Monday's Menu

When making out my menu for last week, I asked for requests and Hubby asked for Chicken Fried Steak. Normally, I just buy the bags in the frozen food section. I usually am not able to justify the cost of the beef. That may change now after trying this recipe.

I decided to try making it from scratch after reading a slightly scary article about the things they put in those frozen bags. I knew they were bad -- I just didn't realize how much. So I looked up a recipe.


OH. MY. WORD! It was SOOO good! Everyone, even Rugrat who turns her nose up at most meat, loved it. Hubby declared that Del Rancho (a local franchise who's specialty is chicken fried steak) was going to put a hit out on me.

The key here is to get the oil to the right temperature before frying them. I also didn't 'pound' them as called for in the original recipe here. Cubed steak is usually pretty tenderized already from what I've seen. We literally cut them with the sides of our forks. It was very tender.

I don't include the white gravy directions below but they are on the original recipe.


Chicken Fried Steak

4 (1/2 lb.) beef cubed steaks
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon pepper
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk (I used regular milk)
1 egg
2 cloves garlic, minced
oil or shortening for frying

Place flour in a shallow bowl. In a separate shallow bowl, mix together baking powder, baking soda, pepper, salt, buttermilk, egg, and garlic. Dredge each steak first in flour, then dip into batter, and finally dredge again in flour. Pat flour onto steak such that it is completely coated with dry flour.
Heat oil to 325 degrees. Fry steaks until evenly golden brown, about 5 minutes. Drain on paper towels. Serve warm. Use some of the oil and meat bits to make a gravy, if desired.