Yuck. From a Filipino who eats rice 3x a day.
Yeah, pass the tats. I like rice well enough, but taters is king.
I’m with Darth Nader. Country fried steak demands mashed potatoes, and while I’ll eat it with any kind of gravy, it really ought to be white gravy.
EDIT: That translates into an “other” on the poll. I like country fried steak, I insist on it being with something other than rice, but I have no objection to other foods being served over rice, and in fact some other foods demand rice just like the steak demands potatoes.
Mashed potatoes
And SE Louisiana, where I grew up. We’d serve anything over rice. Red beans, white beans, gumbo, smothered meat (could be beef, pork, chicken, venison or small game), chili. soup or stew, etc.
I had never had smothered steak, but this thread inspired me to try it. I’m having mine with mashed potatoes. Is good.
This is more or less what my husband thinks. I’m OK with rice, but I think CFS/smothered steak is better with potatoes.
Half breed Cajun here. Hell, yeah, you gotta have rice.
One of my favorite dishes growing up (And still is) was a dish we called Steak and Gravy. Served over rice.
Except our version was a little more brothy.
Got a recipe? Looks good.
That wasn’t CFS- more of a pan fried then possibly braised with onions steak.
Of course you eat CFS with mashed potatoes- that’s just how it’s done everywhere I’ve ever been!
There’s a surprising amount of cultural cross-pollination going on between S. Louisiana and SE Texas- I grew up not knowing that a lot of stuff I took for granted, and assumed was local stuff was actually Louisiana food, or at least derived from there. For example, I’d always assumed Zatarain’s crab & shrimp boil must be a local product, because EVERYONE I ever knew who boiled crabs, shrimp or crawfish used it.
I’m actually more partial to smothered pork chops than smothered steak (over rice of course)
Actually, the chili & rice I had growing up was totally weird by most people’s estimation. My grandmother, mom and aunt had learned to make chili in New Mexico, so it wasn’t the usual Texas style, and then we served it over rice, because that’s the way Dad (SE Texas born and bred) liked it.
Oh, it’s simple and you’ll love it:
Take some thinly sliced bottom round steak and give them a good sear in a (preferably cast iron) skillet or dutch oven. It’s ok if it burns a little and sticks to the pan. (Forgot to add you want to heat up a small dollop of oil in the pan first to get things going)
Once you’ve seared the meat on both sides ,remove it from the pan and set aside. Then take a stick of butter and throw it in the hot pan. Let it melt and then throw in The Cajun Holy Trinity. Which is diced bell pepper, onion, and celery in equal amounts. Saute those until translucent and soft. Throw in a small handful of flour.* Mix it around til you get a nice roux. Pour in some beef broth and mix everything around getting all the lumps out. Now add the meat back into the pot. Now pour in more beef broth* . enough to cover everything. Add Cajun seasoning salt, salt pepper to taste. If you like it spicy, like I do, you can throw in some extra cayenne and paprika in there too.
Cover, and let simmer for an hour to two hours. Until the meat is fork tender.
Enjoy.
*Flour is a point of contention between me and my Dad. He insist that no flour should be added. It sould be straight up broth. I like to add a little flour. Again, I don’t want gravy but I don’t want broth either. I want that happy medium in between.
** Beef broth: Again, another point of contention between me and my Dad. Dad says no beef broth just water. Bah! I say, beef broth give it a much better flavor.
I love rice, eat it probably 6 times a week. Though I’m more ‘on the side’, than ‘on top of’, especially with a hot curry!
But gravy on rice? Sorry, no go for me. Soup maybe, gravy definitely not!
And I’m confused is the photo deep fried steak or braised in liquid steak like the recipe offered? Myself I prefer steak on a grill!
As I’ve had it, it’s usually floured, fried/browned, and braised in liquid. The type of steak used is usually a tough cut like cube steak or bottom round or blade/chuck. It’s the type of steak that benefits from longer braises rather than quick grilling. They’re usually the most economical cuts. (I’m not sure what you find weird about gravy and rice if you eat curry with rice. That’s just a different kind of gravy, basically.)
I’d reverse the order on that roux, Shakes–brown the flour to the right color (just shy of burning it), then add the vegetables to cool the skillet and stop the browning. The water that cooks out of them provides the liquid for the roux, supplemented with beef stock. I’d also throw about a bulb of garlic (sliced/minced) in with the onions.
Oh, sorry, meant to say thanks for this. I kind of went a-riffing on this recipe for dinner tonight and came up with some Cajun smothered pork thing that was excellent, but I promise to try it as written one day. It’s just that pork was almost 1/3 the price of beef at the market, so it won out.
This.
Assuming this is the same dish as CFS, rice would just be weird.
Really almost the whole Gulf Coast, at least as far east as Mobile, maybe even Pensacola or Destin, has some amount of cross-pollination going on. Traditional Southern meets Cajun meets Spanish meets Tex-Mex in an area with easy access to lots of seafood (and Zatarain’s!).
I’m not southern, but chicken fried steak and smothered steak(pork/chicken) are two quite different dishes.
This is what I think of when I think of chicken fried steak
this is what I think of when I think of smothered steak.
I’ve never had smothered steak with a white gravy, and I can’t remember ever having chicken fried steak with anything but white gravy.
Thats correct. Chicken Fried steak is breaded and fried. Usually served with a white gravy. Smothered steak is fried for only a couple minutes and then actually cooked in the gravy for 30 minutes. Makes it much more juicy and tender.
Swiss steak is similar. But requires braising tomatoes. Which I don’t like very much. Rarely eat swiss steak.