Southern Chicken Fried Steak and Gravy is one of my favorite memories of eating in the south as young boy. Fork tender, chicken battered, mystery steak smothered in thick pan made gravy. Not much could have been better.
Southern Chicken Fried Steak with pan gravy
Ingredients
For The Steaks
- 3 cups vegetable shortening for deep frying
Dry dredge
- 2 lbs beef cube steaks 4 1/2 pound steaks pounded
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp Smoked Paprika to taste
- 1 tsp Kosher salt to taste
Wet Dredge
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
- 2 egg
- 1 tablespoon hot pepper sauce e.g. Tabasco(TM)
- 2 cloves garlic minced
For The Gravy
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups milk
- kosher salt and ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
Directions
- Pound the cube steaks between plastic wrap until they are about 1/4-inch thick.
- Add 2 cups of all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, pepper, smoked paprika powder and salt to a shallow bowl or pie plate and mix to combine all the dry ingredients.
- In another large shallow bowl or pie plate, combine the wet ingredients. Buttermilk, egg, Tabasco Sauce, and garlic.
- Now dredge each pounded steak first in the batter, then in the flour mixture, and again in the flour. Dredging in this order helps create a blister effect when frying.
- Pat the flour onto the surface of each steak working it into the meat so they are completely coated with dry flour.
- Heat the shortening in a deep cast-iron skillet to 325 degrees F
- Fry the steaks until evenly golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes per side.
- Place fried steaks on a plate with paper towels to drain. Drain the fat from the skillet, reserving 1/4 cup of the liquid and as much of the solid remnants as possible.
- Return the skillet to medium-low heat with the reserved oil.
- Whisk the remaining flour into the oil. Scrape the bottom of the pan with a spatula to release solids into the gravy.
- Stir in the milk, raise the heat to medium, and bring the gravy to a simmer, cook until thick, 6 to 7 minutes.
- Season with kosher salt and pepper. Spoon the gravy over the steaks to serve.