Chicken Fried Steak

By Dglmedia

Ingredients

• 5 cubed steak
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup corn starch
• Saltine crackers
• 1/4 tablespoon salt (I prefer sea salt)
• 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
• White pepper
• 1/2 inch of oil, butter, or melted shortening or Crisco (or all of the above) in your pan
• I usually do not measure my seasoning but for the purpose of sharing my ingredients and recipe. I tend to eye ball everything.

Details

Adapted from appetiteforgood.com

Preparation

Step 1

Get 3 empty containers out to create your dry batter, egg wash and completed battered chicken fried steak.
Combine the flour, corn starch, and all the seasonings together in the dry batter mix.
Take your cubed steaks and depending on your preference of thickness, you can beat it some more to flatten it out or just start seasoning it.
I prefer to beat it a little more and try to get some seasoning in the steak. I season each side of the steak separately after I flatten it: sprinkle a pinch of salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, and white pepper.
Then proceed to beat the steak with a meat tenderizer.
This way the seasoning is embedded in the meat.
Flip it over and repeat on the other side.
Take the beaten steak and dip it in the dry batter mix and make sure both sides are completely coated in flour. Set the floured steak aside in the 3rd dish.
Repeat the process for each steak. Once you have completely seasoned and dry battered each of the steak in the first layer of dry batter, you can proceed to the next stage of battering.
Take your oil, butter (I used an entire stick of butter), shortening, or Crisco, or a combination of all 4 (like what I did) and heat it up in a cast iron pan.
While the oil is heating up, prep your second coat of batter on the chicken fried steak.
Take out your saltine crackers and break them up into small chunks of various sizes and mix them into the flour.
Crack open your eggs and mix them in the 2nd dish you’ve set aside in the beginning to create your egg wash, sprinkle a pinch of salt and pepper.
Now take the already battered CFS which are sitting and waiting in the 3rd bowl and dip them through the egg wash, making sure both sides are covered and let the excess drip off.
Completely coat the chicken fried steak that just went through the egg wash in the new flour/saltine cracker batter.
The pan of hot oil should be ready for frying, carefully place the chicken fried steak in the oil. Be very careful and don’t plop it down! Hot oil will splash!
Fry for roughly 3-5 minutes till you have a nice golden crust and flip and do the same for the other side.
Remove and place on a wire rack to cook and so the breading doesn’t get soggy and repeat the last step with all the other pieces battered steak.
Now you’ve successfully created a Patrick version of a true Texan chicken fried steak!
Now onto the CREAM GRAVY! My favorite part. I think the gravy is just as important to the chicken fried steak as is the steak itself. This makes or breaks the chicken fried steak.

Cream Gravy
Remove any charred pieces from the pan drippings as you don’t want any burnt taste in your gravy.
If you have bacon, I usually fry up some bacon in the pan dripping to get a little bacon flavor and fat in. Remove the bacon after frying.
Use the pan drippings and mix the left over seasoned flour (I usually try to not use any of the saltine crackers in the gravy).
Blend well.
It will be slightly cakey and thick but stir quickly to brown the flour.
Gradually stir in 1.5 cups of milk and 1 cup of chicken broth.
Add more liquid or flour for your desired consistency (cream gravy is suppose to be thick!) and I personally like to add more pepper to the gravy.
Once the gravy is thoroughly mixed without chunks, it’s done! Smother and enjoy!
Voila! Taste the goodness!