Chicken Fried Steak

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Ok, well remember my food slump?! Christo from ChezWhat shared some fabulous advice with me: cook something I'd never make!

At first my mind started wandering to these crazy baking ideas. Something that requires 800 bowls and techniques and processes. But let's not kid ourselves, I'm not much of a baker and I'm a pretty Type B person - lazy and I'd hate to clean that up! (I'm just being honest...)

Then it hit me! No turning back. A 100% made from scratch, authentic Southern meal. Sure, I've eaten Southern food, you can't live in NC for 18 years and avoid it - but cooked it myself? Never!

On the menu:

Chicken fried steak
Buttermilk biscuits
Southern sausage gravy
Butter beans

Tonight I'll show you the chicken fried steak because that's the star, afterall!

You'll need:

cube steak (or grab a steak you like and ask the butcher to run it through the cubing machine/tenderizer)
flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
buttermilk (*see note below)
breadcrumbs of choice (I used panko)

To start, dredge the cube steak through the flour and knock off any excess. Next, wet the steak in buttermilk. If you do not have any buttermilk on hand, it is easily made by adding about 1 Tbsp of white vinegar or lemon juice to about 1 cup of milk and letting it sit for a few minutes. Last, coat lightly with the breadcrumbs and knock off any extra.

Make sure your oil is hot, then lay them right in, making sure not to crowd the pan. Ordinarily I would fry these in vegetable oil. But I was seriously channeling Paula Deen so ladies and gentlemen I fried them in shortening. Oh, yes I did!

I only used about 1/4 of a cup because I had three steaks. They cooked for 3 or 4 minutes each side until they were a deliciously crunchy brown!

Let drain on a paper towel and then put on your plate. Hmmm, this seems a little naked, though, don't you think??




There! Much better! Mmm guys this was heavenly! The steak was tender and so juicy and crunchy. The delicious sausage gravy over top was like... well, gravy on top!

Ya'll come back now ya hear?? The next few days I'll be showing you buttermilk biscuits, sausage gravy, and butter beans!

And don't forget to leave a comment on my last post!