2009 Goal #3: Chicken Fried Steak

I am sticking to my plan to take more pictures. And so far I've been doing pretty well. I'm adding pictures to the Foolproof Breakfast Skillet here.

And last night's victory of my first attempt at Chicken Fried Steak and Country Gravy. Pretty groovy, eh?



For this lovely household favorite, I used the Alton Brown method of cooking (skipping the thyme and flavoring gravy with a bit of garlic and onion powders) with Paula Deen's seasoning, flavoring one side of the steaks with her House Seasoning (salt, pepper, garlic and onion powders) and seasoning salt on the other. Rounding out the meal is a side of mashed potatoes with just chicken broth for moisture and a little pat of butter for creaminess. The gravy will handle the rest. And voila, close to perfection.

A meal for 2-3 here used 1 lb. cubed steak and 2 potatoes, by the way. I used the above recipes as my guide than exact science.

I say close to perfection because of the meat. I didn't tenderize my own or have the butcher do it at the store, but I picked up a pack of pre-cubed steak from Fresh & Easy. It was super convenient and it was fresh. Brandon managed to not get any grizzle but I wasn't so fortunate. Will I buy F&E cubed steak again? In a pinch, absolutely. But if I have more time, I'd probably go to the butcher shop to have some round steaks properly cubed.