Louisiana was the best place to grow up. I don’t care what anyone says, it is truly paradise. Interestingly enough, it’s the south, but not in terms of food culture. We get all the great things about the south, the hospitality, strangers waving and helping strangers, a kicked back and relaxed pace at life; however, we have our own food. Food that you won’t find anywhere else else. That said, we don’t have the “typical southern cuisines. Chicken fried steak being one of them. Yes, you will find it at igop, Huddle
House, Waffle House and other breakfast chains; but, not at any of the restaurants. It’s just not a typical part of our food world. I say all of that because, I was at one of the aforementioned eateries with a friend after one of our fishing expeditions and ordered it. I was blown away at the entire concept. Battered and fried steak, with eggs and a delicious white gravy. I’m sure it’s not something that a cardiologist would recommend, but damn is it ever delicious! I’ve set about coming up with my own way to do this and here is the result. Far better than the chain places but equally unhealthy.
To make it we will need:
Cubed steak
Flour
Eggs
Butter milk or Milk and Lemon juice
Salt
Pepper
Corn starch
Onion powder
Paprika
Cayenne pepper
Garlic powder
1 pound pork sausage
Canola oil or frying oil
First thing we’ll do is season the steak with salt, pepper and garlic powder
In a ziploc bag pour in some buttermilk and 2 eggs- if you don’t have buttermilk place a tablespoon of lemon juice per cup of milk on the side and let it sit for 10 minutes. It won’t be the same texture as buttermilk but it will have the same other qualities.
Put the steak in the bag with the buttermilk and beaten eggs. Go ahead and add a little bit of SPG to that as well and place it in the fridge for 4hours-overnight. This will tenderize your meat and infuse it with the seasoning.
When you are ready to cook add to a bowl:
Flour, cornstarch, paprika, cayenne, SPG, onion powder – mix well and set aside a few tablespoons for later
Poor the steak and buttermilk into a separate bowl
Heat the oil in a pan
Dredge the steak in flour, back into the buttermilk and back to the flour again, pressing in the flour well and set on a drying rack for a few minutes to dry.
Fry the battered steaks for 4-5 minutes a side until golden and crispy then set back on the drying rack to drain.
Remove most of the oil saving the crispy bits and return the pan to the heat.
Add the sausage and cook it down.
When the sausage is cooked down add in the reserved flour from earlier and work it in to form a roux.
Whisk in milk to make a thick sausage gravy.
Keep in mind that it will be a loose mass when you first add the milk, keep working it with a whisk and pull up the gratons until it thickens.
Serve with the gravy on top of the steak and garnish with some parsley
-note- I love mine served with hash browns and eggs, sometimes some jalapeños over the hash browns with the gravy 🙂
