Talk:Chicken-fried steak

Talk

I don’t care Where any of you are from and what your grandma told you and what her grandma told her but her grandma and your grandma don’t make country fried steak with chicken..

Alton Brown

What ever Alton Brown says about chicken fried steak shouldn't be taken too literally. If you must know about chicken fried steak, ask a true Texan. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.80.74.49 (talk) 19:46, 9 March 2011 (UTC)

Redirected from Milk Steak?

The article "Milk Steak" redirects here. While I'm guessing that Milk Steak is another word for Chicken fried steak in some regions, but if so this should be explicitly stated somewhere in the article. I'd edit the article myself, but I'm completely unfamiliar with the term. RCanine (talk) 00:04, 26 December 2010 (UTC)

Native Texan

This is the true Texas recipe for Chicken Fried Steak is all it has ever been called in Texas...Country fried is different and from different states. The recipe or ingredients are wrong...no one in Texas uses breadcrumbs...gross...it's flour. First, salt & pepper tenderized steak, dip in egg and milk batter, dip in flour (you can double dip if you want...repeat) fry in hot oil. (My grandmother used bacon drippings) You have to use a black iron skillet for best results. I still have my grandmothers and it is over 100 years old. Gravy is made with drippings and heavy cream. No beans on the side. It's served with mashed potatoes and gravy. The picture on the website does not even resemble a chicken fried steak... No other ingrediants, no onions, etc. This is the real deal...(Truetexan June 28, 2008) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Truetexan (talk • contribs) 16:13, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Questioning a couple of assertions

In the Southern regions where the dish developed, "country fried steak" is preferred as the name, with "chicken fried steak" being more common in non-Southern regions of the U.S.

Is there any attribution for this? I've always gathered that chicken fried steak was developed in Texas by Germans settlers, as an adaptation of schnitzel to local beef. The term "chicken fried steak" is more common in Texas. So what's the source on its origination in "country fried steak" regions? -Ben 02:58, 6 Jun 2005 (UTC)

It's history is much more varied and complicated. [1] is one good source. I agree, the text needs to be changed (or deleted for now), but perhaps we can do some digging around and find something better and more conclusive. (While it's original research, when I lived in TN some of the locals would get really bent out of shape if you called it Chicken Fried Steak---that's what Yankees and Texans called it...) -- Kaszeta 14:51, 6 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Being from Texas I've always heard chicken fried steak was developed in Texas by slaves who needed to do something with the round portion of the cow. Thats the story I've heard. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.67.162.222 (talk) 22:32, 7 April 2009 (UTC)

Agree with ben.

I currently live in Central Texas and have lived in Texas my entire life and "chicken fried steak" is the vastly more common nomenclature. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.28.66.95 (talk • contribs) 12:42, June 6, 2005 (UTC)

In Texas. The dish has a much longer history than just Texas. -- Kaszeta 14:51, 6 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Perhaps a list of varients should be made

In addition to Chicken Fried Chicken, I see Chicken Fried Pork in grocery stores. Joncnunn 21:21, 6 April 2006 (UTC)

Dish Name

Born in Georgia, I had never heard anything but country fried steak. However, I have heard the term chicken fried steak used almost exclusively in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.156.25.150 (talk • contribs) 21:33, May 5, 2006 (UTC)

Georgia-raised Chef Alton Brown, on his Food Network show Good Eats, has an episode called "Cubing Around," in which he starts with the same cut of beef, tenderized round steaks IIRC, and sends them in three directions: Chicken-fried, country fried, and Swiss steaks. Chicken fried steak is, as described, breaded and pan-fried, and served with a pan-gravy. Country-fried is dredged in flour, browned in a pan, and then stock is added to deglaze and make a braising liquid, to which the steak re-added until it is much more tender. Likewise, Swiss steak is pan-fried for browning and then braised, but the braising liquid is a more complicated tomato-based affair. He presenting the differences as geographical ones, and the show includes multiple names for the three dishes, but that one should not order one in a place not accustomed to serving it. At any rate, the comments make it fairly clear that Chicken-fried and Country-fried should not be converging at Chicken-fried. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.29.26.50 (talk • contribs) 01:53, November 9, 2006 (UTC)

City chicken?

Why does City chicken redirect here? Chicken fried steak is not the same as city chicken. Here is the best page I could find about the history of city chicken. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.216.98.46 (talk • contribs) 21:48, May 14, 2006 (UTC)

It appears to have been fixed to reflect the differences in the recipes. Jo7hs2 03:19, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

Chicken Fried Chicken

How is "chicken friend chicken", quote, "very different from fried chicken, even fried chicken made with boneless chicken breasts". This line basically says "frying a chicken like you would fry chicken isn't the same thing as fried chicken". Someone please add some insight, I've added a "cite" tag for the time being. JD79 03:15, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Other than the "even fried chicken made with boneless chicken breasts" bit that passage makes perfect sense to me. Where I'm from (Oklahoma) fried chicken is chicken that has been cut up, battered, and fried, while chicken fried chicken is the same as chicken fried steak, but with chicken used instead of steak. Confused? In other words, fried chicken is what you get in a big bucket at KFC-- the bones are still there, the meat can be white or dark, and it is possible/polite to eat it with your hands. Chicken fried chicken is made only with boneless breast meat that may have been tenderized. Since it lacks bones it is not plausible to pick up the dish and it is eaten with a knife and fork. --Lucy 24.12.29.153 21:43, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

One other point. Chicken fried chicken is served with cream gravy (at least at the places where I have eaten it here in Texas). As is the case with chicken fried teak, the cream gravy is typically generously poured over the chicken fried chicken. While one could pick up the chicken fried chicken and eat it, being covered in cream gravy, it would be rather messy. 2001:1890:1263:AFD:F81B:80A8:EDBD:853E (talk) 23:05, 16 November 2014 (UTC)

The previous poster is accurate, though the article could use some clarification on this point. The key idea is that "Chicken friend chicken" is really a proper name for a specific dish; the dish could as well be called "Mr. Smith's chicken." The original poster erred in trying to translate a proper name into plain English. I've tried to clarify this point a bit by cleaning up the allusions to "fried chicken" in the article, but it still is imperfect. 68.173.25.123 17:48, 28 May 2007 (UTC)Brad

Be careful about the name

The article as written at the moment implies that "chicken fried steak" has only one meaning in the U.S. which is not the case. I can attest to this personally as I once ordered a "chicken fried steak" at a Perkins in Minnesota and was disappointed to get a breaded chicken breast. The waitress and my inlaws were all surprised by my confusion since "obviously" I got what I ordered. My impression has always been that "chicken fried steak" is really only a term used in Texas and some other parts of the South. To the extent that it is seen in other areas of the country I have always understood this an attempt to "sound Southern." -- Mcorazao 15:08, 20 August 2006 (UTC)

At Perkins, what you wanted to order is a "Country Fried Steak." Perkins Menu Chikanamakalaka 20:04, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

I don't believe chicken-fried and country-fried are the same

chicken-fried steak is usually deep fried and country-fried is usually pan fried; there is a difference: country-fried steak can be easily cut with a fork whereas chicken-fried is crispier —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.35.78.5 (talk • contribs) 22:09, February 27, 2008 (UTC)

The article says that chicken-fried steak is "deep-fried in a pan" ... do they mean deep-fried or pan-fried? or am I missing something? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.188.20.15 (talk) 07:57, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

The difference is the amount of fat/oil in the pan. A chicken-fried steak needs to "swim" in the fat. Panfrying only requires enough fat so that nothing sticks to the pan. Janko (talk) 20:00, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

Calling it "deep fried in a pan" is just plain misleading. Yeah, you use plenty of fat in the pan, but that doesn't make it "deep fried". 2001:1890:1263:AFD:F81B:80A8:EDBD:853E (talk) 22:05, 16 November 2014 (UTC)

But it is an apt description. About the only time you will see chicken fried steak cooked in a deep fryer, at least in Texas and surrounding states, is when the patty was pre-battered and frozen in a manufacturing plant for use in cheap fast-food restaurants. I don't think I've ever seen a real steakhouse making chicken fried steak that deep fried it. 65.68.190.183 (talk) 09:41, 1 December 2017 (UTC)

In Michigan, it's usually known as "chicken fried steak" though "country fried steak" is used at few restaurants. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.41.71.180 (talk) 05:00, 23 May 2008 (UTC)

The Alton Brown reference above is spot on (though I have never made Swiss steak). Another discussion on the topic can be found in this article: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3676/is_199803/ai_n8802413/pg_1 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.110.240.132 (talk) 13:01, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

It's regional. I've always seen "country fried steak" as something precisely identical to what this article calls "chicken fried steak." Cracker Barrel restaurants refer to "country fried steak" and "chicken fried chicken," both of which are breaded & deep-fried. --Joe Sewell (talk) 19:19, 19 April 2018 (UTC)

I wouldn't exactly go by what Cracker Barrel restaurants says as being definitive of anything except their own marketing. 2001:1890:1263:A00:4637:E6FF:FE4B:F0D4 (talk) 03:45, 26 August 2018 (UTC)

That shows my point, though. The terms "country fried steak" and "chicken fried steak" can mean the same thing in some circles, and not in others. --Joe Sewell (talk) 17:21, 3 February 2020 (UTC)

Comparison to Wiener Schnitzel

I am Second Generation Hungarian-Canadian (so, of Hungarian descent with my native Hungarian family still here and alive), friends with many Germans (same food and traditions, different names) and diplomats. I have to say that Europeans will notice a HUGE difference between the two: chicken/country fried steak and schnitzel. I admit that I have often seen country fried steak mislabeled as schnitzel, mostly groceries stores and unfortunately my alma mater's cafeteria until I corrected them, by people in ignorance (which possibly contributes to further ignorance) or those trying to heighten the price (up north, the term/food country fried steak is considered somewhat bumpkin, where schnitzel would be foreign - guess which costs more). I can't prove it yet - all I've got is "personal research" and recipes that cite some changes in ingredients but mostly different preparation - but personally I would want to reword the article, once references can be found, to state something to the effect of: Due to related origin, chicken fried steak is sometimes mistakenly referred to as schnitzel in North America. However, chicken fried steak remains a distinct dish due to differences in taste, texture and thickness. --Blondtraillite (talk) 03:31, 27 January 2010 (UTC)

Country FS and Chicken FS are Not the Same Thing

I believe this article is innaccurate as written. Country Fried Steak and Chicken Fried Steak are not the same dish. The two dishes should be placed in seperate articles, or have a single article for "Fried Steak" which discusses each seperately. In the South, where I live, Country Fried Steak refers to a specific preparation involving breaded, fried, and (white gravy) smothered steak, using the leftover breading to form the gravy. Chicken Fried Steak is a distinctly Texas dish, and while I'll let a Texan define it, I've always understood it to be a bit crispier because it is not smothered in gravy, and some times with brown gravy. Oh, and btw, Alton Brown cooked "Country Style" not "Country Fried" steak. It was more like Salisbury than anything I've heard of. --dmprantz (talk) 21:18, 09 July 2010 (UTC)

Texan here. Chicken fried steak is breaded, fried and smothered in white gravy. You can ask for the gravy on the side, but it won't be served that way by default. My experience has been that the dish is the same, but called "chicken fried steak" in Texas and "country fried steak" elsewhere (or by non-Texan chain restaurants operating in Texas). I always assumed it was to reduce confusion about what kind of meat was in the dish. In the 1980s I asked for a chicken fried steak in Nashville and was met with blank stares and confusion. --A Texan, Feb 21, 2013 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.79.31.34 (talk) 04:39, 22 February 2013 (UTC)

I just love this dish http://swedish-recipes.net —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.28.168.225 (talk) 16:55, 9 November 2010 (UTC)

Sausage Gravy

I'm from South Texas and moved to Las Vegas in 2005 where I found a monstrosity that was a CFS topped with a cream gravy that had ground pork sausage mixed in. While I did find a few places that excluded the sausage, I made it a habit of asking before ordering. Now I live in Portland and, as of yet, I have not found a CFS served without sausage gravy. The few places that do have it on the menu advertise as "Soul Food" but seem to be a mish mash of Creole interpretations matched with a few Soul and/or Southern Comfort items. I think this wiki could use a mention that the sausage is a Northern variant and not remotely traditional.

Cookbook Reference in Sidebar

I tried to correct the internal link to a (or the, I didn′t check) cookbook in Wikibooks located in the information box below the main ingredients. The present link has a minor problem that sends the user to the page about how to find the correct subject. The link should be: Cookbook:Chicken-fried_Steak, a trivial difference, but I′m not experienced enough on Wikipedia yet even to find the present link, let alone to correct it, and I′ve made well over 2000 editorial contributions to Wikipedia since 2007.
☺ Dick Kimball (talk) 18:05, 8 August 2014 (UTC)

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no explanation of "chicken"!

The article at no point explains why the word "chicken" is (very confusingly) used in this dish! --Espoo (talk) 12:22, 18 April 2017 (UTC)

Of course it does. It's made in a similar manner to fried chicken. 65.68.190.213 (talk) 03:41, 1 December 2017 (UTC)

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The picture of chicken fried steak

That picture of chicken fried steak does not look at all appetizing. It doesn't even look like real chicken fried steak. And having brown gravy definitely does not help. If I got that at a restaurant, I would not be at all happy and would probably never go into that restaurant again.65.68.190.186 (talk) 01:38, 8 December 2017 (UTC)

I believe that is a pic of country fried steak, not chicken fried, which is unfortunate since the article specifically says the two should not be confused. LeeMNichols (talk) 14:11, 27 February 2019 (UTC)

Method of cooking

A real chicken fried steak is cooked in a pan filled deep with vegetable shortening or other oil. The vegetable shortening should be at least a little deeper than the chicken fried steak. It is pretty much like deep frying. Calling this pan frying is highly misleading. The article makes a mish-mash of this that can't help but confuse people. Country fried steak is a different dish entirely and should really be in a separate entry. 2001:1890:1263:A00:B862:6757:7671:A843 (talk) 06:37, 25 July 2018 (UTC)

To add to article

To add to this article: mention of the dish "chicken-fried chicken." 173.88.246.138 (talk) 03:48, 23 July 2022 (UTC)