I just want to say that last night I tried that recipe for chicken-fried steak that appeared here a few weeks ago. I used a big old round steak I found in the day-old section of the meat counter. I didn’t have any cayenne, so I substituted chili powder, and I had to skip the sage entirely.
But it was delicious and a big big hit here at the Rocketeer household, even with my finicky kids. 
And the gravy was an even bigger hit 
So thanks for the very very successful recipe, much appreciated!
link?
Not liking chicken-fried steak is not unlike not liking the Simpsons. It is a mark of unadulterated evil.
Or a Yankee
Even if the chicken-fried steak hasn’t been tasty or fresh since Season 6? Shame on you.
Not necessarily, me bucko 12th-generation New Englander here, and I love the stuff. So there 
Bossk, bad chicken-fried steak is better than no chicken-fried steak at all. Can you imagine a world with no CFS?
It’s always called country-fried steak here. And I’d rather have the memory of GOOD chicken-fried steak then the lame attempts of Chef Ian Maxtone-Graham.
False. Sorry Olent, but bad chicken fried steak is worse than no CFS.
I did sales for about 8 years and travelled all over. Most of the time the CFS ranged in a large bell-curve from ok-to-really good, occasionally edging towards sublime. (I’ve discovered a little hole-in-the-wall in Denver that makes sublime-level CFS every time. A treasure beyond price.)
But a couple of times, the other end of the bell-curve reared it’s ugly head…<shudder> The worst I ever had was at a little diner in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Their CFS included the following features:
[ul]
[li]The meat is raw in the middle (and still had the occasional ice-crystal. Apparently “thawing” was a concept unknown to these folks.[/li][li]The breading was cooked in oil that had obviously burned, so that the breading looked fine, but tasted like cigarette ashes.[/li][li]And it was soggy/greasy[/li][li]The gravy was made (apparently) with grease and pepper.[/li][li]The mashed potatos were still partially in the EZ-Cook “flake” form.[/li][/ul]
Trust me. I took two bites (because I couldn’t believe what my mouth registered the first time round. That’s why.) and it took me months before I could touch God’s Own Artery-Clogger again.
**
Yes. But not without red guys with pitchforks tossing people into the lava-pits.
Fenris
Aha! The SDMB search is slow, but dogged, and I finally got a result. The recipe was Zentster’s, and appears here:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?postid=803093
That, sir, is no disproof. Simply because what you had there is not CFS. CFS by definition is prepared by people who have actually encountered it and consumed it, not by people who just heard about it in a conversation somewhere.
The restaurant, by having something clearly not CFS, therefore, if you will, did not have CFS - in other words, had no CFS. Since they didn’t have CFS, they were a lousy restaurant to begin with and are thus outshone by the restaurants who did have CFS but just didn’t make it as well as the sublime end of the deal. Thus bad CFS is better than no CFS at all. QED.
Dammit, I got managers behind me today! I can’t be sitting here laughing like an idiot, you know.
I miss good chicken fried steak. Being from Texas that and tex-mex were a staple food for us. I remember havign several northern friends down and exclaim, “Wow, this chicken really does taste like steak,” in all seriousness. Well, duh! Foolish mortals, it is steak, just breaded like fried chicken. I laugh when I think about it now.
HUGS!
Sqrl
And to go with that chicken fried steak…biscuits made with some scrapple…ahhh scrapple…
But it was CFS. You’re engaging in a logical fallacy, thus:
It’s a steak that’s been pounded, breaded and fried. It’s smothered in sausage gravy, and it’s served with mashed potatos. It’s a Chicken Fried Steak, albiet a disgusting one.
“Yeah,” you say “but no true Chicken-Fried Steak would be that yukky, so it’s not a CFS!”
That, sir, is the classic “No True Chicken-Fried Steak” fallacy,and I call you on it!
As it has all the requisite components, and was prepared (however poorly) by the correct method, I say, “It’s a CFS, and the grossest one EVER, dammit!”
Should we continue this over in GD where you can delve into other fallacies, like Post Chicken Fried, ergo Propter Steak or Ad Steakinem, or will you just conceed?
Fenris
My daddy always says that if a restaurant has CFS on the menu, you’d better order it. It may or may not be good, but chances are nothing else on the menu is any better.
Well, gee, Cubby, anytime you want to come back for a visit I’d be willing to sit down with you over a great big portion of CFS and make puerile jokes about slabs of meat and creamy stuff.
I love chicken fried steak, myself, and eat it regularly. But I have a hard time envisioning its origin.
All I can imagine is that a long-forgotten Texan looked at s steak, and thought, “Sure, this is fatty and unhealthy… but dang it, it just ain’t fatty and unhealthy enough. What can I do to HASTEN the artery-hardening process?”
Hence, the breading, deep frying, and cream gravy!
Since this is MPSIMS, I have a question, one that’s resounded in my ears for most of my 33 years. The voice is of serving gal at Luby’s Cafeteria:
Brown gravy or white?
Sigh.
Usually I go for white, m’self, but there are exceptions when a little extra meatiness is nice…
[sub]anyone know where I can get good chicken-fried steak in NYC? The Pink Teacup, maybe?[/sub]
Fenris, which little diner in Las Cruces?? I work there and in the interest of self-preservation I need to know where NOT to eat lunch.
White gravy–anything else is just plain unAmerican.
Last time I was there, it was gone or I couldn’t find it…Y’know that big, central, open-air mall? If you take the street that breaks in half around the mall north(?) towards I-25, it was about half-way to 1-25 on the right hand side of the street if your back is to the mall. It was a mom-n-pop joint…It’s been like 6 or 7 years but IIRC it was in a converted chain resturant (like a left-over Shakey’s Pizza building or something.) It was also a stand-alone building.
I was there about 2 months ago while heading for El Paso (long story) and drove through town looking for food and wanted to point the place out to a buddy who was riding shotgun (he’s heard the story about the dreaded CFS and wanted to see the place) and it’s either gone or I couldn’t find it.
And I agree: white gravy.
Fenris
Near my old building in Bellevue Washington this little bar named “The Pumphouse” serves Chicken Fried Steak sandwiches on wednesdays… CFS breaded anf rfried fresh served on a roll with creamy peppery gravy… it is a thing of perfection.