Chicken Fried Steak

"It's Hammer Time!" This recipe is time-consuming, but it's a fun way to take out aggressions while I pound away at the beef. I am so lucky to have a daughter who can be my line cook to help me out with the side dishes and a husband who is happily willing to clean up the massive pile of dishes afterwards.

I fry my steak using the standard, 3-step method:
1) coat the steak pieces with flour, then
2) dip in egg mixture, and then
3) coat both sides with breading.
The steaks are then fried in a generous amount of oil (enough to cover the bottom of the frying pan). Any type of vegetable oil will do, but I like the flavor of corn oil for this. Brown the steaks on both sides on medium heat. Then place the cooked steaks in foil to keep them warm in a 300 degree oven while finishing up the remaining steaks.

Preparing the steak - I like to use about 1 to 2 pounds beef flank steak and hammer it as thin as possible with a meat pounder. I suppose thin "breakfast steaks" will work and save a lot of labor, but I've never tried them. My pounded flank steak comes out incredibly tender. We really like the texture doing it this way. Before pounding the steak, I cut it into pieces about the size of a playing card. I then pound both sides of the meat using the bigger teeth of the meat pounder. Once I'm satisfied with how thin my steak is, I then smooth both sides of the steak using the smaller teeth on the meat pounder.

Egg mixture - For 1 to 2 pounds of steak meat, mix well: 2 beaten eggs and 1/4 cup milk or half & half cream.

Breading - (Use one of the two blends below. Cornmeal is another option to mix into breading.):

Standard breading blend: Use equal parts of plain or seasoned bread crumbs and flour. Add salt, pepper, and any other desired seasonings to taste.

French's Onions breading blend:
          *one whole container (2.8 oz) of French's original French Fried Onions (crush these in a baggie); save the container to measure the bread crumbs
          *one whole French's onion container of plain bread crumbs
          *1 tablespoon "Montreal Steak" seasoning blend (e.g., McCormick's)

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This chicken fried steak (with the French's onion breading) was served with white cream gravy, honey-butter glazed carrots, and roasted garlic mashed potatoes. Everything was made from scratch - fresh is best!
 

I love my meat pounder! Do you have one buried in one of your kitchen drawers?