©1958
AuthoradminFrom the Bar Nothing Ranch - "The Big House" Chicken Fried Steak
CFS is a Texas tradition. Simple to make, hard to perfect.
Restaurants are judged by 2 things in Texas. Their chips and salsa and chicken fried steak (which means the steak, but more importantly, the gravy. ) Traditional CFS gravy is what they call sweet milk gravy. Made from scratch. It’s the fat and fondant from the cast iron skillet, flour, whole milk, salt, pepper and a touch of garlic powder. Most traditional cut to use is plain mallet tenderized round steak. It’s lean and not “too” tender, aka, has a little bite to it. The fat used to fry it, is just that. Pure fat or lard. Properly cooked, the breading will adhere to the steak throughout the cooking process. Cook it too fast and the steak will draw up “loose sock” and the breading will burn. Too slow and it turn out “soggy”. The fat will be absorbed into the breading and meat. Tenderizing the round steak with a mallet thins the cut out and breaks down some of the meat fibers. But only to a quarter inch. Too thick, it’ll be tough, too thin and it will cook too fast. A key part to good breading is letting it sit breaded a good 5-10 minutes or more. Using room temp eggs and dairy. Most important is the gravy. It’s constant attention, good fat, whole milk (although the “rich folk” gravy sometimes made is almost simmering hot water and finished with heavy cream), salt, pepper and garlic powder. Tourist CFS has herbs in the breading and Jalapeño gravy is popular. Eastern New Mexico makes a killer Hatch Sweet Milk gravy that is good as well. Draining on a rack in a warm oven is important. Never microwave. It will ruin the crispness of the breading. Exotic game establishment’s relatively new Antelope CFS can be exceptional if the meat is prepped right. As well as Buffalo or Bison. But the king is White Tail CFS Backstrap.
NOTE: The use of rendered Duck Fat is purely optional. The term "Big House" is used to differentiate the difference between what is cooked by the ranch hands in the bunk house and what is cooked in the Rancher's "Big House".
Preheat oven to 250, place wire racks with paper towels around them on a cookie sheet inside oven TURN OFF HEAT SOURCE. Close door and keep it closed.
With 2 cups of flour in a shallow bowl.
In another shallow bowl stir in the baking powder, baking soda, salt, garlic powder and black, white and Cayenne pepper; next stir in the buttermilk, egg, & Texas Pete. Stir until just mixed.
Dredge each steak first in the flour, then in the batter, and again in the flour. Gently pat the flour onto the surface of each steak so they are completely coated with dry flour. Let stand 10 minutes.
Heat lard and duck fat in a large well seasoned cast-iron skillet to 325. Do note that your temp will drop when the steaks go in, I usually do about 340 and it levels out nicely around 325. Pan fry the steaks, leaving room around each steak. Cook until evenly golden brown, about 5 minutes per side. only turn once. Remove steaks to wire rack in oven to drain and keep warm. Close the oven door!
Drain most of the fat from the skillet, reserving scant 1/4 cup of the fat and as much of the solids as you can. Wipe the side and bottom of your skillet as a precaution.
Return skillet to medium heat with the reserved fats. Let heat back to medium. Whisk the remaining flour into the fats. Constantly stir the flour until it has a nice scent, careful not to burn or cook past a light blonde. Scrape the pan to release the flavor bits from the bottom. Stir in the milk and half&half, raise the heat to medium, and bring the gravy to a simmer (DO NOT BOIL), cook, stirring constantly until thick, 7-8 minutes. Finish with kosher salt and black and white pepper.
Ingredients
Directions
NOTE: The use of rendered Duck Fat is purely optional. The term "Big House" is used to differentiate the difference between what is cooked by the ranch hands in the bunk house and what is cooked in the Rancher's "Big House".
Preheat oven to 250, place wire racks with paper towels around them on a cookie sheet inside oven TURN OFF HEAT SOURCE. Close door and keep it closed.
With 2 cups of flour in a shallow bowl.
In another shallow bowl stir in the baking powder, baking soda, salt, garlic powder and black, white and Cayenne pepper; next stir in the buttermilk, egg, & Texas Pete. Stir until just mixed.
Dredge each steak first in the flour, then in the batter, and again in the flour. Gently pat the flour onto the surface of each steak so they are completely coated with dry flour. Let stand 10 minutes.
Heat lard and duck fat in a large well seasoned cast-iron skillet to 325. Do note that your temp will drop when the steaks go in, I usually do about 340 and it levels out nicely around 325. Pan fry the steaks, leaving room around each steak. Cook until evenly golden brown, about 5 minutes per side. only turn once. Remove steaks to wire rack in oven to drain and keep warm. Close the oven door!
Drain most of the fat from the skillet, reserving scant 1/4 cup of the fat and as much of the solids as you can. Wipe the side and bottom of your skillet as a precaution.
Return skillet to medium heat with the reserved fats. Let heat back to medium. Whisk the remaining flour into the fats. Constantly stir the flour until it has a nice scent, careful not to burn or cook past a light blonde. Scrape the pan to release the flavor bits from the bottom. Stir in the milk and half&half, raise the heat to medium, and bring the gravy to a simmer (DO NOT BOIL), cook, stirring constantly until thick, 7-8 minutes. Finish with kosher salt and black and white pepper.