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The History of Chicken Fried Steak

 
steward
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I love chicken fried steak and since I am from Texas it has to be served with mashed potatoes and cream gravy.



I have read several different theories behind how chicken fried steak came about.

Being from Texas, I like this one:

Jimmy Don Perkins, a short-order cook in a cafe in Lamesa, Texas, invented the dish by accident in 1911. According to the legend, Jimmy Don mistook two separate orders, one for chicken and one for fried steak, for one strange request and chicken-fried steak was born.



Another theory from  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_fried_steak says:

The Virginia Housewife, published in 1838 by Mary Randolph, has a recipe for veal cutlets that is one of the earliest recipes for a food like chicken fried steak.



Wikipedia also explains how to cook it:

Chicken fried steak is prepared by taking a thin cut of beefsteak and tenderizing it by pounding, cubing, or forking. It is then immersed in egg batter and dredged in flour to which salt, pepper, and often other seasonings have been added (called breading). Chicken fried steak is typically deep-fried and served with a cream gravy, while country fried steak is typically fried in a skillet and served with a brown gravy.





Source


Here is a tip I learned from the Wikipedia link:

When there are problems with the breading separating from the meat while cooking, it can be very useful to first dredge the meat in the flour mixture, then the egg, and then the flour mixture again, and then let it sit for a half hour or more before cooking.








Source
 
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I get it, you just want me to salivate all over the keyboard.

I always thought it came from good ole soul food cookin.  twice cooked meat meat was breaded and pan fried and going goes to waste so far dripping made into gravy, then smothered over meat and don't forget the biscuits to sop up all that gravy.

I would bring bags of fresh caught turtle meat to an expert soul food cook and it was the most fantastic meal when she was done cooking.
 
bruce Fine
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lets put it this way, it was passed down from grandmother to mother to daughter long before it was ever written down. plantation owners gave it a try and adopted it as theirs
 
bruce Fine
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you can go way back and look at the history of schnitzel but I don't think anywhere in Europe except maybe France gravy was involved. but I'm no expert just drawing on my own personal knowledge.
 
gardener & hugelmaster
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Oh yea, CFS is a food group all it's own!!! I think cream gravy & mashed potatoes are mandatory. Unless it's for a breakfast sandwich & the potatoes are optional then.
 
Anne Miller
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Mike, you said the magic word: Sandwich!

I haven't had a steak sandwich in I can't remember when.

I don't know if the Sonic Drive Inn still has this on the menu, though my favorite thing from the Sonic Drive Inn was their Steak Sandwich!
 
Mike Barkley
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I just mentally invented a new sandwich called chickenbriskalada.

Chicken fried steak, TexMex cheese enchilada, & smoked brisket. I need one!
 
Steward of piddlers
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I'm so happy to have stumbled onto this thread. Does anybody have a recipe recommendation? I've never tried to make something like this before.
 
Mike Barkley
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It's simple. Get a tenderized hunk of meat. Can be an actual steak or a lesser quality cut. Dip it in eggs. Dip it in salt & peppered flour. Another egg dip then another flour dip. Most restaurants then deep fry it. In my opinion that is just not the best way. Melt some butter in a cast iron skillet then fry the meat in that. Flip it once & only once when the bottom side is done. Remove the meat when it is golden brown on both sides.

Now for the gravy ... reduce the heat slightly ... scrape the pan to loosen the stuck bits ... add more butter ... gradually add some milk & the remaining seasoned flour ... add more salt & pepper ...keep stirring it almost like making a roux ... adjust milk & flour to get the desired consistency.  

My grandmother was an amazing cook from the deep south. This is how she taught me to make it. Trust her on this. I have made it about once a month for many years.
 
Rusticator
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I do love a good chicken fried almost anything. I grew up on southern cooking, and the joke there is, 'Southerners love fried food so much, they even found a way to fry their coffee!" (Though I'm not a red-eye gravy fan) But, I must admit, I've never really looked into the history.  
 
Anne Miller
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Mike totally nailed it!

For folks that want a little more instructions:

https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/food-cooking/recipes/a9931/chicken-fried-steak/
 
Mike Barkley
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I noticed the video added cayenne & paprika to the flour too. That is good but I was trying to describe the purist technique above. Tony Chacherie's or Slap Ya' Mamma cajun spice mixes are also good in the flour.

The video also used canola oil. I will never do that. Big globs of butter!!!
 
Anne Miller
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I feel that now days folks try to improve or put their own spin on traditional recipes.

And here in Texas folks are always trying Tex-Mex influences.
 
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While my husband loves chicken fried steak I don't.  Its just ... too much, oof.
 
Anne Miller
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Riona Abhainn wrote:While my husband loves chicken fried steak I don't.  Its just ... too much, oof.



Just too much? How?
 
pollinator
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My favorite comfort food.  Here the terms chicken fried steak and country fried steak are used interchangeably.    "... while country fried steak is typically fried in a skillet and served with a brown gravy."  Whoever wrote this should be taken behind the barn immediately.  I'm convinced that anyone putting brown gravy on country fried steak has just committed a capital offense.  
 
Anne Miller
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Trace, I agree no brown gravy ...

I make cream gravy from the dripping left in the skillet.  
 
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My whole life, I have loved CFS, a common stop on a menu where I look no further.
I have always lived in the northern portion of the country.
I thought all CFS was created equal, other than the cream gravy vs brown gravy.
I was wrong!
Liz grew up in Memphis. She assured me that all CFS was not created equal and that we needed to go south to find "true Southern Chicken Fried Steak."

Up north, a CFS was flat and made with a beef steak (hopefully cubed first). You had to request a white gravy, or it came with brown; it was always served with mashed potatoes.
Twenty-five years ago, we took a long trip to the Florida Keys.  
This was where my eyes were opened to Southern-style CFS. OMG, I had never had anything so good!
It is not made with cubed beefsteak but with pork cutlet. After cooking, it was 3 "thick, breaded, egged, and breaded again!
Covered with not just a white gravy but a white sausage gravy. OH MY  Yummy!
Mashed potatoes swimming in gravy- it was a memorable moment for a New England baby!
I admit to ordering it numerous times while there and rarely since coming home to the mountains.
A northern CFS is a poor copy of a southern CFS!






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Mike Barkley
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Thomas mentioned using this technique with pork reminded of the time I did it with some wild pig chops. Made red eyed gravy instead of milk or cream gravy. Different but very good.
 
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