Country Fried Steak Recipe With Gravy
Cube steak, a preparation of round or sirloin which regained its 1940s popularity during the recession, is essential for great country fried steak. We're actually on a nickname-basis with this dish, so we'll refer to it as CFS. The "cubing" is done via meat mallet, which tenderizes the meat and provides little square nooks for the buttermilk, egg and flour to sink into and form a crust. Pound yours out to about half an inch thickness, or ask your butcher to do it if for some reason smashing meat with a big spiked hammer doesn't appeal to you.
The best part of CFS, besides it being "country-fried," is its built-in foundation for sauce. Whatever's leftover from frying is the key ingredient for Southern-style cream gravy.
Here's how to put it all together.
- 2 8-ounce cube steaks
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
- 1 cup flour
- vegetable oil
- 1 cup whole milk
- 3 tablespoons pan drippings from steak
- Beat eggs and buttermilk together and season lightly with salt and pepper. Soak steaks in the mixture for 20 minutes, then drain.
- Season flour with salt and pepper and dredge each steak, making sure to coat thoroughly.
- In a large, heavy skillet, heat 1/2-inch of vegetable oil over medium-high heat.
- Fry steaks for 6-8 minutes on each side, or until golden brown and crisp. Remove from pan and drain on several layers of paper towels.
- Drain all but 3 tablespoons of pan drippings and slowly whisk milk in over low heat until gravy thickens.
- Season with salt and lots of coarsely-ground pepper, pour over steaks and serve immediately.