Newlywed in the Kitchen Recipe #27: Mom's Chicken Fried Steak and Gravy

If there is one meal a good, country girl should know how to make, I feel like it's chicken fried steak.  I had never attempted this dish before.  It seemed complicated, messy, and frankly, my mom makes it a lot when we come over so I figured that The Boy from Texas could get his fill there.  But, in advance of us having The Baby from Texas, I felt like I should give this recipe a whirl.  My mom emailed it over.  It was less complicated than I thought, but was super messy.  So heads up on that.

The Boy from Texas Rating:  4

The Boy from Texas Comments:  Tastes like chicken fried steak to me.

My Rating:  5.

For steak:
Cubed or Tenderized Round Steak
1 C flour
Salt and pepper
2 eggs
1/4 C milk
1/4 Vegetable Oil

For gravy:
1/4 to 1/3 C flour
Milk


In small, put flour, salt, and pepper. Stir it.(I actually used an old cool whip container I saved.)

In another bowl, put eggs and 1/4 C milk. Whip with fork.  (Used another cool whip container.)

Put about ¼ C of oil in skillet. You will want to warm the oil in the pan before you place the meat in it.

Slice meat into small pieces.  (This isn't necessary, just makes it easier to be sure meat is cooked and somehow helps make breading stick better.  I'd say mine were probably 3" x 3".


Roll each piece of meat in the flour and shake off excess flour. Then roll the meat in the egg/milk mixture. Roll the meat again in the flour. Place the meat into the skillet of warm oil. Do the same process with all meat. Place lid on pan.

Let meat cook until batter begins to brown on bottom. Turn meat over, replace lid and cook until batter browns. Turn meat back over and cook a little more on each side. Then, remove lid and cook until each side has browned.  (To be sure meat it cooked through, you can just poke the center with a fork and ensure that juices are clear.

Set meat aside.

Remove excess oil and keep enough in pan to make your gravy.  (This is the kind of unhelpful instruction that makes me crazy from family recipes.  How much is enough?  How much is too much?  I didn't have very much left in the pan, so I just left it all in there).  Add about 1/4 or 1/3 cup of flour to grease. Use wire whisk to stir. Brown the flour good and then add milk (How much?  She doesn't say.  I just kept adding a little bit at a time until the consistency looked about right). Stir with whisk. Lower heat and let gravy thicken continuing to stir with spatula that has holes in it. If it gets too thick, add more milk.