9/02/2010

Pioneer Woman's Chicken Fried Steak

Since I haven't been able to find a post on the PW blog for this dish (and because I do it slightly differently) I thought I would post my own.
The Ingredients:
Cube steaks
eggs
milk
oil
flour
The quantities will vary based on how much meat you have. For example, I used 3 eggs and 1 1/2 cups of milk (basically 1/2 cup milk per egg). Perhaps the most important ingredient is this one:

It's The Pioneer Woman Cooks and it is a wonderful cookbook! Ree's ingredients list a few spices and things to mix in with your flour but as you can see from the picture, I use a seasoned flour so I don't have any need of the extra spices.
It is most helpful to set up and assembly line type system for this meal. Here's mine:

The cube steaks are ready to be dipped in the egg and milk mixture and then in the flour and put into the oil. You can also see my potatoes boiling in the back for the mashed taters to go with this meal. So pick up a hunk of meat and put it in the eggy milk.

Then plunk it down into the flour. Make sure you coat both sides.

Repeat eggy milk.

Repeat flour.

In Ree's book, she says If you are doing it right your hands will be a mess. She's right!

So fry up those bad boys and when they are done, you aren't done! You have some lovely gravy to make. The oil you cooked the steaks in will have bits and pieces of breading and meat left in it and it will make great gravy.

Gravy is usually a measured affair. You use the same amount of flour as you did oil/butter/drippings and then you add milk or water (which I have never done! I always use milk) in a quantity measured by the cup to equal half the measure of the flour. Does that make sense? For example: 1Tbsp oil + 1 Tbsp flour + 1/2 cup milk. In any case, this amount of oil/drippings isn't measured so you have to feel your way through. Don't be afraid! Gravy is kind of hard to mess up if you take it slowly. Add flour to your pan until the drippings are absorbed. Then let it cook for just a minute or two before you add your liquid.

When you add the liquid (in my case, milk), you need to have your whisk ready! Whisk constantly or you will have lumps instead of gravy. Personally, my husband will eat lumps, but I do not care for them so I whisk the heck out of my gravy.
Add your liquid slowly and keep adding in small amounts (and whisking furiously) until your gravy is the consistency you desire.

Then put some food on your plate and add the gravy.

FYI--Nope, there isn't a single green thing on that plate! Yep, I did add more gravy after taking the picture!

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