Country Fried Steak With Gravy Made in the Same Skillet

It is 6:05 on a Thursday, the day has taken more than it gave, and you want dinner that is not playing hard to get. This country fried steak recipe is cube steak, dredged twice, fried golden and smothered in a pepper cream gravy built in the same skillet, with mashed potatoes and biscuits on the side. It is comfort food after a bad day, and it asks you to put your phone down and pay attention to the pan.

A crisp crust, a pan gravy and a pile of mashed potatoes: dinner that forgives you.

The work in this country fried steak recipe is a breading station and a skillet. Flour goes in one dish with garlic powder, onion powder and paprika, eggs beaten with a splash of milk go in another, and each steak goes flour, egg, flour. The pan drippings become the gravy, so nothing is wasted and nothing needs a second pot except the potatoes.

How to make it

1. Season the 4 cube steaks with salt and black pepper. Set up a breading station with 1 cup all purpose flour mixed with 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp onion powder, and 1 tsp paprika in one dish and the 2 large eggs beaten with a splash of milk in another.
2. Dredge each steak in the seasoned flour then the egg then flour again pressing to coat.
3. Heat vegetable oil 1/2 inch deep in a large skillet over medium high heat. Fry the steaks 3 to 4 minutes per side until golden. Drain on paper towels.
4. Pour off all but 3 tbsp oil from the skillet. Whisk in 3 tbsp all purpose flour and cook 1 minute.
5. Slowly whisk in 2 cups milk and simmer 3 to 5 minutes until thickened. Season with salt and 1 tsp black pepper.
6. Boil the 2 lbs russet potatoes in salted water for about 15 minutes until tender. Drain and mash with butter or milk if desired.
7. Warm the can of 8 biscuits according to package directions. Serve the steaks smothered in gravy with the mashed potatoes and biscuits.

Notes

Cooked leftovers keep three to four days refrigerated, per USDA FSIS. Store the gravy and the steak in separate containers, because a crust that sits in gravy overnight turns soft.

Reheat the steak on a rack in the oven, or in a skillet with a little oil, so the coating crisps again, and warm the gravy gently with a splash of milk because it thickens as it cools. Mashed potatoes reheat with a little butter or milk stirred in.

Season the steaks with salt and black pepper before they go in the flour, and season the flour with garlic powder, onion powder and paprika. Seasoning only the coating leaves the meat bland, so do both.

Dredge each steak in the flour, then the egg, then back in the flour, and press to coat. Set the steaks on a plate for a minute before they go into the oil, so the coating settles against the meat.

The oil goes in a half inch deep, over medium-high heat. When a pinch of flour sizzles at once, it is ready. Fry the steaks three to four minutes per side until golden, and drain them on paper towels. Do not crowd the skillet, because it cools the oil and the coating soaks it up.

For the gravy, pour off all but three tablespoons of the oil, whisk in three tablespoons of flour and cook it for a minute. Leave the browned bits in the pan, since they carry the flavor. Then whisk in the milk slowly and simmer for three to five minutes until it thickens.

On SwipeCart this is a swipe-right dinner for the night you need to be fed more than impressed. The agent fills the cart with cube steak, potatoes, milk and a can of biscuits, and you handle the frying.

Swaps that actually work

The gravy is the point. It is the reason to make this at home, and it is a pan sauce that takes two ingredients and the drippings. If you swap anything in this country fried steak recipe, protect the gravy.

Cube steak, the cut in a country fried steak recipe, is a thin cut that has been tenderized, which is why it cooks fast and stays tender. Round steak pounded thin works if the store has no cube steak. Boneless pork cutlets also work, and they bring a different flavor.

The ingredient list mentions frozen breaded cube steaks as an alternative, and if you use them, follow the package for time and temperature and skip the breading step. You still get the gravy, and the dinner still comes together.

Milk is the base of the gravy. Whole milk makes a richer gravy than low-fat milk, and a splash of cream is a good finish. Stir in a little extra black pepper at the end, because a white gravy should taste peppery.

Mashed potatoes can be replaced with rice or buttered noodles, and the can of biscuits can be replaced with sliced bread or rolls. Green beans on the side are a good move if you want something that is not beige.

The swap that costs you the dish is skipping the flour in the gravy. Without it the milk stays thin, and you have a soup.

If it goes wrong

The coating fell off. The steak was wet when it was dredged, or the second flour coat was not pressed on, or the pan was crowded. Pat the steak dry, press firmly on the second dredge and fry in batches.

The crust is greasy. The oil was not hot enough. It should sizzle on contact, so wait for that and let it come back up to temperature between batches.

The gravy is lumpy. The milk went in too fast. Whisk hard, and if lumps stay, pour the gravy through a strainer and warm it gently.

The gravy is thin. It needs more time or more flour. Simmer it a few more minutes, or whisk a teaspoon of flour into a little cold milk and stir that in.

It tastes flat. Usually salt, then pepper. Taste the gravy before it goes on the plate and add both until it tastes good on its own.

What to serve with it

The default is what the recipe says: mashed potatoes and warm biscuits. The mashed potatoes catch extra gravy, and the biscuits mop up the plate.

The better version of the default has a green vegetable alongside, such as green beans or a simple cucumber salad. The thing in the fridge that lifts it is a splash of hot sauce on the gravy.

Leftovers make a decent next-day lunch, if you keep the gravy separate and reheat the steak in a hot oven so it crisps.

Why this one earns its place

This country fried steak recipe is the dinner for a night when you want to be looked after, and no one else is on the schedule, so you do it yourself. It is the kind of meal that makes a Thursday feel like a Saturday, and the gravy is the reason.

It also feeds four, so it works for a crowd as well as a date. Swipe it into your week, let the agent shop the cart, and keep a spoon handy for the last of the gravy.

Keep going with biscuits and gravy, beef stroganoff, or what's for dinner tonight.

More like this: all American recipes in Crave Corner.