This time the cube steak that was supposed to be on sale was actually in-stock so last week’s Sunday Roast happened. Yes, not the healthiest dinner on earth but pretty damned yummy. And it’s not like we have this often – my daughter doesn’t remember Ever having it, homemade, and my son says it’s from his earliest memories. (smile) All in all, a successful Sunday Roast though.
Ingredients: cube steak, milk / egg wash, seasoned flour (a dash of flour & lots of freshly ground pepper)
The key to good chicken-fried steak is the coating. Make sure to Double flour the meat: first – egg / milk wash then seasoned flour – REPEAT. I used about 2Tbsp of crisco & about 2 Tbsp olive oil. The pan is pretty hot so the meat doesn’t soak up the grease… it seemed to work. I cooked them two at a time, to a golden brown, and then put them in a moderate oven (300-degrees) to stay warm as I cooked up the rest. The downside to homecooking chicken-fried steak, at least for me, is that the crust isn’t as Crisp as in a restaurant. I always put the steak to the side so that I can use the same pan for the gravy… but the fam said they tasted wonderful so I guess it’s ok.
In the skillet that the meat was cooked, I removed any excess grease but tried to leave the brown bits then melted about 3Tbsp butter and sprinkled in some of the seasoned flour. I don’t know exactly how much flour – I want a fairly mealy paste. I keep the pan at a fairly low temperature as I add in regular milk (we use 2%), small amounts at a time and stirring until smooth. I continue adding milk until I get the consistency I want for the gravy… adding more if it gets too thick. This is definitely a trial & error process… just be patient and don’t add too much milk too soon. I also increase the temperature a bit once a majority of the milk has been incorporated to help with the thickening process – to bubbling. I do not salt the gravy (watching out for my Heart’s salt intake) but I do add freshly ground pepper.
Dinner was served: chicken-fried steak & mashed potatoes all covered in country gravy and a bit more pepper. The veg: canned mixed Greens – I like the GLORY brand, their seasoning is good and the sodium is not too hight. We’ve had some greens that were excessively salty. I know that I should make my own but we didn’t have time for them to cook properly.
Dessert: My Heart made a refrigerator cheese cake with Dream Whip, cream cheese, & canned cherry pie filling in a shortbread crust. It didn’t set-up quite perfectly but everyone seemed pretty happy to dig in with spoons for a communal dessert. It was messy but tons of fun and really a treat.