Chicken Fried Steak

Chicken Fried Steak is a Texas favorite.  I have tried to talk to Kiwis about it but they don't recognize the term. I guess it is a bit confusing to talk about "chicken" and "steak" in the same dish. They don't understand "chicken frying" as a type of cooking. I get them to see the point of the dish but never the name. I will say "to-mah-to" but never "country fried steak". I have limits to my adaptability. 

 

 

Chicken Fried Steak

 

 Making chicken friend steak starts with some sort of beef that has been tenderized. I bought the cheap stuff (still grass fed here)  that already was "tenderized" by the butcher. I put paprika and salt and pepper on it. If you want to make it more "fancy", use a better cut of meat and use Hungarian paprika. 

 Here is a close up of the meat with all the paprika and salt and pepper. You can also use powdered garlic if you want.

Next, flour on a plate and 2 beaten eggs in a big bowl. Notice the flour is on the left side--that is because you want to dredge the meat in the flour FIRST and then the egg and then flour again. 

I am working left to right.

I salt and pepper my flour as well but it isn't required.
Any leftover flour will go to make gravy.

I use a deep skillet and about 1" of oil.  I am using Rice Bran Oil because it handles high heats and is relatively inexpensive in NZ. I never ever use Canola oil!! Only olive oil, grapeseed, avocado and rice bran.

 I use Rice Bran for lots of stuff so I buy it in these very LARGE metal containers. I buy in metal or glass--nothing in plastic if at all possible.

 When the oil is hot (throw a drop of water in there,  if it sizzles and pops, you are ready to go), put your meat in there. I try to make sure I get all the meat done in 2 rounds (or less). After this batch, I will add a bit more oil and cook one more batch. Any more than that and your oil will look brown and nasty and darken your food.  I cook about 3-4 minutes on each side but this depends on the thickness of the meat and the temperature of your oil.

You should get a nice golden crust. Don't mess with the meat while it is cooking--just let it cook on one side until it is done (3-4 minutes) and then flip it and let it cook on the other.

 Next, you will remove the meat from the skillet and put it on a plate with some paper towels to drain. This is the ONLY reason I buy paper towels  here. They are expensive and they suck. I use tea towels for all my kitchen needs and just wash them.

Next, you will use the oil in the skillet to make gravy. Use the flour you had left over from coating the meat plus more flour if needed.  You want to mix the flour in with the oil and whisk it around and let it brown a bit--the better you brown your flour, the browner your gravy will be (unless you reused your oil a bunch and it got all brown and nasty).
Add lots of milk. Whisk like crazy. Add more milk. You want to do this pretty quickly or you are going to get lumps. If (or when) you get lumps, just add more milk and whisk more. Whisk, whisk, whisk. Milk. Whisk, whisk, whisk.
Make sure you add a bunch of salt too. I like my gravy salted. And heaps of black pepper if you don't have kids to complain that it's "too spicy"--otherwise, just pepper on your plate.

See how lumpy mine was looking above? More milk and whisk, whisk, whisk. 

And you can't have chicken fried steak without mashed potatoes!  In NZ, I have had a lot of trouble figuring out all the potatoes. There are soo many varieties. I have found that for my tastes, the red potato seems best. Particularly, the Stroma.  I leave the skins on--lots of good nutrition in the skin and plus, it is too much work to peel a potato.

Sometimes I just smush them with an implement but for this meal, I like to whip them with the beater. I throw about 2-4 T of butter in there (absolutely NO margarine, I NEVER use that--it isn't food) and a splash of milk and whip them like crazy.

 Next time, I will remember to take a pic of the food plated up. And of course, serve with a vegetable or salad.