Ahem.
A chicken-fried steak is a cut of usually tough meat that is tenderized (you beat the crap out of it, properly after flouring it), then battered and fried. If it is served with cream or sausage gravy, then it is a chicken-fried steak. Served with brown gravy, it becomes a country-fried steak. The former is the Food of the Gods. The latter…
Of course, the way restaurants do things these days, the above is just a guideline. YMMV.
Chicken fried steak is the Texas state dish, and the only damn thing any of my dates in HS and college would order. Surely you remember chicken fried steak? Go to the Texas State Fair and find chicken fried anything, my favorites include chicken fried bacon and chicken fried butter. I also find it funny that most “homestyle” restaurants in Texas offer “chicken fried chicken” on the menu, proving that in Texas the term “chicken fried” has been divorced from its origins.
Well, if you order ‘Chicken Fried Chicken’, you’ll get a fried chicken breast filet. ‘Fried Chicken’ can be any piece and includes the bones.
Chicken Fried Steak is the thing I miss most about Texas.
And I thought the football watching scene worked great.
We call it Country Fried Steak here, but it is the same thing.
That’s because too many Northerners and Yankees were ordering “Chicken-Fried Steak” and were surprised when they got beef instead of the chicken they apparently expected.
So rather than educating these Northerners and Yankees, most restaurants that served it outside of the South (like Chili’s for instance) just changed the name.
–robby (native Texan living in New England)
And here I was thinking of “City Chicken” (which is never chicken) but I’m from the Northeast. 
I once tried to explain to a person from another country that in the south it is called Chick Fried Steak. He couldn’t get the concept and kept asking: Are you sure there is chicken in this? (He was from Korea.)
Hey, I guess you are right, I’d never noticed that before.
It is interesting, I love Texas homestyle food, and I seek out homestyle/rustic food restaurants, but I can’t stand chicken fried steak. Maybe it is just that I had too many bad ones growing up. Like a deep fried flip-flop, they were always too chewy and greasy. Funny that I now live a half mile from the restaurant that Food Network, Travel Network, and several other publications claim has the best CFS in Texas. I’ve tried it, it isn’t chewy, but it is still just meh to me. They make a killer pot roast sandwich though, and great scratch made banana pudding.
Similarly I love Bavarian food, and I seek out traditional German/Austrian restaurants, but I hate schnitzel. Come to think of maybe the term “chicken-fried” is the Texan equivalent of “schnitzel”.
Pretty much. There are all sorts of theories as to its origin, but lots of cultures dredge and fry meats. If you can’t find veal, use beef. There are lots of Germans in Texas.
Back to the episode. I enjoyed it.
I thought it was funny how Sheldon went into Penny’s apartment during the game to borrow some bread…because he made all his bread into Cylon toast, presumably.
That was also the occasion for what I thought was the funniest line in the episode.
Penny: On Earth, we say “thank you.”
Regarding the “Cylon Toaster”, was that just meant to be a wacky Battlestar Galactica-related thing, or was there a reference to a specific plot point in the show?
Sorry, but I never watched the Battlestar Galactica remake. Too many memories of the crappy original. (Lorne Greene, Dirk Benedict, furry aliens that were clearly rip-offs of the Ewoks.)
The original Battlestar Galactica was cancelled four years before Return of the Jedi was released.
I don’t know if it was the case in the original show, but in the remake the Cylons were derisively referred to as “toasters.”
Furry aliens? What furry aliens? Are you talking about the robotic daggit? Offensive, but hardly up to the Ewok level of Suck.
OK, that explains why it’s a toaster with a Cylon on it.
BTW, it wasn’t that the “daggit” was offensive, just that it was childish. I was a kid at the time it aired, and even I recognized the stupidity.
That was a nice consistency gag. Odd that such an intelligent, fastidious person wouldn’t think through the implications of wasting that much bread.
I think they missed a great opportunity to show Sheldon teaching Leonard about football, that could have led to some really funny scenes. That said, I forgive any such omission because of Penny’s outfit during the game.
