Chicken Fried Steak with Country Gravy

I consider myself a pretty lucky gal.  Not only is my husband incredibly handy, washes dishes, and folds laundry BUT he also cooks.  I know.  You just wet yourself a bit and thought, “I wonder if he has a brother?”

Well, the answer is yes he does.  And no, he’s not available.  And neither is mr.  However, I did talk him into sharing some of his expertise during a little series I’d like to call Budget Gourmet Mister.  I’m not sure how I talked him into it nor if he knew what he was getting himself into but here is the first of, hopefully many, step by step tutorials from us to you.

Chicken Fried Steak like mama used to make.

Start off with a piece of steak.  Cubed steak is what you want and you can ask your butcher to make it for you if you can’t find it.  You could also cube it yourself which is what the following pictures show you.

Mr started with a round steak.  He cut it into smaller pieces then used a very sharp knife (Cutco will sharpen your knife for life…just sayin) then proceeded to pound it, starting at one end and ending at the other, with the blade.

Rotate the steak 90° and repeat the same action, creating a grid of sorts.

Flip the steak over and repeat steps 1 and 2.  Continue to cube each steak until they are all done.

Dredge the steak in flour.  Just flour.  No salt.  No pepper.  No nothin.

Flip the steak and dredge again in the flour.

Dip in eggs that have been beaten.  Just eggs.  No milk.  No water. No nothin.

Flip the steak and dip in the egg again.

Remove the steak from the egg bowl and drop back into the flour.

Using a fork or spoon cover the top with flour.  Flip if necessary to cover the entire steak

Drop the steak into a half inch of oil preheated over high heat.  Our skillet was set to 400°.

Now season with salt.

Season with pepper.

Repeat until all the steaks are dredged, dipped, dredged, and in the skillet.  Cover with a lid.  Cook for about 10 minutes.

Once the steaks begin to ooze on top {couldn’t think of a better term…} and look like the steaks above remove the lid and flip with a spatula.

Just look at those beauties!  Continue to cook for approximately another 10 minutes or until the other side is browned.  Do not check until it has cooked awhile though or you risk loosing the crust.

Remove the steaks to a plate lined with a paper towel.  Remove oil until you have 2 tablespoons remaining.

Add 2 tablespoons of flour.

Stir with a fork or whisk until the oil and flour is combined into a rue.

Add more flour or more oil if necessary to create a runny paste like consistency.

Pour in 2 cups of milk.

Continue to cook and whisk together over medium heat.

Mix until smooth, adding more milk if necessary.

Serve the country gravy over the steaks and serve along side salad and taters.  Or mr’s favorite, sticky white rice.