Few things say southern like Chicken Fried Steak and I think everyone needs to know how to make it! It used to intimidate me, but I’ve made it so much now it’s become second nature – almost as much as eating it is. It’s not hard to make and you’ll be the star of the show when you do ( even though one secret ingredient really makes it that. ) This crispy delicious use of a versatile piece of meat is a must cook, must eat! Watch the video and get recipe card below. Then get ready to get your fry on.

Order Musket Powder seasoning HERE and use code TFW for 10% off!

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Best Chicken Fried Steak & Gravy

Author Meredith Bernard

Ingredients

• 1 lb. Beef Cubed Steak
• 1 sleeve saltine crackers crushed
• 1 cup all purpose flour plus 2-3 tbsp for gravy
• 1 cup vegetable or canola oil
• 2 tsp Musket Powder Seasoning optional
• Season Salt for dusting meat and adding to gravy
• 2 eggs
• ¼ cup milk

Instructions

For Meat:

• Cut cubed steak into 4″ pieces (I cut my large pieces in half), sprinkle both sides with season salt and Musket Powder
• Combine flour, crushed saltines (and more seasoning if you wish) in a gallon plastic (or paper) bag
• Beat eggs and milk in bowl
• One by one, shake pieces of steak to coat in plastic bag, then dip individually in egg mixture, drain, and re-coat with flour mixture in bag
• Fry steaks once all coated in med-high heated oil in skillet until golden brown, flip and fry other side the same
• Once meat is done, place on a rack on a foil lined baking sheet in 200 degree oven to keep crispy until time to eat

For Gravy:

• Reserve a few tablespoons of drippings from frying meat and add enough milk to fill skillet half-way. Dust a few tablespoons of flour over top and whisk until thickened over low heat. Add season salt (or table salt) to taste. Serve hot over meat and mashed potatoes.

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There’s nothing quite more southern or summer than a day spent on the banks of a farm pond, catching a mess (in our case – a LARGE mess) of fish, then taking it home to clean, fry and eat alongside southern fried hushpuppies and homemade slaw. If a day gets much better than this one, I’m not sure what it would be. Watch below to see our girl slay the day and my attempt to slay in the kitchen what was un-filleted. From pond to plate, we caught some great memories and a really good meal.

Thank you to our friends at House Autry for sponsoring this blog and vlog! Get your own “Southern as a Hushpuppy” shirt here, whether you’re southern by birth or just wish you were.

RECIPES

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Southern Fried Fish

Author Meredith Bernard

Ingredients

• 1 Mess Fish
• 1 Box/Bag House-Autry Seafood Seasoned Breading Mix
• Oil for frying

Instructions

• Preheat oil in deep fryer to 350ºF.
• Moisten fish with water. Shake off excess.
• Coat fish with Breading Mix by shaking together in plastic or paper bag. (Use only enough to coat fish. May not require entire box or bag.)
• Deep fry in oil 2-3 minutes or until cooked through.

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Southern Fried Hushpuppies

Author Meredith Bernard

Ingredients

• 1 cup House-Autry Hushpuppy Mix
• 1/2 cup water
• Oil for frying

Instructions

• Combine House-Autry Hushpuppy Mix and water in bowl. Let stand for 5 minutes. Drop batter by rounded tablespoonfuls into 375°F oil and fry 3 minutes or until golden brown. Makes about 20 hushpuppies.

My fish-slaying farm kids.

My husband. The farmer-fisherman.

Clara. The fish watcher.

My people. My heart.

Lures. Because they’re pretty. Sorta.

The post From Pond to Plate: Southern Fried Fish and Hushpuppies appeared first on .

Skillet cornbread is the cure to a lot that ails. Especially when you incorporate large amounts of butter and the other great butter – buttermilk. Ok, that’s not butter, but it’s in the name and that has to count for something.

When House Autry asked to partner with me, the very first thing I knew I wanted to showcase was cornbread! And I’ve been asked more than once (more than ten times even) to share how I make it. Now the wait is over! (I hope those ten plus people watch and read. :))

First things first – I’m fan-girling to partner with House-Autry. Around our house their products have always been the gold standard for meal and breader. Period. It’s what I watched my Dad use every time he fried fish and made hushpuppies and as long as I’ve been frying all the foods, I’ve always used House-Autry. Because it’s good and it works. And to boot, it’s born and “bread” in my home state of North Carolina – pun definitely intended.

This is the tale of two cornbreads. Watch the video to hear the reason. Hint, it involves these two beautiful souls I got to call Granny for not nearly enough years. But while I had them, they taught me a lot, loved on me more, and fed me better than well.

From Left to Right : My Granny Austin and Granny Grace

I hope you enjoy the video, but even more I hope you enjoy your own skillet cornbread. It’s a thing of beautiful, delicious memories y’all. Even more so when shared around the table with people you love. Happy cooking!

Your butter-loving-cast-iron-cooking friend,

Meredith

P.S. To take your skillet cornbread to the next level, slather it with some Garlic Scape Compound Butter. Hearty Sol’s recipe is amazing and elevates so many types of foods – pasta dishes, the top of a steak, fish, your spaghetti dish, potatoes or other veggies, and of course cornbread, toast, and biscuits!

Step 1. Gather the stars of the show.

Step 2. Pre-heat oven to 425 and let stick of butter melt in the skillet while oven warms up. Watch that it doesn’t burn. Use less butter if you must, but trust me, a stick is worth it. While that melts, mix the other stars of the show.

Step 3. Poor cornbread batter over melted butter and cook 18-25 minutes until golden brown. (This photo is half-way to done).

Step 4. Use a hot pad (this is important, y’all! Ask me how I know…) and prepare yourself to be amazed. Remove hot cornbread from oven, invert on a plate if you wish, and apply more butter (or not. But I always do.) Eat. And be amazed.

Recipe for Fried Skillet Cornbread

Step 1. Heat 1 c. canola oil in skillet over medium heat

Step 2. Combine 1 c. House Autry White Self-Rising Corn Meal Mix, 1 c. buttermilk, 1 egg and 1 tbsp. canola oil.

Step 3. Once oil is hot (my trick – flick some water in grease until it “sings” – see video), use small ladle to drop in batter. My 12″ skillet held about 6 dollops. (Can we agree dollop is a great word?) ((Also pretend there is a photo here. I was too busy flipping cornbread and trying to video it. It got a little crazy, y’all.))

Step 4. Once each “dollop” is spread out and brown on bottom, flip with large slotted spoon and cook until brown on top, about 1 minute per side.

Step 5. Place cornbread on paper-towel lined baking sheet to absorb grease while they wait patiently on the rest of their friends to join them.

Step 6. Call the family in for hot cornbread and be prepared to get out of the way – at my house they come hungry and it goes fast. If any is left, serve alongside your favorite cornbread loving dish. Chili is amazing. But my Granny’s chicken pastry was the best.

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Cast Iron Skillet Cornbread

Author Meredith Bernard

Ingredients

• 1 cup House Autry White Self-Rising Corn Meal Mix substitute: 3/4 cup regular cornmeal, 3 TBSP flour, 1 TBSP baking powder
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 tbsp canola oil
• 1 egg
• 1 stick butter (For Baked Cornbread)
• 1 cup canola oil (For Fried Cornbread)

Instructions

• For baked cornbread, Preheat oven to 425 and melt stick of butter in 10″ or 12″ skillet while oven heats up.
• For fried cornbread, heat 1 cup canola oil in skillet over medium heat.
• For both recipes, mix corn meal mix, buttermilk, 1 tbsp oil and 1 egg together in bowl.
• For baked cornbread, pour batter over melted butter and cook 18-25 minutes, until golden brown.
• For fried cornbread, ladle small spoons of batter into hot grease, flipping when golden brown on bottom and taking out when both sides golden brown, placing cooked cornbread on paper towel lined baking sheet.

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