chicken-fried steak
- Also called:
- country-fried steak
chicken-fried steak, battered and fried steak dish popular in the southern United States. The meat—usually tenderized cube steak—is dipped in a milk or egg wash, dredged with seasoned flour, and fried in a skillet or deep-fried. It is served smothered in a creamy gravy traditionally made with pan drippings. The term chicken-fried comes from the manner in which the meat is breaded and cooked, which is similar to the preparation of fried chicken.
Chicken-fried steak is commonly thought to have originated in Texas, the product of German and Austrian immigrants who adapted the dish from wiener schnitzel, which is similarly cooked but uses veal and breadcrumbs. Chicken-fried steak also resembles cotoletta alla milanese, an Italian dish in which tenderized veal or pork is breaded and fried.