Country Fried Steak -- any recipes? (UPDATE, post #13)

[Behind the Aegis]

Last edited Fri May 3, 2013, 12:19 AM - Edit history (1)

Yes, I know, I am a bad Southerner, but I don't know how to make this dish. Anyone have any good recipes (links to food websites are good as long as they are really descriptive)? This will be my first attempt!

[freshwest]

1. I'll take a stab at it:

Chicken Fried Steak

Yield: 4 servings
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes

For the Steaks:

1½ pounds top-round steak
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 eggs
½ cup buttermilk
Vegetable oil, for frying

For the Sawmill Gravy:

¼ pound breakfast sausage
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1½ cups whole milk
Salt and black pepper, to taste

1. Cut the top-round steak into four pieces. Working with one piece at a time, place on a sturdy cutting board or clean countertop, cover with a large piece of plastic wrap, and pound the beef with a meat tenderizer until flattened and almost doubled in size (you want the meat to be about ¼-inch thick). Repeat with the remaining pieces. Sprinkle pieces of beef with salt and black pepper.

2. In a large, shallow bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper. In another large, shallow bowl, whisk together the eggs and the buttermilk. Take a piece of the tenderized meat and dip it in the egg mixture. Next, place the meat in the bowl of seasoned flour. Turn to coat it thoroughly. Place the meat back into the egg mixture, turning to coat. Finally, return it back to the flour mixture, ensuring that it is evenly coated on both sides. Place on a clean baking sheet and repeat with the remaining pieces of meat.

3. In a large, 12-inch cast iron skillet, heat ½ inch of vegetable oil over medium-high heat until a small fleck of flour dropped in the pan sizzles. Carefully place one or two pieces of the meat (whatever fits comfortably without overcrowding) into the skillet. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the blood starts bubbling out of the top of the steak. Using a pair of tongs, gently turn over the steaks and cook for 5 more minutes. Remove the steaks to a cooling rack to drain while you finish frying the remaining steaks. You can place the cooked steaks in a 200-degree oven to keep warm.

4. Finally, make the sawmill gravy. (You can start this in another pan while the last piece of steak is cooking.) In a skillet over medium heat, cook the sausage until browned, crumbling it as it cooks. With a slotted spoon, remove the sausage from the skillet and place on a plate. Drain the oil from the pan, reserving 2 tablespoons in the skillet (if your sausage didn't yield enough drippings, you can use vegetable oil to get to the 2 tablespoons). Sprinkle the flour over the drippings, and whisk together, cooking for about 2 minutes, until a dark roux is formed. Add the milk slowly to the skillet, whisking continuously. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue whisking until the mixture is thickened, about 2 more minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in the reserved sausage, and season to taste with salt and black pepper. (If the gravy is too thick, you can thin it by whisking in more milk, a tablespoon at a time.)

5. Serve the steaks with the sawmill gravy poured over top.

Note: You can purchase cube steak, which is already-tenderized cuts of round steak, and omit step 1 up until the last line - be sure to still season with salt and pepper!

(Recipe adapted from The Homesick Texan Cookbook)

http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2012/05/17/chicken-fried-steak-with-sawmill-gravy/print/

I'd start with the cube steak and use the drippings from frying the steak to make the gravy, myself. I never made it at home, always got it eating out. But now the restaurants are pushing these already made up frozen patties that are... well, not quite.

It's much like making southern fried chicken if you have recipe for battering that, it'll probably work. I made mine using flour, milk, Lawry's seasoned pepper, with ground sage, rosemary, thyme, marjoram and parsley. A lot of sage and thyme tastes right to me. If you don't have any buttermilk, you can clabber some whole milk by adding lemon juice or vinegar until the milk thickens up.

There's even a Wikipedia page on Chicken Fried Steak:

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chicken_fried_steak&printable=yes

Hope this works out for you and yours. It's best when home made.

[Behind the Aegis]

2. Thanks! BUt, boy does that look complicated.

I do have pre-pared cube steak. I don't have buttermilk, but I do have lemon juice and vinegar, but I don't know "clabber" so I will look it up.

I appreciate it. I really do like CFS, so this ought to be a real adventure! LOL!

[freshwest]

3. Do you make fried chicken? You can treat it like that. Good luck!

[Behind the Aegis]

4. I am a bad, bad, BAD, Southern boy!

No, I have never made fried chicken. I was going to try that next. We'll see how it goes. Just pray/keep good thoughts I don't burn down the house!

[Laura PourMeADrink]

5. Here's an easy one that "no southerner can resist"

Haven't tried it, but it has good reviews and is simple. I am a Yankee living in Texas. We never had much fried food at all so I am very bad when I try to fry stuff. I have eaten fried chicken and chicken fried steak here and sometimes it's delicious but think people use lots of fat - like bacon fat or something. I tried to make cfs and it sucked. I do know one thing that's important - don't drain stuff on paper towels - it absorbs the fat - but then puts it back on the food too and it gets soggy. I finally bought a rack which is supposed to keep fried food crispy...but haven't tried it yet.


As Easy As It Gets Chicken-Fried Steak

Read more at: http://www.food.com/recipe/as-easy-as-it-gets-chicken-fried-steak-452212?oc=linkback

4 cube steaks (one for each of your diners)
1/3 cup flour
salt and pepper
1/4 cup milk
1 egg, beaten
1 1/4 cups dry bread, crumbs (panko may be used)
1/3 cup salad oil
Directions:

1 Mix the flour, salt and pepper together in a bowl; I use soup bowls. You may measure these, as I do, Rachael Ray style ~ in other words I eyeball the amounts. In a second bowl. whisk together the milk and egg until lemon colored. I a third bowl, add the dry bread crumbs. Line the bowls up assemble-line style.

2 Dredge the meat in the seasoned flour, knocking off excess. Dip floured meat in the egg and milk mixture, coating well. Then dredge in the bread crumbs, again, coating well.

3 Heat a cast-iron skillet (traditional but your own skillet will work) over medium-high heat. Add oil. When oil is hot enough to spit back at you if you sprinkle water on it, add meat and brown 2-1/2 minutes per side for rare, 4 minutes per side for medium and 6 minutes per side for well-done. Turn only once. As you see, this goes fast and the meat requires your full attention while cooking. Remove meat to a serving dish and keep warm.

[OriginalGeek]

20. As a guy who grew up in Texas

I can promise you the above recipe is worth learning.

Practice on your prepared cube steaks but then switch to top round that you flatten yourself - I always get gristle and stuff in pre-made cube steaks but i can control that better trimming top round steaks.


My only difference is that I like brown gravy - I miss the old Dallas restaurants that gave you a choice - I can't remember the name but I remember the beautiful chicken fried steak.

Don't get me weong, I love sawmill gravy too - i Just like the brown gravy with CFS.

And a couple bottles of Shiner Bock. That's my last meal right there. CFS, Mashed potatoes, corn and brown gravey with a keg of Shiner Bock.

Peach cobbler for dessert.

[dem in texas]

6. Don't use cubed steak

For chicken fried steak, use round steak and tenderize it yourself. Cube steak is not round steak, but an inferior cut of meat and has less flavor. When I make CFS, I use an old aluminum meat hammer that I have had for years. For an eating out experience, Babe's restaurants in the North Texas area make their chicken fried steak out of round steak and tenderize it right before cooking. If you are hungry for some good CFS and don't want to make it yourself, I recommend you give them a try.

[Major Nikon]

7. I live just a few miles from the original Babe's

Ive never been there. I guess I should go someday.

[Jazzgirl]

9. Babes. You will love it!

Some of the edit fried chicken too.

[Major Nikon]

8. I much prefer to use a needling tool and tenderize the cuts myself

I just get the butcher at the market to cut a bottom round roast into 1/2" slices with the grain. By the time I'm done needling the slices are about half their width. The advantage to doing you own needling is you season and lightly flour the meat beforehand and the needles force the flour and seasoning into the meat, which makes a much better final product. Using per-needled meat tends to make the breading separate from the meat when you start to slice into it.

[Lugnut]

10. I love country fried steak!

I've never made it though. I'm itching to try it one of these days.

[HappyMe]

11. So, how did it turn out?

Which recipe did you end up using?

[Behind the Aegis]

12. I chickened out!

I may try tomorrow; we shall see.

[Behind the Aegis]

13. UPDATE

OK, I tried it out. I used freshwest's recipe. It was a big ole mess. The outside was burned and I was afraid I didn't get the meat cooked correctly. I was so disheartened I didn't bother with the gravy. When my partner got home and saw it, he made a sandwich of it. He said it was really good, except for the outside being a bit overdone. I tasted it, and you know what? It did taste like country fried steak! So, not a raging success, but not the abysmal failure I thought it was. Any guesses as to why it burned?

[Major Nikon]

14. Most likely because the oil got too hot

If you are only cooking one at a time the oil can overheat pretty easily if the burner is turned up too much. As long as the meat is about 1/4" prior to breading it should take about 4 mins per side.

[Behind the Aegis]

15. That's what I figured.

If I am cooking on a traditional, electric stovetop, where do I need to set my dial? The recipe said medium high heat, which is what I did. What should the temperature be?

[freshwest]

16. Ooh, sorry! Did you leave it, turn the heat up high?

The cooking time was less than 10 minutes per piece, so it should have been cooked. As the instructions said, the oil had to be hot when you added the CFS to it, and only one turn.

I know it takes some getting used to when cooking with hot oil, it can be scary. Some people make this in a french fry cooker, with a basket, and close the top on it. That takes a lot more oil.

I think you were afraid it wasn't going to be cooked all the way through. But that's what part of the reasoning for tenderizing it, the CFS is thinner and cooks faster.

I have a SIL who always tenderized chicken breasts that way to cook them in a thin batter faster.

Now of course if you use the deep fryer, you won't be converting that to that gravy there. You can make a gravy just the same as you do with fried chicken, after it's done you remove the chicken or in this case, the CFS, and with a minimal amount of oil and the drippings from the frying, add your flour, milk, seasoning, etc. with perhaps some water to make sure it's not too dry.

I'll hunt around for a video for you and see if that makes the process simpler and safer for you.

[Behind the Aegis]

17. It is to my great shame...

...but, I do not know how to fry food in a skillet. One would think a Southern boy would know these things. I am not certain what temperature is the correct one. I had it at medium-high on my electric stovetop, I am guessing that was too hot. What should the temperature be? I do have a thermometer, so I can check to make sure it is not too hot. I didn't cover, except with a splatter guard.

[freshwest]

19. Just posted a video below, he makes it much easier. Temp, 375.

[freshwest]

18. This might work better for you:

Note how thin those steaks are. And the temperature. See that it is not burnt.

Also he says to put it in a heated oven to make sure it's done. If you are concerned about it being done, you could always cut the steak and check. Then cook a bit longer. The gravy will cover that up so it will still look good.

This is really much simpler and I'd skip the first recipe I found for you. Here is his cooking channel for more cooking videos:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ManlyKitchen?feature=watch

Let me know how it turns out! And what a sweet guy, he liked your cooking anyway! This will work!

[Kali]

21. Gramma's method (called cowboy steak in this house)

round steak, tenderized by butcher or with meat hammer (great for when you are feeling a tad angry)

cut into manageable pieces or even into "tenders/fingers" if you wish

salt and pepper (especially pepper - lots of pepper) both sides, and dredge in flour

fry in 1/2 to 3/4 inch of oil/crisco/lard - tastes especially delicious if there is some significant amount of bacon grease involved. search the tubes for proper frying technique or just keep practicing. Once you have burned the coating or soaked it with oil a time or two you will figure out the proper heat settings. don't crowd the pan.

when done cooking steaks, pour off most of the oil but leave all the little brown goodies and add an equal amount of fresh flour to oil (about a quarter cup of each should be good - stir and cook for a minute or so at low-med then add a couple of cups of milk (or cream if you are really insane) and stir until bubbly - serve over the steak and some mashed potatoes. Over-cooked canned green beans with onions and bacon are a good side for this indulgence.

YUM!!!!

[freshwest]

22. Good, simple and slicing into tenders will take care of BTA's worries about cooking thoroughly.

[japple]

23. My dear aunt Ida made it the same way (may she rest in peace)

Just pound that meat, dredge it in flour, season with salt and lots of pepper, and then pan fry it in a skillet of hot grease!!! It was love on a plate, esp. if that plate was heaped with mashed potatoes.