Category: Food

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Chicken-Fried Steak

Alton Brown had an amusing take on these flat meat diner foods in which he concluded that regional variances render this American staple undefinable. And if you were to try to find agreeable definitions, you would indeed be engaging in folly. Fortunately, I’m never too concerned with being agreeable here, so I’ll happily offer definitions.

Chicken-fried steak: flattened beef cutlet breaded with flour and deep-fried, then topped with sawmill gravy. Served with fries.

Country-fried steak: flattened beef cutlet breaded with flour and pan-fried, then topped with broth-based brown gravy. Served with fries.

Salisbury steak: cubed beef cutlet breaded with flour and pan-fried, topped with onions and braised in tomato sauce with broth. Served with mashed potatoes or vegetables.

There. I’ve managed to piss everyone off now.

But as for the nostalgia-based reason for this post: I miss chicken-fried steak, which was a staple of my west-Texas childhood. Every restaurant, diner, and cafeteria had it – usually as the first item on the kids’ menu. The Midwest, however, seems to favor country-fried steak. And I don’t remember ever seeing Salisbury steak outside TV dinners. And none of these variations are very common at all now, seeming only to occupy a niche in country home kitchen type restaurants like Bob Evans or Cracker Barrel (neither of which are very good, I’ll add).

But not being terribly culinary difficult, it can be easily made at home. Which I did.

Family reviews indicated that it was “not terrible”, and “not the worst thing I’ve ever had”. So I guess that’s why it doesn’t find its way onto many menus. It’s in actuality cheap food with minimal spices, relying on flavor through caloric addition.

But it did bring back memories.

–Simon

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Kurobuta Copa

I’d never had a copa roast. It’s apparently from the neck meat. Which means lots of connective tissue. Which means low and slow cooking…like in a crock pot!

Paired with mashed potatoes and an oniony brown sauce = yum.

–Simon

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Sweet and Savory Salmon Sauce

Sometimes a random dinner attempt turns out perfect, and I think that yes I should indeed quit my job and open a restaurant. And of course reality sinks in and I remember that I don’t like working those hours, or customers in general. What I’d really like is to own a private supper club and compare notes with like-minded foodie individuals while mutually experimenting – oh, and to deny entry to any boomer clientele (the in-laws can come if they promise to behave). And to have enough personal capital that running such a money-hemorrhaging fantasy wouldn’t matter.

In the meantime, I’ll just have to keep my gustatory glory at home and keep my day job. Oh well. So here’s my recipe:

Top sauce:

  • Lemon juice
  • Mayo
  • Honey
  • Salt
  • MSG
  • White pepper
  • Mustard powder

Bottom sauce:

  • Browned butter
  • Salted butter

Procedure:

  • Whisk the top sauce ingredients until smooth and creamy.
  • Melt the bottom sauce in a steel pan.
  • Place the salmon (de-skinned) on the bottom sauce on medium heat.
  • Flip the salmon every 1-2 minutes and shake gently to coat, until the internal temperature reads 115 (see prior posts on freezing salmon properly to avoid parasites). Remove salmon and set aside.
  • Spoon the bottom sauce onto plate.
  • Place salmon on plate.
  • Spoon top sauce onto salmon. Top with ground black pepper.

I garnished with a pomelo, of all things, because I had one on hand that needed to be used up, but I think some mandarin oranges would also work – a sweet/sour citrus to balance the heaviness of the bottom sauce and mingle with the top sauce.

And speaking of balance – the sweet/savory combination with the mild but noticeable spice choice worked just about perfect. So perfect, that Liz said this should be a restaurant menu item. I’ll keep that under advisement while I build out such a menu for the above fantasy supper club. You aren’t invited.

But enjoy the recipe.

–Simon