Country Fried Steak

I know, I know.  I keep saying this but truly this next batch of recipes is super behind.  The only reason I realized I am so late is because our next dinner club is this weekend and I realized that I still haven't posted the recipes from our LAST month's dinner club.  D'oh!

Anyway, March was Chris and my turn to host again and I decided to do a Breakfast Theme....or better known as "brinner" (breakfast for dinner!).  It was an awesomely delicious smorgasborg of food and I must say that being a breakfast lover, I was in absolute heaven!  In our typical Dinner Club style, we made wayyyy too much food and pretty much binge ate.  Fruit bruschetta, fruit tart, quiche, gooey breakaway cinnamon rolls, belgian waffle bar, bacon egg and toast cups, and country fried steak....*die*.

My personal contributions for this dinner club consisted of:

• Country Fried Steak
• Belgian Waffle Bar (with homemade Strawberry Topping and Syrup)
• Bacon Egg and Toast Cups
• Mimosas (equal parts of champagne and orange juice)

This post is about the Country Fried Steak (sometimes known as Chicken Fried Steak)...one of my favorite unhealthy breakfast entrees!  The flavor of this one was good but we all know I don't like to fry stuff so I have NO IDEA why I chose to take this task on.  Especially given that I had to fry up 10 of them and was running out of time (guests arrived when I was just starting to fry)!  I don't think I did a very good job paying attention to making sure the oil was at a good frying temperature because some of the breading ended up soggy and others a little burnt.  And, the meat was tougher than I would have liked.  Perhaps if you made a smaller batch you could be more attentive and it would turn out better.  Like I said, great flavor but not the best execution which was entirely my fault.  (Good thing I made other delectable goodies to make up for this less than stellar one!)

Pardon the awful picture.  Like I said it was a busy day in the kitchen and I think I bit off more than I could chew for this one.  To be honest, I'm surprised I got a shot at all!  Oh and by the way, this is the reason I had a TON of buttermilk leftover and hence all of the other recipes to use it all up!

Check out our Dinner Club blog for some of the other aforementioned yummies, too!

Country Fried Steak
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Prep Time: 20 Min
Cook Time: 20 Min
Ready In: 40 Min
Yields: 4 Servings

Ingredients

For the Steaks

• 4 (1/2 pound each) beef cube steaks
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon hot pepper sauce (e.g. Tabasco™)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 cups vegetable shortening for deep frying

For the Country Gravy

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 cups milk
• kosher salt and ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Pound the steaks to about 1/4-inch thickness.
2. Place 2 cups of flour in a shallow bowl. Stir together the baking powder, baking soda, pepper, and salt in a separate shallow bowl; stir in the buttermilk, egg, Tabasco Sauce, and garlic.
3. Dredge each steak first in the flour, then in the batter, and again in the flour. Pat the flour onto the surface of each steak so they are completely coated with dry flour.
4. Heat the shortening in a deep cast-iron skillet to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Fry the steaks until evenly golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes per side. Place fried steaks on a plate with paper towels to drain.  If needed, keep steaks warm by placing in a warm oven. 
5. Drain the fat from the skillet, reserving 1/4 cup of the liquid and as much of the solid remnants as possible.   Return the skillet to medium-low heat with the reserved oil. Whisk the remaining flour into the oil. Scrape the bottom of the pan with a spatula to release solids into the gravy. Stir in the milk, raise the heat to medium, and bring the gravy to a simmer, cook until thick, 6 to 7 minutes. Season with kosher salt and pepper. Spoon the gravy over the steaks to serve.

Source: All Recipes