Chicken Fried Awesome

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I hope everyone had a good holiday and is ready to climb back under a bar. As promised, here is some more footage on how to prepare a simple version of an outstanding 70’s Big offering from Texas.



The finished product.

The finished product.





Chicken fried steak is a piece of tenderized steak that is coated in seasoned flour, pan fried, and served with cream gravy (Yankees screw this part up and serve it with brown gravy or, ketchup, which is even worse). It is similar to Wiener Schnitzel (VEE ner!) and was brought to the promised land by German immigrants. Historians guess it originated in Bandera, but I’d like to think that some Texan from New Braunfels sopped his biscuit with gravy outside of the saloon at Gruene and claimed the dish as his own.



CFS has amazing utility. Like pizza or fried chicken, it can be eaten any time of day. It can also be combined with most of the things it is served with. Drag a bit of CFS through your gravy mashed potatoes. Make a breakfast sandwich with fried potatoes and toast. It’s all good.



There are a lot of regional variations and personal touches you can add. What I’m showing you is a very simple recipe that will have your guests licking their fingers and asking for more.



You’ll need:
* tenderized cubed steaks
* flour
* seasoning (S&P are fine)
* eggs
* milk
* cooking oil (vegetable is fine)
* potatoes



The first video talks you through the prep and putting it in the pan. The second is a quick mid-cook check. The third video goes into making gravy and mashed potatoes. Timing is crucial here because you want everything to be served hot. Sorry for the length. I hope they’re helpful.






The plan is to eventually expand the FAQ into more general matters and include a video recipe section in the nutrition part. Submissions are welcome so long as the recipe promotes strength. There will be a link to new videos from the main page article, so don’t worry about your fine work going unnoticed. Happy eating.



Edit: I want your help in closing out the Texas Three Step. I’m talking about BBQ, CFS, and chili. I’ve done two, and I want to get y’all involved. Send me a recipe or a clip [gantgrimes@gmail.com], and we’ll get it on the site. It can be measured to the teaspoon, or you can ballpark it like me (but remember chili’s heritage…). No beans, please.



Edit 2: Casa Manana in Wichita Falls has a dish called chili steak, where two piece of greatness are combined. It features TWO chicken fried steaks (floured but not battered) covered with chili con carne and cheese. It’s served with the mandatory red taco.



Edit 3: This comes from the late great Jerry Flemmons of Fort Worth, “As splendid and noble as barbecue and Tex-Mex are, both pale before the Great God Beef Dish, chicken fried steak. No single food better defines the Texas character; it has, in fact, become a kind of nutritive metaphor for the romanticized, prairie-hardened personality of Texans.”



That brings a tear to my eye.


32 thoughts on “Chicken Fried Awesome”

  1. Three words for the best CFS anywhere….Blue Bonnet Cafe.

    The whole GIANT plate is covered with a GIANT portion of CFS and gravy. Then you get a heaping portion of mashed potatoes on a separate plate.

    It is alright to chant, “Gett”n 70”s Big” between bites.

  2. I’ve always prefered chicken fried chicken myself. The Applebee’s here around STL used to have a decent CFC, but they removed it from the menu a while back. Nothing like a plate of meat and potatoes slathered in white gravy. Found a recipe if anyone is interested: http://www.texascooking.com/recipes/chickenfriedchicken.htm

    —–
    Note to readers: CFS is is (probably) so-named because the batter+flour process is the same as fried chicken. Oddly, pan-fried chicken breast cutlets are often referred to as chicken-fried chicken while deep fried chicken parts (drumsticks, wings, breasts). Go figure.

    When following the recipe TwoTone posted, be sure the chicken breast isn’t too thick if you’re pan frying. You might have to cut the thing in half to make a thinner cutlet. Also, if you are using packaged frozen chicken, thaw it all the way and pat it dry. You don’t want a skillet full of angry grease. I hammer chicken breasts a bit before dredging them. That way, there is a little more texture on the surface for the flour to stick to.

    You can do some great CFC this way. Or, you can add Italian seasonings and a few more bread crumbs and saute over olive oil (not EVOO) to prepare some Italian dishes.

    -Gant

  3. The only restaurant in the area that served CFS was owned by a guy from Tenn. Not quite TX, but close enough. And yes, they served it with brown gravy (damn Yanks).

  4. And we used to throw it right in the frylater, not pan fry it. We also used to batter our hands and fry those too. First one to pull out lost.

  6. I am lucky the local truck stop where I have been eating since I was born has a special for breakfast: Chicken Fried Steak w/3 eggs,hashbrown and fresh biscuits for $4.99! I can”t cook it that cheap. It is goooood. I don”t eat it much though,too many carbs for a pig like me :(

  7. @Edward

    Amen…you can”t go wrong with Blue Bonnet Cafe! I used to stop there everytime I would head down to Kerrville…the pie there simply has no equal.

    Lot”s of wonderful CFS to be had in the Texas hill country. Popo Restaurant off of Highway 10 in Bourne is one of my favorites as well.

  9. Sweet.Jesus. Gant, I might hug you. Bearhugs are 70sbig appropriate, right? I”ll toss y”all a chili something or another.

    Edward – you said it, brother. That place rules. There are several more than decent CFS”s in ATX, too. I”ll be back for my bday, looks like a Salt Lick attack on the 17th!

    I knew I moved to the wrong area of the world when I ordered a CFS up here in Seattle…and got CFC. I sent it back, they explained “no, this IS CFS!” and I managed to not Hulk Smash the entire building, if you can believe that. Similar to ordering Mexican dishes around here.

  10. The last line should be “That brings a tear to my eye, yall.”

    Almost all small-town restaurants in Texas are judged by their CFS. If they can”t do that then why the hell is it on the menu?

  11. Oh my god this is awesome!

    Before my days of srength training I was always worried about getting fat (I didnt exercise at all) so even though I craved CFS I avoided it at all costs in fear of getting fat. Now that my weight room progression is dependent on excess calories I get to indulge in this wonderful dish everytime I get the chance.

    The greasy spoon I go to about once a week serves CFS with 2 eggs 2 biscuits and hashbrowns for $8. For being in CA thats practically free.

  12. Being from Europe, where history come from you know, I never had real CFS with gravy. That was until I had it in Flagstaff, AZ at Granny”s Closet. That was love at first bite. Since then I”ve cooked it up myself a couple of times back home in Copenhagen using various recipes found around the net.
    Yours look badass Gant. I think I might cook me some CFS very soon!

  14. Oh yeah I forgot to mention…

    Gant- Your cooking videos are so good I”m convinced you could get a show on the food network. Great presentation, great food and at times hilarious.

  16. “If you dont eat chicken fried steak and gravy you will not deadlift 500 pounds. Thats just all there is to it.” Funniest statement I”ve ever heard in a cooking video.

  19. Thanks Gant. My main experience with CFS was in a college dorm in Montana and I never was a fan of it. However, this looks awesome and I am excited to try it out very soon.

  20. I LOVE GERMAN FOOD (even the Americanized ones). Meat and potatoes great for getting 70s big.

    Picture of my Oma”s German Roladin she made for Christmas dinner.

    http://images.4chan.org/fit/src/1262649155773.jpg

    = Roast beef rolled with bacon and onions in the middle served in a pool of gravy with mash and veggies. yum! whoever thought of combing bacon and beef was a genius

    Although I do have to try this fried steak. Would go well with bratkartoffeln (fried potatoes)

  25. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to hear Williams Sonoma and 70s Big in the same conversation. But I””ll tell you what, I””ll babysit if it means I””m invited to Gant””s house for dinner!

    —–
    We””re full of surprises here. But cookware is serious business. You don””t clean 200kg with a crappy bar, and you don””t rice potatoes with some plastic POS. As Marvelous Marvin Hagler used to say in the old Right Guard commercials, “anything less would be uncivilized.”

    If you ever make it to the Falls, there will be some CFS with your name on it. You won””t even have to babysit.

    -Gant

    ———-

    I actually think I can get Rach to visit. I will not babysit with her though.

    –Justin

  27. Grant thanks, seen this post about 1 am after work. It”s now 1pm and I have made an consumed the CFS and Mashed potatoes. You just made my whole day!!!! Ready to go lift now.

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