# Chicken Fried Steak **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 17, 2006, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-fried-steak/369118 "2006-08-17T18:29:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-fried-steak/369118/1 "2006-08-17T18:29:00Z")
I must confess that Chicken Fried Steak is one of my guilty pleasures. The problem is I can’t make it. Anybody got an easy to follow recipe? ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-fried-steak/369118/2 "2006-08-17T18:40:16Z")
Take a steak. Chicken fry it. (Pretty self explanitory, no?) Be sure to grow some gravy, too. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-fried-steak/369118/3 "2006-08-17T18:53:12Z")
Take a cube steak (tenderized by perforating round steak) and dredge it in flour. Then dip it in a milk/egg mixture than back into the flour. Fry it in enough oil to cover it, turn it once during cooking. Lightly salt it when it’s draining. Make gravy from the crusty bits left in the pan. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-fried-steak/369118/4 "2006-08-17T19:03:46Z")
Buy a cube steak. Tell the butcher to beat the hell out of it, then beat it some more. Take it home and beat it until you can read a newsppaer through it. Fry up some bacon and take it out of the pain, leaving the grease in it. Put the steak in some milk, then in some flour or cornmeal or even oatmeal would probably work. Fry about two minutes on each side. Take it out of the pan and put some leftover flour/cornmeal/oatmeal into the grease to make a roux. Add the leftover milk and stir till it’s gravy. You can also thin slice some tomatoes and cook them the same. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-fried-steak/369118/5 "2006-08-17T19:08:51Z")
I’m getting angina just reading this. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-fried-steak/369118/6 "2006-08-17T19:20:32Z")
Reposted: My recipe for chicken/country fried steak: Round or cubed steak Flour Lawry’s Seasoned Salt Poultry seasoning Onions Mushrooms Fat of some sort (preferably butter) Note on measurements: I rarely measure. I use about half a pound of steak per person, and it ALL gets eaten up. Note on fat: I use enough to cover the bottom of the skillet to a depth of about 1/8 inch, and add more as I need it. Slice onions and mushrooms. Fry in fat, remove, set aside. Mix flour, seasoned salt, and poultry seasoning. Use enough seasoning that the flour is sort of a light orangy-grey. Cut steak into small bite sized pieces. Pound with meat tenderizer (the utensil, not the enzyme) until QUITE thin. Dredge in seasoned flour, let rest, dredge again. Fry in hot fat, a few at a time, keeping a very close watch on the pieces. Turn once They will cook very quickly, due to being thin. Remove cooked pieces, keep warm, add new pieces until all the steak is cooked. Make lots of cream gravy from leftover flour and fat. Either serve the onions and mushrooms on the side, or put in the gravy, your choice. VERY good with mashed potatoes. For good steaks, we generallly grill or broil them, with almost no seasonings or sauces. I made up this recipe because my husband wanted steak in our early married years, but we couldn’t afford the good ones. The round steaks were flavorful, but tough, so I pounded them, then realized I could coat them in seasoned flour to make them seem bigger, and since I had leftover fat and flour, and my husband likes gravy, there you are. I didn’t intend to make CFS, it just sort of happened. Around our house, we call this “Smashed Steak”, because I have to tnederize the steak. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Swan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_Swan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Swan)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-fried-steak/369118/7 "2006-08-17T19:40:52Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] Buy a cube steak. Tell the butcher to beat the hell out of it, then beat it some more. Take it home and beat it until you can read a newsppaer through it. Fry up some bacon and take it out of the pain, leaving the grease in it. Put the steak in some milk, then in some flour or cornmeal or even oatmeal would probably work. Fry about two minutes on each side. Take it out of the pan and put some leftover flour/cornmeal/oatmeal into the grease to make a roux. Add the leftover milk and stir till it’s gravy. You can also thin slice some tomatoes and cook them the same. [/QUOTE] Oatmeal would most certainly not work for country/chicken fried steak. Ew. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-fried-steak/369118/8 "2006-08-17T19:43:29Z")
I like a crunchier crust, so my dredging goes like this: Flour Beaten egg and vegetable oil Cracker crumbs I use this for everything – fish, pork tenderloins, chicken, and vegetables. ---
**Author:** ![Amaranta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Amaranta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amaranta)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-fried-steak/369118/9 "2006-08-17T20:11:08Z")
I’ve never had chicken fried steak. Even if I wasn’t vegetarian, I would never eat chicken fried steak. But the concept fascinates me, and the name is fabulous, and ever since the first time someone told me about it my brain has begun to mentally substitute the phrase “chicken fried steak” for any other three-word phrase. I hear “faith based initiative”, for example, and my brain replaces it with “chicken fried steak”. Anyways, I’ve never known exactly what it is or how to make it, so thanks for the helpful thread. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-fried-steak/369118/10 "2006-08-17T20:17:46Z")
Like I posted above, thin sliced tomatoes can be cooked the same way. Just substitute oil for the vegetarians. Eggplant is also good cooked this way. ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-fried-steak/369118/11 "2006-08-17T20:23:33Z")
Thanks for the help. I had tried before, but the results weren’t great. I think I didn’t tenderize enough. ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-fried-steak/369118/12 "2006-08-17T20:40:53Z")
Yeah – you’ve really got to pound the befuckers out of it. Round steak is _tough_. I make mine just like **Duke of Rat** does his. Except I put salt and lots of pepper in the dredging flour, and I use butter-flavored Cisco to fry it in. Or you could use half regular Crisco and half butter. ---
**Author:** ![Plynck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-fried-steak/369118/13 "2006-08-17T21:39:20Z")
[QUOTE=Amaranta] I hear “faith based initiative”, for example, and my brain replaces it with “chicken fried steak”. [/QUOTE] That is too funny! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Godfrey\_Daniels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Godfrey\_Daniels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Godfrey_Daniels)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-fried-steak/369118/14 "2006-08-17T21:48:29Z")
One of my favorite Tex-Mex restaurants in Portland has “Chicken Fried Steak Night” every Thursday, and the place is always jammed. Chicken Fried steak, mashed potatoes, gravy and Pinto beans. Heart-stopping, maybe, but it’s like jumping in a time machine and visiting the Texas of my youth. Who needs clear arteries, anyway? ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-fried-steak/369118/15 "2006-08-17T21:48:44Z")
Season cube steaks with salt and pepper. Dredge in flour, then dip in lightly-beaten egg, then in saltine cracker crumbs. Fry in a cast iron skillet filled about .5 inch full with half veg oil and half butter. Keep the steaks in a warm oven while you make the gravy with the flour and cracker crumbs. Make appointment with cardiologist. ---
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-fried-steak/369118/16 "2006-08-17T22:09:04Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] … Just substitute oil for the vegetarians. [/QUOTE] Good lord, Annie, you can’t just replace vegetarians with oil. That wouldn’t work at ALL. I guess you could substitute vegans for vegetarians, though - I actually prefer them because they aren’t leathery. ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2006, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-fried-steak/369118/17 "2006-08-18T07:02:18Z")
[QUOTE=Lynn Bodoni] …Make lots of cream gravy from leftover flour and fat… [/QUOTE] Just a side note: When we make it, instead of the part above, we pour in a can or 2 of condensed mushroom soup with maybe 1/4 cup water per can into the crusty bits and deglaze the pan with that instead of a flour mixture. So easy, and makes a delicious gravy! ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2006, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-fried-steak/369118/18 "2006-08-18T12:54:44Z")
Funny how people keep referring to Chicken Fried Steak as the heart-killing, fat-laden demon from hell when it’s no worse than Quarter Pounder with Cheese from Mc Donald’s. [Chicken Fried Steak](http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1639,152181-234199,00.html) [Quarter Pounder with Cheese](http://www.mcdonalds.com/app_controller.nutrition.index1.html) Not that 21g of fat is a good thing; I’m just saying. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2006, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-fried-steak/369118/19 "2006-08-18T13:03:57Z")
How about a chicken fried Quarter Pounder with Cheese? ---
**Author:** ![Surok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@Surok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surok)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2006, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-fried-steak/369118/20 "2006-08-18T13:04:11Z")
[QUOTE=Amaranta] I’ve never had chicken fried steak…But the concept fascinates me, and the name is fabulous, and ever since the first time someone told me about it my brain has begun to mentally substitute the phrase “chicken fried steak” for any other three-word phrase. I hear “faith based initiative”, for example, and my brain replaces it with “chicken fried steak”. [/QUOTE] **Amaranta** , we must have been separated at birth! It’s so nice to know that someone else has this…glitch or whatever it is. I never, ever, ever expected to hear anyone else say this. I am no longer alone! (I’ll just slink off into a corner now and marvel some more) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-fried-steak/369118.md?page=2)