Raise your hand if you have never heard of pork cube steak! Me, neither. I have seen cube steak before so I presumed that all cube steak was beef cube steak. A cube steak is simply a tougher cut of meat that has been tenderized – either using a mallet or using a mechanical tenderizer. When you first look at it, it almost looks like it is ground. But it’s not… Those funny marks are from the tenderizer.
Cube steak is an economical cut of meat and it can be a tasty main dish in not a lot of time. I ordered a cube steak from one of my local farmers the other week and I was surprised when I looked at it and it said, PORK cube steak. Hmmm… Why not? I stared at this pork for a few minutes before it suddenly came to me … Chicken Fried (Pork!) Steak.
I first heard of Chicken Fried Steak when I was in college visiting one of my good friend in Colorado. We would drive through these beautiful small towns along the Yampa River and discuss important things like the DOW reaching 10000 and our favorite foods. She could not believe I had never heard of Chicken Fried Steak. She tried to explain it to me but I was totally confused. To be honest, at that point in my life, I had never had fried chicken, so trying to explain Chicken Fried Steak to a girl who has never even had fried chicken was a challenge in and of itself. Fast forward ten + years and I have finally had fried chicken. Still had not had chicken fried steak … until now. Even though this is a pork cube steak and not a beef cube steak, I am going to check “Eat Chicken Fried Steak” off my bucket list. I can’t believe I waited this long to give it a try!
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| Pork Cube Steak … Four Thin Pieces |
There is no actual chicken in Chicken Fried Steak – this concept took me awhile to grasp. The basic idea behind chicken fried steak is that you season and “batter” your cube steak like you would your chicken for frying. I didn’t batter my cube steak so much as I did season it really well and dredge it in a little bit of gluten-free flour. I “fried” it in some olive oil – just enough oil to crisp up the seasoned coating on the steak.
If you can get your hands on some cube steak – beef or pork – give this simple recipe a try. I will definitely be making this again!
[yumprint-recipe id=’17’]
