Day Eighty-Seven - Crispy Parmesan Country-Fried Steak (4.30.14)

Ingredients

• 6 beef cube steaks (about 5 oz. each)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/4 tsp ground red pepper (cayenne)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line cookie sheet with paper towels. In pie plate or on waxed paper, mix flour, Parmesan, salt, black pepper, paprika and ground red pepper. Reserve 1/4 cup flour mixture.
2. Dredge cube steaks in flour mixture to coat thoroughly. In 12-in. skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat until hot, but not smoking. Cook steaks, in batches, 2-3 minutes per side or until browned and steaks reach a minimum internal temperature of 155 degrees. Transfer steaks to cooke sheet to drain and place in oven. Repeat with remaining steaks, transferring each batch to cookie sheet in oven after cooking.
3. Reduce heat to medium. Stir reserved flour mixture into skillet; cook 2 minutes, stirring. Whisk in milk and chicken broth and heat to boiling, scraping up any browned bits in bottom of pan. Boil 4-5 minutes or until gravy reaches desired thickness.

Opinions
 

Potter: This one was interesting; it tasted great but wasn't quite what I thought it was going to be. It wasn't quite fried in the pan more just seared so in the end it mostly just tasted like steak and gravy. The not frying thing might have been my fault, since we don't have a 12 inch skillet I didn't use a full half cup of oil because I didn't want to have the oil too deep in the pan, I'm thinking the lack of oil is why we didn't quite get that country fried texture.

Katie: I agree with what Potter states above. It still had a great flavor, both meat and gravy, but didn't have that crispier country fried texture. This was another dish that proved to us we need a 12-in. skillet. We really need to get on that...maybe sometime soon.