And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose…Romans 8:28
Chicken Fried Steak is one of my family’s favorite dinner. My mother-in-law passed down the recipe to me when my husband had brought up how much he liked it growing up. She called it ‘Breaded cube steak’ but living in Texas for a number of years, everything was called “Chicken Fried” so of course I just started calling this dish Chicken Fried Steak.
Let me tell you, this dish is not the healthiest of all but it’s quite yum and pretty quick to cook up. One of the most important things you need to know about frying up this steak is to make sure your oil is hot. If it is not hot enough, your breading will get soggy before it can brown causing it to sometimes fall off the steak. In some parts of the country cube steak is called minute steak because of the fact it cooks up very quickly. Because of the fact it does cook quickly, sometimes your steak will cook before your breading browns causing a tough steak so make sure your oil is hot before placing the steak in the pan. A pretty good trick I do is I put a piece of the cracker in the oil and if the oil begins to sizzle right away then most likely it’s hot enough.
The recipe calls for a technique called dredging. All this means is to coat your meat with whatever coating you are using making sure you shake the excess off.
I usually serve Chicken Fried Steak with rice and a vegetable but feel free to serve it with whatever you like. I really like it with mashed potatoes and gravy but most of my family aren’t mashed potato fans so it’s rice with butter. Also, if you want to be real southern you can serve this Chicken Fried Steak for breakfast with a nice cream gravy and some eggs and breakfast potatoes.
INGREDIENTS
1 lb cube steak
Salt & pepper
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1 sleeve saltine crackers, finely crushed
1 cup of oil or shortening
DIRECTIONS:
Pat the cube steaks dry with a paper towel and season steak with salt and pepper. Note there is quite a bit of salt in the crackers so be careful how much salt you use.
On a plate or shallow bowl will be the flour.
On a second plate (or bowl) whisk the eggs.
On a third plate, the crackers.
Dredge the cube steak in the flour, shaking off the excess, then dredge in the eggs letting the excess drip off. Next coat it in the saltines, making sure it is well coated. Repeat with each steak. Place it on a sheet pan or wax paper and let set for about 5 to 10 minutes.
Meanwhile heat the oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat until a piece of saltine sizzles when dropped in the oil.
Place the steaks in the skillet without overcrowding them and fry for about 3-5 minutes on each side until golden brown. Do not turn the steaks over until they are browned on one side or there will be a chance your coating will fall off.
Remove steak from pan and drain on paper towels. Enjoy!
Yields: 3 to 4 servings
