Second, the common theme to the comments (and even the links to recipes that people pointed out) was really helpful: if you're thinking chicken fried steak, think chicken fried chicken. That was the breakthrough.
And so the breading was decent and the spicing was pretty good. The pepper gravy was a first for us, Yankee born and bred (to our chagrin). Tasty, though. Man, you need a lot of pepper in the pepper gravy (and a lot of salt, too).
But the cube steak was not so great. Next time I'll take the advice of one of the recipes (Stephen's link in the comment to that post): use good steak cut to one half inch thickness. Yeah, you may need a steak knife* but unless you do the low temperature braise in the oven variant, you'll need it anyway. And Jason VanLanduyt points out (again in the comments) that cooking chicken fried steak in the oven is a Class B misdemeanor in Illinois. All I can add is that it might get me deported from Georgia, and I'd have to go live in Yankeeland. That would make me sad.
You need this: Eat What You Want and Die Like a Man. Excellent chicken-fried steak recipe inside, and it uses ribeye, I believe.
ReplyDeleteTry using a pre-spiced flour like Kentucky Kernel for your gravy. It takes a lot of the guesswork out of getting the flavor right, and it makes the best sausage gravy I've ever tasted.
ReplyDeleteChicken fried steak (a good one), is WORTH hearing your arteries harden... :-)
ReplyDeleteYep, a *good* Chicken Fried Steak, with some *good* smashed spuds is truly a yummy, yummy, DE-light!
ReplyDeleteProbably clog my brand-new stents........
If "they" are foolish enough to kick you out of Georgia, you are always welcome back in Texas. ;-)
ReplyDeleteWhat Old NFO said!
ReplyDeleteI'm a poor cook, mainly because Mrs. TOTWTYTR hasn't required me to become a better one. Something I'll have to work on, but I digress.
I rarely get Chicken Fried Steak when I'm in the south because even down there it's often poorly made and the steak is tough as shoe leather.
I NEVER get it up around here in the few places to that attempt it, because the few times I have, it's universally bad.
Like many southern foods, it's a great treat occasionally, but a steady diet would make a very dead TOTWTYTR, and we don't want that.
At least I don't, and as you know, it's all about me!
inspired by this to make some myself. thanks.
ReplyDelete