Chicken-Fried Steak

"This is from Southern Living. It's the BEST chicken-fried steak I've ever had. Talk about comfort food!"
 
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photo by anniesnomsblog photo by anniesnomsblog
photo by anniesnomsblog
photo by anniesnomsblog photo by anniesnomsblog
photo by anniesnomsblog photo by anniesnomsblog
photo by Anonymous photo by Anonymous
photo by Anonymous photo by Anonymous
Ready In:
22mins
Ingredients:
10
Serves:
4
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ingredients

  • 2 14 teaspoons salt, divided
  • 1 34 teaspoons black pepper, divided
  • 4 (4 ounce) cube steaks
  • 38 saltine crackers, crushed
  • 1 14 cups all-purpose flour, divided
  • 12 teaspoon ground red pepper
  • 12 teaspoon baking powder
  • 4 34 cups milk, divided
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3 12 cups peanut oil
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directions

  • Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper evenly over steaks.
  • Combine cracker crumbs, 1 cup flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, red pepper, and baking powder.
  • Whisk together 3/4 cup milk and eggs. Dredge steaks in cracker mixture; dip in milk mixture, and dredge again in cracker mixture.
  • Pour oil into a 12" skillet; heat to 360 degrees (do not use a nonstick skillet). Fry steaks 3-4 minutes. Turn and fry 2-3 minutes or until golden. Remove steak to wire rack in a jellyroll pan. Keep steaks warm in a 225 degree oven. Carefully drain hot oil, reserving cooked bits and 1 tablespoon of dripping in skillet.
  • Whisk together remaining 4 cups of milk, 1/4 cup of flour, remaining 1 teaspoon salt, and remaining 1 teaspoon black pepper. Add milk mixture to reserved dripping in skillet; cook, whisking constantly, over medium-high heat for 10-12 minutes, or until thickened. Serve gravy with steaks.

Questions & Replies

  1. Could i just fry it rather than deep fry?? Then follow rest of directions?? Thanks!
     
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Reviews

  1. I've never been able to get a good-tasting, crunchy crust on chicken-fried steak with the usual flour-only and egg wash preparation. This recipe has fixed that! I whirred all the dry ingredients in my food processer for easy cracker crushing and to incorporate the spices and baking powder evenly. The crackers and baking powder did the job. Good, crisp well-seasoned crust which doesn't fall off the steak before it's out of the pan. I did not use all the oil it called for. About 1/4 cup oil worked perfectly for me. This is the recipe I've been wanting for 40 years.
     
  2. As is needs some changes but easily fixed. The meat itself was good. I liked the crumb crust, came out well. Although I only needed about half the egg wash.... Had a lot leftover. My issues were more with the gravy. First the meat is salted and peppered then there is a lot of s and p in the sauce. It's too much, can't taste the meat anymore. I cut the s and p in the gravy in half. And the amount of gravy: made twice what is needed as well. Since we had a lot of leftover gravy.... I tossed some dried beef in it to make creamed chipped beef on toast for breakfast the next day.
     
  3. My wife and I just made this and we both enjoyed it tremendously! For those that aren't aware of how to get your stove top to 360 - set it between Medium and Medium High heat settings. This is Perfect!
     
  4. Phenomenal! The only thing I did differently was to refrigerate the dredged steaks on a rack for an hour (or two since I got busy with the darn lawn mower...but i digress). Let them sit for 20 min. on the counter while the oil heated.. I use the same method with fried chicken or fried pork chops and all turns out perfectly every time!
     
  5. These turned out great. I really liked the mixture of crackers and flour. The times were spot on for cooking on each side. The gravy makes this dish fantastic. I served with mashed potatoes and corn casserole. My family loved it, thank you for sharing this with us.
     
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Tweaks

  1. Try this the traditional Southern version. Use a well-seasoned cast iron skillet with lid. No self respecting Southern cook would ever try to get a crispy crust on Chicken Fried Steak and certainly would NEVER deep fat fry. A simple Steve of flour, salt and pepper, then into the skillet of hot fried meat grease (bacon fat). Cook first side just until blood seeps.ip onto the top side of the steak. Then flip and cook another three minutes. Add 1/4 cup cold water to the skillet and cover immediately to steam. This creates a soft delicious crust and moist steak (think KFC original recipe.) Remove to a plate covered with paper towels. Add the flour from.the dredge to the skillet and mix with all the bits in the skillet. When browned, add milk to create the pan gravy. Serve with mashed potatoes and green beans or greens and vinegar.
     
  2. I used about 1 cup of canola oil instead of peanut oil and it turned out great. Also added some garlic powder to the flour mixture for the steaks. Cooked in my cast iron skillet. Turned out perfect! Served with homemade biscuits (Recipe #77417 by Hag Chef), mashed potatoes and corn. Thanks for sharing!
     

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