Texas Style Chicken-Fried Steak

I love Comfort Food, but who doesn’t? And on a rainy day, a good old-fashioned recipe often hits the spot like nothing else can.

Recently, I prepared one of my favorites – Chicken-Fried Steak. And, like many of my recipes, there’s a bit of a Texas wrapped up in that flour coating. Normally, you’d prepare this with beef cube steaks, but I was lucky enough to get my hands on some venison. And boy, oh, boy, was it great!

When I first posted this video, I was on tour and I didn’t have time to post the actual recipe. Then I forgot all about it, until my sister pointed out my lapse. You can thank her for getting me to finish this.

So… here’s how I do Chicken-Fried Steak, Texas style!

Ingredients:

3-4 venison (or beef) cube steaks
2 cups plus 1/4 cup flour
2 pinches of salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1 large egg
1/4 cup plus 2 cups milk or half and half
Peanut or vegetable oil for frying

Instructions:

Remove cube steaks from fridge and let come to room temperature as you prepare everything else.

In large bowl, combine 2 cups flour with salt, pepper, cayenne, paprika, cumin, garlic powder and onion powder. Stir thoroughly to mix.

In another bowl, beat egg thoroughly. Add milk and whisk to combine.

To coat your cube steaks, start by dredging them through the flour. Then, dip them in the egg mixture and coat with flour again. Dip them a second time in the egg mixture, then coat with flour again. Make sure you coat them very well.

When done with third coating, set steaks on wire rack for about twenty minutes. This will help create a nice crust and make your steaks even better.

While your steaks are resting, heat large pan with high sides or dutch oven over medium-high heat.

Add enough oil to come about one to one and a half inches up the side of the pan.

To check if oil is hot enough, take a small piece of bread and drop it in the oil. If the oil starts to bubble and hiss immediately and the bread stays near the top of the oil, it’s too hot. Remove it from the heat and allow it to reduce temperature, then put it back and try again. If the bread falls all the way to the bottom before you see any bubbles, the oil isn’t quite hot enough. BUT!! If the bread floats partway down, then rises and bubbles, the oil is just right.

Add steaks to pan, but don’t crowd them. You want oil all the way around the steak. Cook steaks for about 4 minutes, then check. They should be a nice golden brown. When you have the color you like, turn the steaks and continue to cook for another four minutes. When done, remove to a wire rack set over a cookie sheet in oven set to 250° while cook the remaining steaks, prepare your side dishes, and make your gravy.

To make the gravy, remove all but about 2-3 tablespoons of oil from pan. Leave all the crusty little bits, because they will add a lot of taste to the gravy.

Add 1/4 cup flour to pan and whisk like it’s going out of style. Keep the whisk moving as you brown the flour, approximately 2 minutes.

Add 2 cups milk or half and half, a little at a time. Keep whisking the entire time.

Once all flour is incorporated, continue to whisk as the gravy thickens. When it’s almost as thick as you want, you can turn off the heat; the gravy will thicken as it cools.

Serve steaks with mashed potatoes or rice, and a nice green vegetable or salad. Pour gravy over steak and potatoes or rice, and serve extra gravy in small bowls for each person, in case they’re like me and want to drown each bite of steak in gravy.

Give this one a try, with either beef or venison cube steaks, and enjoy a little bit of Texas on me! And don’t forget to…

Play with your food!

Lane

Did you like this recipe? What recipes would you like to learn? Leave me a comment and tell me your thoughts! (And don’t forget to LIKE this post!) Share it using the tiles below.

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