Chicken Fried Steak

I was given a Fannie Farmer Cookbook for Christmas of 1990 from my Grandma Kress. It has seen it's time and was a wonderful help for me learning to cook when I was first married. It started to show its age a few years ago, so I put it in "storage". A few weeks back, while at Goodwill, I found a copy like mine and picked it up, so now I am back to using my favorite cookbook. Here is a recipe I found and used last night:

Chicken Fried Steak

1 lbs top round steak (I used cubbed steak)

1 C plus 3 T flour

Salt and freshly ground pepper

3 T vegetable shortening

1 large onion, coarsely chopped

1- C milk

Cut the steak into 4 to 6 serving pieces. Pound 1/4 C flour into the steaks using a meat pounder or the rim of a sturdy plate. Pound in as much flour as you can until the steaks are saturated and quite thin. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.

Heat the shortening in a large skillet over high heat. Cook the steaks very quickly, about 2-3 minutes on each side, until golden brown. Remove to a platter and keep warm.

Remove all but 2 T of fat. Add the onion and saute, over medium heat, for about 2 minutes, or until soft. Stir the remaining flour into the onion, continuing to stir, and let it cook for 2 or 3 minutes. Slowly add the milk, constantly stirring, and cook until the gravy is thickened. Serve with mashed potatoes.

This recipe served our little family of 4.

Milk v. Condensed Milk : Something I learned last night

Do NOT fool around with baking recipes. How many times has my mother told me to always make a recipe exactly as it is the first time around. How many times have I not listened to her. Too many times. "You can fool around with cooking, but NOT with baking," she says. Tonight I'm going to a girl's night sleepover with my cousins and I promised to make cookie dough balls. I can't recall who's blog I got them from..I should really start tracking that, so I apologize to whoever's recipe I'm going to post eventually. Last night, my dinner obligation canceled on me due to inclement weather we are having so I thought I'd get a head start and make them. The recipe called for condensed sweetened milk, whwich we did not have so I used milk and added extra brown sugar...bad idea. The two cups of flour that the recipe called for gave the dough a pasty flavor that no amount of sugar could destroy. That was the whole purpose of the SWEETENED condensed milk.

sigh.

So, tonight i'm trying again doing it the right way. I will let you know how it turns out.