The south is notorious for our fried foods, but if you ask every home chef has their different recipes and techniques. None of them are wrong, but all are tasty. The hardest part of frying chicken or any other food is the temperature of your oil. Too hot and your meat is not done underneath, too cold and you get soggy breading. So really its not something that is easily taught, its something you have to do over and over until you get it right. The recipe that I use is actually meant for chicken fried steak and wow as far as chicken fried steak goes this recipe hasn't been beat in my books.
First in a Ziploc bag (or a bowl whichever you choose)combine:
3 cups all purpose flour
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
5 tsp salt
1tsp pepper
Then in a separate bowl combine:
1tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
this mixture will bubble and foam (that's how you know your baking powder and soda is good)
this recipe will make about 6 (5 ounces each) cube steaks
pat the cube steaks dry with a paper towel just like any other meat that you were going to bread.
dip in the flour mixture first, shake off excess flour, and then into the egg mixture letting all excess drip off and then back into the flour.
If you like you can do all of your steaks at once and let them sit on a wire rack, i have found that this setting time makes for crunchier chicken fried steak.
fry at a range between 350-375 until deep golden brown on each side
serve with white gravy and mashed potatoes and enjoy!
I have used this recipe to fry chicken like most people would normally and its a little to dense for fried chicken , I prefer fried wings with some sauce anyways. :)
