Chicken Fried Steak

Nothing says Texas tradition like Chicken Fried Steak. This mouth watering, delectable cutlet was created when German and Austrian immigrants brought their recipes for Wiener Schnitzel with them from their homelands, but substituted the locally available beef for the veal or pork normally used.


I ‘liked’ chicken friend steaks growing up, but I can’t say that I was in love with them until I tasted a real Texas hill country example a few years back. This was at the Blue Bonnet Café in Marble Falls, Texas, and their CFS was the best I’d ever tasted. It was savory and tangy, with a tight, crisp batter on the steak which seemed to melt in my mouth. It is this particular version that I’ve tried to replicate in the recipe below.


Chicken Fried Steak

4 cubed steaks, or tenderized cutlets of eye of round
1 cup lard or other shortening
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
cup flour
1 tablespoon granulated garlic
1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons salt


Select the best cubed steaks at your grocer or butcher that you can get.

Look for steaks with as little fat as possible. If you live far away from Texas and her environs, and cubed steaks aren’t available, ask the butcher to cut you some thin cutlets of eye of round, and have him run them through a tenderizer if he has one. Here in Texas and the South butchers have a special cubing machine which puts little cuts all through the steak (creating the ‘cube’ steak) which makes the otherwise tough cut of round steak more tender. You want to use these tough cuts that have been cubed or tenderized, as they stand up better to frying.

Heat your lard or other shortening in a large skillet until it reaches around 375 degrees F. (If you don’t have a quick read thermometer, just go for medium high) Some of you may be a bit put off by my use of lard in cooking, if you aren’t familiar with it. It is merely rendered pork fat, and while it is higher in saturated fats than Crisco or similar vegetable shortening, it has no trans fats, which I believe are worse for you. But, it provides a taste to fried foods that are out of this world! If you ever taste chicken fried in lard, you will know it. It will be some of the best you’ve ever had. The same goes for CFS, so give it a try once in a while, for a special treat. Lard is usually available in the Mexican or sometimes other ethnic sections of the grocery store.

While your lard is heating, prepare your cutlets. Mix the flour with the garlic, paprika and salt and place in a wide bowl.

In another bowl, whisk together the egg and the buttermilk.

Take a cutlet, dredge it in the flour mixture, and then in the buttermilk/egg mixture. Once it is well coated with buttermilk, return it to the flour and turn until it is well coated. Place on a plate. Repeat with the other cutlets.

When the lard is up to temperature, place the cutlets in the pan.  Let cook for a few minutes, long enough for the steaks to release from the pan. Flip the steaks, and allow to cook for a few more minutes. The breading should be a nice golden brown color, but not too dark.

When the steaks are done, drain them on a paper towel on a plate for a minute or two, and then serve immediately.

While they are draining, it would be a good time to make some Buttermilk Gravy to go with them...gravy with chicken fried steaks is a must.  Here we've served the steaks with mashed potatoes and a cheddar drop biscuit. 

Until next time,

Don’t be a chicken...fry up some steaks!

Chris

Buttermilk Gravy

There’s nothing like homemade gravy to spice up your dinner, or should I say, supper--the preferred term here in the south. Some people are intimidated by gravy making.  I used to be too, until I realized the secret was to add everything a little bit at a time, and stir, stir, stir.



Buttermilk Gravy

Browned bits and a little grease left over from frying
1/4 cup flour
1.5 cups buttermilk
Salt and Pepper to taste

The first, and most important step, to making buttermilk gravy is that you need to have fried something first. It doesn’t matter what, as long as it is breaded, but I would recommend Fried Chicken, or better still, Chicken Fried Steak, something with which the gravy goes wonderfully.

After you have completed your fried item, remove most of the grease from the pan. The grease can be made up of Crisco, regular shortening, or even lard (which is what I use to fry chicken fried steaks). When you drain the grease, try to leave most of the little browned bits behind in the skillet. These are what will flavor your gravy.

Now, continue to heat the little bit of grease you have left in the pan, and gently sift in the flour. You’ll want to do just a little bit at a time, watch it brown, and then add more.

Once the flour has browned, add your buttermilk a little at a time, and begin to stir or whisk vigorously.

If you add the milk too fast, you can cool the pan down, and when it heats back up the milk will curdle. If you do it slowly, a little at a time, you will maintain a nice boil, and you will eventually have a nice gravy when you have added all of the milk. At this point it should look like the photo below.

Continue to stir, and add salt and pepper the gravy to taste. Serve immediately.

Until next time,

Good Gravy to ya!

Chris

Roast Cornish Game Hens

Cornish Game Hens are a delightfully plump little poultry that get their name from Cornwall, an area on the tip of England’s southernmost peninsula. But thankfully, these days these delicious little dainties are available all over the world, usually found in frozen form in your grocer’s freezer.

For such little birds, they have a surprising amount of meat on ‘em, and what a tasty meat it is. I find Cornish hens a bit richer than chicken, and listed below is a simple recipe that really brings out but doesn’t cover up their flavor.


Roast Cornish Game Hens

2 Cornish game hens
Salt and pepper to taste
2 lemons, sliced in eight pieces
8 sprigs fresh rosemary
3 tablespoons olive oil
24 cloves garlic
1/3 cup white wine
1/3 cup chicken broth


Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Rub hens with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Lightly season hens with salt and pepper. Place 4 lemon wedge and a couple sprigs of rosemary in cavity of each hen.

Tie legs closed with cooking twine to help keep lemons in cavity. Arrange in a large, heavy roasting pan, and arrange garlic cloves around hens.

Roast in preheated oven for 25 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F. In a mixing bowl, whisk together wine, chicken broth, and remaining 2 tablespoons of oil; pour over hens. Continue roasting about 25 minutes longer, or until hens are golden brown and juices run clear.   Baste with pan juices every 10 minutes. 

Transfer hens to a platter, pouring any cavity juices into the roasting pan. Tent hens with aluminum foil to keep warm. Transfer pan juices and garlic cloves to a medium saucepan and boil until liquids reduce to a sauce consistency, about 6 minutes. Spoon sauce and garlic around hens. Garnish with rosemary sprigs if you like, and serve.

Cheerio!

Chris

Beef Bourguignon

Nothing says French cooking like Beef Bourguignon, the classic beef stew in red wine that was Julia Child’s piece de resistance.  I had been making it for years with a recipe from a little paperback cookbook of my Mom’s from the nineteen fifties (pictured above), and it was not a bad recipe.  But when the wife gave me Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Julia Child’s classic treatise on French cuisine, I modified my recipe to be more in line with Julia’s.  As Julia herself says, “there are more ways than one to arrive at a good Boeuf Bourguignon.”   I didn’t switch completely over to her recipe, because I like cooking the dish completely on the stove top, rather than in the oven as a casserole.

Mine is also a bit more of a hasty version than Julia’s; you can pull it off in two hours if you're quick, and use a more tender cut of meat, like sirloin tip. If you go with chuck or round, an extra hour or two of cooking would be in order.


Beef Bourguignon

3 strips thick cut smoked bacon
Olive Oil
3 pounds lean stewing beef, cut into chunks
2 carrots, sliced
1 onion, diced
Salt
Pepper
3 cups full bodied red wine
2 cups brown beef stock
1 tablespoon tomato paste
3 cloves diced garlic
1 teaspoon thyme
Bay leaf, crumbled
20 or so small white onions, peeled
1 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced.
Butter
1 teaspoon cornstarch and a quarter cup water


Cut the bacon into lardons, or little matchsticks about a quarter of an inch across.

Coat the bottom of a Dutch oven or deep pan with the olive oil, and fry the matchsticks of bacon until they are brown and begin to crisp.

Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Next, saute the beef chunks a little at a time for a few minutes each, until all sides are brown.

Remove the beef and set aside.

In the same pan, saute the sliced carrots and onion.

Return the beef and bacon to the pan, and season with salt and pepper. Add the wine and beef stock. Add the tomato paste, garlic and herbs. Bring to a simmer, and let cook on top of the stove for at least one hour. (more time if using tougher cuts of meat).

Keep an eye on it so that it does not boil–you want a slow simmer so the meat tenderizes and the flavors meld, but you don’t lose all of your liquid.

While the meat is cooking, prepare the little onions and mushrooms. I use a little trick to make peeling the onions easier. I drop them in boiling water for about a minute or two, then strain. The peels will slip right off. (They are otherwise very difficult to peel).

Saute the onions in olive oil for until they are lightly browned. Set aside.

Saute the mushrooms in butter until they are golden and have stopped giving out any liquid.

When your beef/wine mixture has reduced by about a half, add the mushrooms and boiler onions. Mix the cornstarch with the water, and add it to your stew, stirring until it thickens. You can serve immediately, or prepare up to one day ahead. Your Beef Bourguignon will surprisingly gain flavor when reheated.

Here we’ve served it up with some fluffy mashed potatoes, and a crusty French baguette.

Bon Appetit

Chris

Flashback to Tuscany - Steaks on the Fire

(This is the second in a series on cooking in Tuscany.  Part 1 here)


When we visited Tuscany in ‘09, our villa had this wonderful open hearth fireplace.

As it was cold most nights, we put it to good use. As I sipped wine beside it the first night, I couldn’t help but ponder that it had probably been used for cooking in centuries past. And that got me to thinking, why not try to cook something with it?

The answer, of course, was steaks. We hit the market the next day, and I selected a couple different cuts to attempt to cook over the open flame of the fireplace. I got two good sized filet mignons, as well as some thin cuts from the rib section (what I would call 'entrecote' if I were in France).

Now, how to cook the steaks? Luckily, there was a large iron skewer next to the fireplace. It was probably meant more to be a poker, but I cleaned it up and rubbed it with a little olive oil, and the steaks slid on it no problem.

I initially held the steaks over the fire, trying to get a good sear, but it was not to be. The steaks weren’t searing, but the skewer was becoming too hot to hold. So, I went to plan ‘B.’ There was something resembling a rack in front of the fire, so I laid the skewer across this, and went back periodically and turned the meat.

The steaks eventually cooked, but it was slow going. Since they sat more in front of the fire than above it, there was no high heat cooking going on, but more of a slow roasting. The cuts I selected would have benefitted more from the intense heat of a charcoal fire, and I found that they were so lean they dried out a little. If I cooked with an open fireplace fire like this again, I would get a tougher, more roast-like cut like an eye of round, which would benefit more from slow cooking.

So, a few days later the wife and I were wandering through the San Lorenzo Market in Florence, and I spotted this amazing hunk of beef.

Yes, that’s an entire primal cut from which T-bones and porterhouses are cut. My mouth was practically drooling as I told the butcher in broken Italian to cut me a two inch thick porterhouse. He hacked away with a cleaver, and this is what we had when we got home.

I knew I had to grill this one up proper, so I asked the lady next door if she knew where I could get a grill. She said she had one, and would be glad to loan it to us. Well, it turned out to be the worlds smallest grill, measuring just big enough to fit that massive porterhouse on top. But, it did the trick.

The fireplace helped out as well. I used some burning embers from it to start the little bag of charcoal which we’d also found in the market.

This time, we got a perfect steak for our efforts. Mama Mia was it good!  And big enough to serve two!

So, until we meet again, I'll leave you with a last image, from that same night:  Twilight gathering over the city of Florence in the distance.  Makes me wish I were there once again, drinking wine, and cooking something delicious!

Until next time,

arrivederci,

Chris

Coq Au Vin

Chicken stewed in rich red wine.  Mmmm, the French certainly know how to live...and how to eat.  This is one of my favorite dishes from the Auvergne/Bourgogne region of France, though these days you can find it all over.  Of course, it's frightfully easy to make yourself, you just need to allow enough time for the chicken to slow cook in the burgundy wine until it's almost fall-off-the-bone tender and full of flavor.  I usually start several hours before my planned dinner time.
 

I also start with a whole chicken.  While you can buy your chicken already cut up, I like to use a whole bird, as you get more bang for your buck, and you also get things like the neck and back bones, and more bones in the stew mean more flavor in your sauce.  (You can discard the bones after you're done)  I also enjoy cutting up the bird--it's a good skill to keep up in your kitchen repertoire.  I also encourage using the whole bird because you get a pretty much equal amount of light and dark pieces, and your sauce won't be as rich without the dark meat.  If you've got a lot of white meat eaters in the house, buy a couple extra breasts and make a slightly larger batch of Coq Au Vin. 

Coq Au Vin - A French Chicken Casserole

1 Chicken, cut into 10 serving pieces
6 Tablespoons all purpose flour
1 Bouquet Garni (Bay Leaves, Thyme, Parsley, Rosemary)
2 Slices of thick bacon
1 Tablespoon olive of vegetable oil
2 Tablespoons butter
24 small mushrooms
24 pickling onions, peeled
1 bottle red burgundy wine
3 cloves garlic, peeled

Cut the chicken into 10 pieces:  Two breasts, two thighs, two drumsticks, two drumettes, and two flappers.  I use a cleaver to chop up the bird, so I never seem to be accurate enough to split the spine, so this usually comes out as a 'bonus' 11th piece.  There's no meat on this 'backbone' piece, but it's a good piece for stewing, so I add it to the pot, and discard it later.  Here's what I've got when I'm done:

Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper, then dredge in the flour.  Set them aside for now. 

Next, cut your bacon rashers (did you know pieces of bacon were called rashers?) into matchsticks, as in the picture below. 

Saute the bacon matchsticks in a large pot until they become crispy.  Remove and set aside.  Add the oil and butter to the pot and saute the onions and mushrooms until golden brown.  (regarding those little onions...they can be tough to peel.  A trick to make things easier.  Drop them in boiling water for a minute or two, then strain.  Their peels will slip right off.  Dry them well before you saute)

Remove the onions and mushrooms and add to the bacon.  Set this aside for now.  At this time you can start browning your chicken pieces, two or three at a time, until they all have a nice sear.  At this point, many Coq Au Vin recipes will tell you to add all the pieces to the pot, pour cognac over them, and ignite.  I used to do this, as it was cool to see that pretty blue open flame in the pot, but I've since made the dish several times without this step, and have noticed no difference in flavor.  I now consider it a waste of good cognac.  Or even bad cognac.  So just skip this step and save the courvoisier for the ladies man. 

Add the chicken pieces to the pot, and add the wine.  You don't need a top notch burgundy for this, really any good red table wine will do.  I use a wine called L’Epayrié, which you can find in most grocery or liquor stores.  I buy a 1.5 litre, so I can make sure to have enough to just cover the chicken in the pot, and still have enough left over for a few glasses for the chef. 

Bring the wine to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.  At this point, add the bouquet garni, and salt and pepper to taste.  Some people also add a little nutmeg and sugar at this point, but I find I like it better without.  Oh, what's a bouquet garni, you ask?  This is a little bundle of herbs you will encounter often in French cooking.

A bouquet garni is simply bay leaves, parsley, thyme and rosemary tied together with cooking twine into a little bundle, as shown below. 

Add it to the pot, and let it simmer away for an hour or two.  The longer, the better, in my opinion.  But make sure you keep the pot on a gentle simmer--you don't want to boil away the wine.  Thirty minutes before you are ready to serve, add the mushroom/onion/bacon mixture back in and simmer for, you guessed it, thirty minutes.

To serve, remove the chicken pieces from the pot and arrange on a serving platter.  Remove the bouquet garni and discard.  I also use a skimmer and remove the mushrooms and onions and place on the platter as well.  Now, turn up the heat and boil the remaining liquid until it reduces to a thick sauce, which should happen in a few minutes.  If it doesn't seem to be thickening for you, add a little mixture of corn starch and water, a few drops at a time, until the sauce thickens.

Serve the sauce in a carafe or small pitcher so your guests can pour it over the chicken.  The dish goes lovely with a side of roast potatoes.

Enjoy, and until next time, Bon Appetit!

Spiced Autumn Soup

I came across this recipe in an old cookbook, and was enchanted by the name. I love all things Autumn, from the blazing, colorful foliage to the early chill in the air; from the scent of chimneys firing up for the first time to the bountiful harvest of fruits and vegetables that are available fresh from the farmer’s market.

This soup makes good use of those fruits and veggies. We tried it a several years back, and have now made it just about every year to celebrate the season.


Spiced Autumn Soup

4 Tablespoons Butter
2 Large Onions, Coarsely Chopped
2 Potatoes, Coarsely Chopped
2 Carrots, Coarsely Chopped
3 Cloves Garlic, Crushed
Zest and Juice of 1 Orange
2 teaspoons mild Curry Powder
7 ½ Cups (1.8 liters) Chicken Stock
26 oz. Canned Chopped Tomatoes
2 Apples, Peeled and Chopped
1 Tablespoon dried Basil
Salt and Black Pepper

Melt the butter in a large saucepan, and add the onions, and cook for a few minutes, until they begin to turn clear. Add the potatoes, carrots, garlic and zest, and cook gently, stirring occasionally, for about 5-10 minutes.

Zesting an Orange:  If you're like me, and have been to too many Pampered Chef parties, you probably have this citrus zester:

It makes short work of zesting an orange peel:

If you don't have this fancy little gadget, you can just use a peeler and then dice the zest with a kitchen knife.  If you have a particularly large orange on your hands, you might only use half the zest...it is pretty pungent. 

Next, add the curry powder and cook, stirring, for 1-2 minutes more. Then add the stock, orange juice, tomatoes, apples, basil, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.

Puree the soup in a food processor or blender until smooth.

Return to the pan, reheat, and taste for seasoning.

Serve at once, preferably with some crusty, fresh baked bread or herb croutes.

(coming soon in a future blog post:  Rustic French bread!)

Hope you like the soup.  Until next time, Happy Autumning!


Chris