The BEST Chicken Fried Steak

I LOVE me some Chicken Fried Steak! However every time I've made it in the past, the meat was either too tough, or the breading would NOT stay on. This recipe is by far the best I have ever used for cfs. I found it on Allrecipes, and it is the ONLY one I will be using from now on. I'm definitely bummed that Heath had to work so late last night and was unable to try this, but my step-dad is in town (trying to fix the hubby's broke-down submarine), and HE was able to get off the boat early enough to have some, so at least someone else was able to enjoy this masterpiece, lol! Ok, now couple things to mention...this calls for buttermilk. It's recommended, but not necessary. You CAN use regular milk if you should say, have a blond moment at the grocery store, forget to pick up buttermilk even though it's at the top of your list, then realize your mistake once you start putting dinner together...not that that happened to me or anything ;)~  Also, it calls for 3 cups of vegetable shortening (aka Crisco), which looks like this...

you CAN use liquid vegetable oil for frying, but I definitely recommend this. It fried these babies to perfection. And lastly, the gravy. You can certainly make your own if you want, it's very easy (just flour, milk, and salt and pepper), OR, you can use a packet of this stuff...

which is (IMHO) the greatest white gravy known to man. Since I've got a good gravy thing going with McCormick, I don't feel the need to try and make my own. Oh, and I left out the garlic. I had some in the fridge, but I just felt garlic had no place in chicken fried steak...my own person preference. Well, that's about it! Everything else is pretty cut and dry. Of course, you can leave out the Tabasco if you're not interested, but let me just say, I added it and couldn't even taste it (the spiciness of it I mean). So don't worry about it making this too hot cause it doesn't at all. So here it is, the recipe for the Best Damn Chicken Fried Steak anywhere! I IMPLORE you to try this...you will not regret it!

'The BEST Chicken Fried Steak '

Source: Allrecipes

Ingredients

4 (1/2 pound) 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 (such as Tabasco)

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 cups vegetable shortening for deep frying

Gravy:

(if you're not using the McCormick packaged Gravy)

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

4 cups milk

kosher salt and ground black

Directions

Heat the shortening in a deep cast-iron skillet to 325 degrees. 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. 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.

Fry the steaks until evenly golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes per side. Place fried steaks on a plate with paper towels to drain. Drain the fat from the skillet, reserving 1/4 cup of the liquid and as much of the solid remnants as possible. (If making the packaged gravy, you can start that while the steaks are cooking)

For Homemade Gravy:

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.

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