The History of Chicken Fried Steak

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.

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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

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.

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

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.

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.

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!

I just mentally invented a new sandwich called chickenbriskalada.

Chicken fried steak, TexMex cheese enchilada, & smoked brisket. I need one!