While schnitzel is made with pork, the Americans used beef, dredged in flour and spices, fried or baked, and served with a sauce or gravy. Cooking the meat in this way adds flavor and tenderizes a tough cut, something the Europeans were familiar with, and Americans were certainly familiar with less expensive, tougher cuts of beef.
This method of cooking meat dates back to ancient times, according to most food historians.. The term “chicken fried” probably comes from the fact that this is the same way fried chicken is prepared, and was applied to the dish much later. It was 1949 when the first recipe labeling the dish “chicken fried” was published.
"Chicken fried" style recipes are not uncommon in American history, and indeed are detailed in many historic cookbooks. The recipes are for chicken, beef, lamb, and veal and go by a variety of names. Veal was traditionally a very tough cut of meat, and was most often prepared in this way to tenderize the cut, such as the German weinerschnitzel.
Some recipes call for double breading the steak. After the first dredge through the flour, allow to dry. Then dip the steak in a liquid consisting of 2 eggs and 1/2 cup of milk, then dredge in flour again. While you are certainly free to utilize this "double breading" technique, the recipe below represents one of the simplest and easy chicken or country fried steak recipes.
Country Fried Steak
Ingredients
- 1 round steak (sometimes called cube steak.)
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- salt
- pepper
- flour
- ½ cup canola oil
- 1cup milk
Directions
Fried Steak:
- Pound meat with a mallet to tenderize. Cover with water. And 1 tablespoon white vinegar and salt to taste. Cover and let marinate for two hours.
- Combine flour, salt and pepper to taste.
- Coat wet meat with flour. Place meat into hot skillet with canola oil over medium heat, about 350 degrees.
- Fry until light brown, about 30 seconds per side.
- Drain meat on paper towels and cover to keep warm.
Gravy:
- Pour off excess fat except 2 tablespoons, retaining the bits.
- Heat over medium heat and add 2 tablespoons flour for 3 minutes, stirring and scraping up all the bits.
- Remove from heat and gradually stir in 1 cup milk.
- Add salt to taste and continue to whisk until thickened, about 1 minute.
- Pour over meat and serve immediately.
“Only a rank degenerate would drive 1,500 miles across Texas without eating a chicken fried steak.” - Larry McMurtry, In a Narrow Grave: Essays on Texas (1968)
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