Chicken Fried Steak & Cream Gravy

Southern comfort food at its finest. This stuff will make your butt two axe handles wide if you eat it too often so save it for a once in a while dinner and you'll do fine. I believe someone once said that gravy makes the world go 'round.

Okay, no one has ever said that, but someone should.

This is one of those recipes that I learned how to make so long ago that I don't pay attention to measurements. I'll do my best to make them as precise as possible and if you have any questions just ask.

Chicken Fried Steak

1 lb. package of cube steak (do not use round steak)

Cooking oil (enough so that it's about 3/4 of an inch deep in your skillet)

2 eggs

1 cup of milk

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt (plus extra for the steaks)

1/2 tsp. pepper (plus extra for the steaks)

1 tsp. of your favorite all purpose seasoning blend (Tony Cachere's, Tex-Joy, Lawry's, etc.)

First lightly season the cube steaks with salt and pepper. Stir the eggs and milk together in a shallow pan. Mix the flour, salt, pepper and seasoning blend together in another shallow pan.

Heat your oil over medium heat. Be sure it's heated thoroughly before adding your breaded steaks. You can test this by flicking a drop of water into the pan. If it pops and sizzles then it's hot enough.

Dredge each steak in the flour mixture, then coat in the egg wash, then it's back into the four mixture again, then into the hot oil they go.

Cube steak cooks pretty fast, so six minutes per side or so should do it. I usually let mine cook for a couple of minutes and then turn them over so that the crust is browned enough to hold together and I just turn them as they need it. You can test for doneness by poking them with a fork--you'll see blood if they're still raw.

Drain on paper towels.

Cream Gravy

1/2 c. cooking oil

1/2 c. flour

Milk - I can't be precise here, but plan on having at least 2 cups

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

Heat your cooking oil over medium heat. Once it's hot add your flour and cook and stir, scraping the bottom constantly for two minutes. The idea is to remove the flour-y taste without browning your roux.

Now add your milk in a slow, steady stream. Using a whisk makes this part a bit easier and helps cut down on the lumps, but if you don't have one it won't hurt anything. Immediately turn the heat down to low and keep stirring.

Coook over low heat and add more milk as needed until the gravy reaches the consistency you prefer. If you accidentally add a bit too much milk turn the heat up a little and the gravy will thicken back up. If you add way too much milk then it's back to the ol' drawing board.

Add salt and pepper to taste. Traditionally cream gravy is heavy on the pepper so be generous with it.

Here's the finished product:

I know the pictures are awful. I really am working on that.