Chicken Fried Steak

 

Chicken Fried Steak always makes me remember Stephenville, Texas.

A long time ago I visited a little town in Texas called Stephenville. It was February and it was already springtime in Texas. The trees and the flowers were blooming. Back in New Jersey It was still snowy icy winter. 

Stephenville is a real nice town and I met a lot of nice folks. I wound up moving there and made some good  friends. 

In Stephenville there is a restaurant called “Jake and Dorothy’s”. It is still in business and was first opened in 1948. About a week after I landed in Stephenville I went there for lunch with “Butch” one of my new friends that went on to become one of my best friends ever.

We walked into Jake and Dorothy’s and, boy, what a real nice laid back, friendly, folksy kinda atmosphere.

Butch tells me “Jack, you have to try the Chicken Fried Steak”.

I said “The WHAT?!”

Butch said, “If you’ll try it I’m buyin”

So I said ok and had the famous Jake and Dorothy’s chicken fried steak and I really liked it.

If you have never had it give it a try. It’s quick enough and easy enough for a weeknight.

 

Him “You are really pushing my buttons today.”
Her “Which one is ‘mute’?”

Here’s what you will need 

These amounts are for 2 servings

• Olive oil
• 2 cubed steaks about 6-8 ounces each. aka tenderized steaks
• 1 large egg
• 2 cups of milk or heavy cream divided 1 for the breading and 1 for the gravy
• Salt and Black Pepper
• Garlic Powder
• 1 1/2 cups bread crumbs – Gammy has to stay gluten free so I use almond flour 
• 2 tbsp. corn starch – might be needed for thickening the gravy

 

And this is how to make your Chicken Fried Steak

First take your cube steaks out of the fridge and let them get closer to room temperature while you get the breading stuff ready.

 

Put a skillet on at medium and add enough olive oil to get about 1/8 inch deep.

In one bowl put the bread crumbs, salt, pepper and the powdered garlic. Stir it up. And in another put the egg and 1/2 of the milk or heavy cream. Whisk it together.

 

 

First put a steak in the crumbs and gently press it into the crumbs. do both sides. Then dip it into the egg mixture getting both sides coated then back to the crumbs. Both sides and into the skillet. Do that with the rest of the steaks.

Cook about 3-5 minutes a side depending on the thickness. When the bread crumb coating gets crispy remove the steaks to dish and put the dish on an idle back burner or into the oven set to just keep them warm, about 200°F.

Put the rest of the milk (or heavy cream) into the skillet and stir it around getting all of the crumbs left from the steaks mixed in to the milk. If it doesn’t get thick enough whisk the cornstarch into a little water and slowly whisk it into the milk in small doses. Cornstarch will thicken pretty quickly so after each time that you add some whisk it into all of the cream. Then if needs more do it again.

 

 

Now serve up the chicken fried steaks.

 

Put the steaks on your serving dishes and top them with some of the gravy.

 

 

I boiled up some carrots and when they were done I drained off the water and added some butter and dried parsley flakes and mixed it together. The potatoes tonight were “baked” in the microwave oven for about 8 minutes. Both done while the chicken fried steak was happening.

A tip: You can cook the steaks on a sheet pan in the oven while you make you gravy to save a little time.

And here is a chicken fried chicken recipe