My Meals are on Wheels

One of America’s Favorites – Chicken Fried Steak

Chicken-fried steak smothered in cream gravy with sides of mashed potatoes, fried okra and a dinner roll

Chicken fried steak, also known as country-fried steak, is an American breaded cutlet dish consisting of a piece of beefsteak (tenderized cube steak) coated with seasoned flour and pan-fried. It is sometimes associated with the Southern cuisine of the United States. It can also be made from the breast of a chicken, hence “Chicken” and it can be different from country fried steak.

Chicken fried steak resembles the Austrian dish wiener schnitzel and the Italian–South American dish milanesa, which is a tenderized veal or pork cutlet, coated with flour, eggs, chicken stock cube, and bread crumbs, and then fried. It is also similar to the recipe for Scottish collops.

The precise origins of the dish are unclear, but many sources attribute its development to German and Austrian immigrants to Texas in the 19th century, who brought recipes for wiener schnitzel from Europe to the USA. Lamesa, the seat of Dawson County on the Texas South Plains, claims to be the birthplace of chicken fried steak, and hosts an annual celebration accordingly.

The Virginia Housewife, published in 1838 by Mary Randolph, has a recipe for veal cutlets that is one of the earliest recipes for a food like chicken fried steak. The recipe for what we now know as chicken fried steak was included in many regional cookbooks by the late 19th century. The Oxford English Dictionary’s earliest attestation of the term “chicken-fried steak” is from a restaurant advertisement in the 19 June 1914 edition of the Colorado Springs Gazette newspaper.

A 1943 American cookbook recipe for wiener schnitzel includes a white salt and pepper cream gravy.

Chicken fried steak is among numerous popular dishes which make up the official state meal of Oklahoma, added to the list in 1988.

Chicken fried steak is prepared by taking a thin cut of beefsteak and tenderizing it by pounding, cubing, or forking. It is then immersed in egg batter and dredged in flour to which salt, pepper, and often other seasonings have been added (called breading). Chicken fried steak is typically deep-fried and served with a cream gravy, while country fried steak is typically fried in a skillet and served with a brown gravy. The frying medium has traditionally been shortening, but butter and lard have sometimes been used instead. Health concerns have led many cooks to replace the shortening with vegetable oil.

Chicken fried steak with chipotle cream gravy

When there are problems with the breading separating from the meat while cooking, it can be very useful to first dredge the meat in the flour mixture, then the egg, and then the flour mixture again, and then let it sit for a half hour or more before cooking.

The cuts of steak used for chicken fried steak are usually the less expensive, less desirable ones, such as cube steak, chuck, round steak, and occasionally flank steak. The method may be used for chopped or ground beef, but it is not called chicken fried steak. Chicken fried steak is usually served for lunch or dinner topped with cream gravy and with mashed potatoes, vegetables, and biscuits or Texas toast served on the side. In the Midwest, it is also common to serve chicken fried steak for breakfast, along with toast and hash browns.

The steak can be served on a hamburger bun with cream gravy as a “chicken fried steak sandwich”. It can also be cubed and stuffed in a baked potato with the gravy and cheese.

Alternatively, the tenderized steak may be cut into strips, breaded, deep fried, and served for breakfast with eggs and toast or for other meals in a basket with fries and cream gravy. Either is then known as “finger steaks”.

Typically, in Texas and surrounding states, chicken fried steak is fried in a thick layer of oil in a pan and served with traditional peppered milk gravy.

Regionally, chicken fried steak may be known as country fried steak. While some recipes and restaurants will use a traditional peppered milk gravy on country fried steak, a variant using a brown, beef stock based gravy with onions is common, and is the primary difference between the two dishes in regions where both are served.