I’ve never had chicken fried steak before, although I’ve seen it in restaurants. I always wondered why it was called chicken fried if it was steak. When I received a couple of cube steaks in my meat box at the co-op, I decided to give it a try.
Now, I had no idea what cube steaks were. At first I wondered why I received cubed steaks as well as stew meat; after all, meat cut into cubes is stew meat, right? Turns out that cube steak is really just round steak that’s been put through a tenderizer, and it’s commonly used in Swiss steak and chicken fried steak. So I found a recipe and enlisted DH’s help (since it involved meat and deep frying, I figured his talents would be better than mine at this project!)
Recipe Source: The Commonsense Kitchen (sort of; we made a lot of adaptations)
Ingredients:
- 1 lb round steak (pounded thin with a mallet, or use or cubed steak)
- salt
- pepper
- cayenne pepper
- flour
- 1 C buttermilk (we used regular milk since we didn’t have buttermilk on hand)
- 2 C or so of oil for frying (can use coconut, safflower, peanut, vegetable, whatever)
- Pat the steaks dry with a paper towel. Salt and pepper generously. In shallow bowl, season the flour with salt, black pepper, and cayenne (DH didn’t measure, just eyeballed it. It turned out a bit spicy but was pretty good).
- In another shallow bowl, pour the milk. Dip the steaks in, dredge in flour, and let sit for awhile to let the coating set. (The original directions way to put on a rack set over a tray and refrigerate for about 30 minutes. We didn’t do this and it turned out just fine).
- In a large cast-iron skillet, fill halfway with oil and set it over medium-high. When the oil is hot, put the steaks in, careful not to crowd. Fry to a golden brown, a few minutes on each side. This is where an instant-read thermometer comes in handy. When finished, allow to cool and drain on a layer of paper towels.
- To make gravy, remove all but about 1/4 of the oil. Add a bit of flour and cook until golden; add milk and whisk together. (The Pioneer Woman gives a nice tutorial in her post on how to make chicken fried steak – although her steak recipe is a bit different).
The Verdict: Oh my word, whoever thought of this was a genius. I will never make fun of chicken fried steak again. It’s like crispy fried chicken goodness only with steak inside. And the gravy? DH has skills. He was a bit heavy-handed with the cayenne but that just made things interesting. Already he’s dreaming about future deep fried meat, possibly wrapped in bacon.
Dark Days Challenge Details: The steak was from the meat box from the co-op (S&S Lamb); the raw milk was from our herdshare (MI Green Pastures); we served it with mashed potatoes (Groundswell) and Delicata squash (Heidi’s Farm Stand) drizzled with raw honey (Michigan Bee Company; also from the co-op). I would love to find a local source for flour and oil. For more information about the Dark Days Challenge, check out Not Dabbling in Normal.
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I love Chicken Fried Steaks! Yes, you could have it in restaurants and KFC too! I would love to try your recipe. Thanks for sharing!
A couple of ideas… Zoye oil is produced in Zeeland and made from Michigan-grown soybeans. Further advantages in healthy nutrition profile and earth-friendly production values. Website http://www.zoyeoil.com has an informative video. (Easily found in local stores, I’m pretty sure.)
Jennings Bros. Stone Ground Grains, as you probably know through the Coop, hand-mills flours from heritage grains grown south of Hastings, near Nshville. Of course, you have to be willing to be “restricted” to using whole-grain flours, but it sounds like you frequently take that option, anyway…
Good luck on the challenge! You know, of course, that the folks at Kingma’s Market work really hard on sourcing as many Michigan-made products as possible, but is there a certain-mile radius you’re aiming for?
A less-expected source for MI foods might be The Shaker Messenger Gallery and Food Pantry in Holland. Originally a gallery for Shaker-style crafts, the owner, Diana Van Koklen, started carrying Shaker herbs from the Sabbathday Lake community in Maine (now defunct after the last members passed away, I think) and gradually expanded to include made-in-Michigan specialty foods. Yes, they are going to tend toward “boutique-y” prepared items and, again, I’m not sure of your mileage parameters, but I thought it might be interesting to check out The Messenger. A plus here is that, whenever possible, Diana likes to spotlight woman-owned businesses and frequently “helps out” fledgling businesses that don’t yet have substantial advertising budgets!
Food — it is SO much fun!
Thank you Sue, you are a font of information! Will definitely check out the producers you mentioned. Surprisingly, the flour isn’t available through the co-op. I don’t have a certain mile radius in mind – just trying to do the best I can 🙂
Loved to read how you cooked this. I made this several times many years ago from a recipe from my southern mother-in-law. You’ve made me want to have it again!!
I’ve gotten flour and oil through the co-op.
yeah, it’s not grown here though.
Grassfields/Green Pastures was carrying Westwind flour for a while http://westwindmilling.com/ , but don’t seem to be doing so any more (maybe we’ll bump into each other there sometime!). It’s what I’ve stocked up on. I’ve also been looking into Jennings Brothers http://sites.google.com/site/archiejennings63/home as well. Here in Holland, the windmill also grinds flour: http://www.cityofholland.com/windmillislandgardens/windmill-flour .
Hope that helps you out!