Where's the Best Chicken-Fried Steak?

[winesonoma]

Bouse Az on hwy72. Also best biscuits and gravy I've ever had. Stay in Parker Az.

p.s. only 2 places in town (ha,ha,ha) and and you can go to one for one dish and the other for the other dish. Historic plaques need to be read. When you leave the middle of nowhere

and see the B on the hill there you are.

Edited February 9, 2004 by winesonoma (log)

[skchai]

Please someone help me out regarding the gravy - what exactly accounts for the secret of the pan drippings? Since the steak is bound in coating, presumably few if any of the meat juices end up in the pan. All that's left is the shortening and the browned bits of crust - add milk / cream and flour, voila, a bechamel / veloute hybrid. Wouldn't you need to use lard or clarified butter in order to get some additional flavor into it?

[bloomingonion]

Here's another place (not on egullet) this is being discussed Click Here

And here in San Antonio, what used to be known as Jailhouse Cafe, always had people raving about the CFS.. it's now Lulu's Cafe & Bakery.. and the biggest CFS is mind-blowing huge. That is my next 'must have' on out to eat nite. From the looks of it, it will also be breakfast, lunch and dinner appetizer for the next day :P

Marlene

edited to add Lulu's link

Edited February 10, 2004 by bloomingonion (log)

[adobohead]

Please someone help me out regarding the gravy - what exactly accounts for the secret of the pan drippings?

When you order CFS for breakfast, it is usually served with sausage gravy...the same one used for biscuits and gravy. I'm not sure what they do when that's not available...is it made with chicken drippings or something?

[jabolster]

I don't know of a specific place that makes the "Best" CFS but I will say that I find that the greasier the 'greasy spoon' the better the food is. You can also read Robb Walsh's essay Chicken-Fried Honor in the Houston Press Houston Press - Chicken-Fried Honor

If nothing else it is a lot of fun trying to find "the best" anything for a foodie like me.

[auntdot]

Hi, Toliver, agree with the cube steak, because it is a relatively thick cut of beef, but the minute steaks I have seen are usually very thin and can be tossed in a pan and be fully cooked in a minute or so.

Can easily make your own with a cheap cut of beef and a whomper.

(Give them a few minutes in a teriyaki sauce and the result is wonderful).

Minute steaks are fun on Sunday night when no one wants to seriously cook, but cube steaks are usually thicker and what I think you want for CFS.

Again can make your own if you buy a round, or sirloin piece, on sale. But it is usually a fairly inexpensive buy even if the butcher does it.

We cannot get a decent CFS in a local restaurant, so have to make it ourselves.

Believe the breading should only be flour.

Push the flour into the steak, let it rest in the frig, and push some more in.

Then fry in a cast iron skillet with plenty of oil.

We enjoy the result.