Chicken-Fried Steak

Prior to making this dish, I had not had chicken-fried steak since December 2009. I was in a cafe in Austin, enjoying a dinner of chicken-fried steak with rich macaroni and cheese, and catching up with two guys I went to high school with. Chicken-fried steak has always been comfort food to me, even if the name seems to confuse people around here. I always had the misconception that it would be difficult and messy to make. After finding some pre-tenderized beef at the grocery store though, this dish came together quickly and easily. I even managed not to splatter things everywhere while frying! I kept fairly close to the original recipe, but used hot paprika powder in place of cayenne pepper and a bit less fat to fry in. Serve with cream gravy.

One year ago: Cranberry Vanilla Coffee Cake

Chicken-Fried Steak (adapted from Homesick Texan)

Ingredients
680g top-round steak (or 4 pre-tenderized steaks)
2 cups flour
3 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 - 1 teaspoon hot paprika
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups cream gravy

Method:
1. Cut top-round steak into 4 pieces. Pound beef with a meat tenderizer until flattened and almost doubled in size.
2. Place flour in a large bowl and season with salt, pepper, and paprika to taste.
3. Mix eggs in another large bowl with buttermilk.
4. Take piece of tenderized beef and coat in flour. Dip coated beef into egg mixture and then dip back into flour again.
5. Heat on medium enough oil or lard to fill halfway up the sides of a cast-iron skillet. (I used quite a bit less than this and shallow fried them.) When a drop of water makes the oil sizzle, it's ready for frying.
6. Take the coated beef and place it in the skillet. When the blood starts bubbling out of the top of the steak (about 3 to 4 minutes) gently turn it over with a long fork (using a spatula can cause the oil to splash out of the skillet).
7. Cook another 5 minutes and then take the chicken-fried steak out of the pan and drain on a paper-towel-lined plate. Repeat process for remaining cutlets. And while you're frying the others, you can keep the cooked steaks warm in the oven.
8. Serve with cream gravy made from the pan drippings.