally it’s not a premium cut of meat and the tenderizing makes it easier to cut and chew. Battering and frying the steak and then covering it with a generous amount of cream gravy adds even more flavor to an ordinarily rather bland cut of beef. If you like this recipe, you can substitute chicken as long as you tenderize it by pounding it rather thin before battering and frying it.
Chicken Fried Steak
serves 2 – 4 depending on appetite
Ingredients
1.5lb Cube Steak
1 cu All Purpose Flour
1 tsp Black Pepper
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Onion Powder
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Oregano
1 cu Buttermilk
1 lg Egg
1 tbl Louisiana Hot Sauce
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Baking Powder
2 cu Vegetable Oil, or more depending on pan size
Cream Gravy
1/4 tbl Additional All Purpose Flour
2 cu Whole Milk
1 tsp Black Pepper
1/2 tsp Salt
Method
1 1/2 lb of cube steak may be portioned from the store in many different ways. You might get two large steaks or 3-4 smaller ones. Either way, this can serve two hungry eaters or 4 maybe not so hungry eaters. These steaks have usually been machine tenderized by the butcher and will have little perforations in the meat. I actually use pound them just bit thinner with a mallet or tenderizer once I get them home as well. That just assures that the cut and chew is as tender as possible.
The first step is to remove steaks from the refrigerator and let them rest for 30 minutes before preparing other ingredients.
In a large shallow bowl combine the flour, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and oregano. Set it aside. In a separate shallow bowl, combine buttermilk, egg, Louisiana hot sauce, baking soda and baking powder. The Louisiana hot sauce is optional, but I think you’ll find it adds a nice extra flavor without being hot.
Thoroughly dry the cube steaks with a paper towel. Dredge each steak separately in the flour mixture. Shake off any excess flour and then drip the steak in the buttermilk mixture and fully coat it. Shake off the excess liquid and then dredge the steak in the flour mixture again, being sure to thoroughly coat all sides of the steak. Set the steak on a plate and repeat with the remaining steaks.
Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan over medium high heat. Oil is hot enough when you sprinkle a pinch of flour into it and it sizzles. Carefully place 1 to 2 steaks in the oil and fry for 3-4 minutes per side. Do not overlap the steaks. Remove steaks and place them in a pan and cover with aluminum until ready to serve. Cook remaining steaks.
Drain the pan and then add back 1/4 cup of the oil. Whisk in 1/4 cup of flour. Continue to whisk for 2-3 minutes. Adjust the heat so that the mixture doesn’t burn. Then, while whisking, very slowly add in milk. Continue to whisk until gravy thickens, about 3 minutes. If gravy gets too thick, you can thin it a bit with more milk. Season the gravy with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper.
To serve, please steaks on individual serving plates and ladle gravy on top. Serve hot.