I’ve been in a bit of a Chicken-Fried mood in 2024. The inciting event for my crispy-crunchy fixation was a stay at the Mizpah Hotel over New Year's week where I learned that their Chicken-Fried Chicken was a signature dish. As delicious as it sounded, I wanted steak that night and the allure of crunch, fat, and salt did not exceed my lack of enthusiasm for a chicken breast. Chicken breasts are the least exciting thing to eat in my opinion. There, I said it. Fight me.
But the thought of thick, crunchy coating and creamy white gravy stuck burrowed in and stuck in my brain. So it should come as no surprise that I decided to make Chicken-Fried Steak when Neil suggested steaks for dinner and there was ten inches of snow on top of my smoker.
Chicken-Fried Steak is big in my birthplace of Texas, though I don’t claim any memory of having eaten the dish until I was well into adulthood and long gone from the Lone Star State. But in honor of my roots, I will adopt the lingo and refer to Chicken-Fried Steak by its proper acronym, CFS. The first consideration when making CFS is your choice of beef. I opted for a prepared bacon cube steak out of the case at Momma’s. The folks at Serious Eats (my go-to resource for recommendations based on the scientific method) compared bottom round, eye of round, sirloin tip, and cube steaks (usually made of round that’s been run through a tenderizer) and recommend using sirloin tip.
Whatever cut of beef you use, you will need to pound it out until it is between 1/8” and 1/4" thick.
The distinguishing factor of CFS is the crispy, crunchy crust which should remind you of the best fried chicken you’ve ever had! Again, I followed the recommendations of Serious Eats and started with a coating of cornstarch, followed by a dip in a mixture of beaten eggs and buttermilk, and completed with a thick crust of a slightly dampened flour and baking powder mix. My coated steaks went into a hot bath of oil and sizzled away until they were a deep golden brown.
The final step in preparing a stellar CFS is to top it with a load of peppery gravy. The key to a deeply rich and seasoned gravy is to use the leftover frying oil as its base. I made a nutty blond roux by adding an equal measure of flour to the oil then whisking in milk and cooking until the gravy thickened up. A healthy dose of salt and cracked black pepper kicked my gravy over the edge into deliciousness! Just one bite told me that CFS was exactly what my body needed!.
Serious Eats Tender and Beefy Chicken-Fried Steak
INGREDIENTS:
4 long, thin sirloin tip steaks or 4 prepared cube steaks
¾ c cornstarch
1 egg
1 c buttermilk, divided
2 ¼ c all-purpose flour, divided
2 t kosher salt plus more to taste
2 t smoked paprika
2 t ground black pepper
1 ½ t onion powder
1 ½ t garlic powder
1 t baking powder
½ t cayenne pepper
2 qts peanut of canola oil
2 ½ c milk
More black pepper and salt to taste
DIRECTIONS:
- Skip this step if you are using prepared cube steaks. Pat steaks dry and one at a time, place steaks in a resealable plastic bag. Using a meat pounder or other torture device, pound steak out to between 1/8” and 1/4" thick. Repeat with remaining steaks and season with salt.
- Place cornstarch in a shallow dish. Whisk together egg and ⅔ c buttermilk in a separate shallow dish. Whisk together 2 c flour, 2 t salt, paprika, 2 t black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, baking powder, and cayenne pepper in a third shallow dish. Drizzle the remaining ⅓ c of buttermilk into the flour mixture and rub with your fingers until it has the texture of wet sand.
- Working one steak at a time, coat in cornstarch, dip in egg mixture, and coat well, then transfer to the seasoned flour mixture. Coat each steak well, pressing flour all over to help it stick to the meat. Transfer steak to a wire rack and repeat with remaining steaks. Let sit for 10 minutes.
- Place oil in a large Dutch oven and heat to 375 °. Slide one steak into the oil carefully and cook flipping occasionally until golden brown and crisp on both sides (about 4 minutes). Transfer steak to a paper-towel-lined tray, and season with salt to taste. Repeat with remaining steaks.
- For the Gravy. Transfer ¼ c of the hot frying oil to a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add flour and whisk constantly until the mixture turns light brown. Slowly whisk in the milk. Stir in 1 T of black pepper and bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally until the gravy is thickened then remove from heat, season with salt and additional black pepper to taste.
- Top each steak with a healthy portion of gravy and eat immediately.
Kelli Kelly-Slinger of Produce. Slurper of Dumplings. Person of the Bean
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