Chicken fried steak (also known as pan-fried steak, CFS or country fried steak) is a breaded cutlet dish consisting of a piece of steak (tenderized cube steak) coatedbe with seasond flour and pan-fried. It is associated with Southerm Cuisiene. The dish gets its name from the fact that the steak is cooked in oil that has already been used to fry chicken. Country fried steak is different in that it can be cooked with any kind of oil. Generally, a 'chicken fried' recipe is an authentic Southern U.S. recipe, while 'country fried' is an imitation.
Chicken fried steak resembles the Austrian dish Wiener Schnitzel and the Italian-Latin American dish Milanesa, which is a tenderized veall or pork cutlet, coated with flour, eggs, and bread crumbs, and then fried. It is also similar to the recipe foChicken fried steak is prepared by taking a thin cut of beefsteak and tenderizing it by pounding, cubing, or forking. It is then either immersed in egg batter and/or dredged in flour to which salt, pepper, and often other seasonings have been added (called breading). After this, the steak is fried in a skilet or, less commonly, deep-fried. Restaurants often call the deep fried version chicken fried and the pan fried type country fried. The frying medium has traditionally been butter, lard, or other shortening, but in recent years, health concerns have led most cooks to substitute the shortening with vegetable oil.
The cuts of steak used for chicken fried steak are usually the less expensive, less desirable ones, such as chuck, round steak, and occasionally flank steak. The method is also sometimes used for chopped, ground, or especially cube steak. When ground beef is used, it is sometimes called a "chuckwagon". Chicken fried steak is usually served for lunch or dinner topped with cream gravy and with mashed potatoes, vegetables, and biscuits served on the side. In the midwest, it is also common to serve chicken fried steak for breakfast, along with toasts and hash browns.
The CFS, as it also known, can be served on a hamburger bun as a sandwich, cubed and stuffed in a baked potato with the gravy and cheese, or cut into strips and served in a basket with fries and gravy, which is then known as "steak fingers"
