Why Is It Called Chicken Fried Steak?

The technique for making schnitzel meat is similar to that for chicken fried steak.

No chickens were harmed in the making of this steak. Chicken fried steak is synonymous with comfort food for many in Texas and in some portions of the South and Midwest. The history of chicken fried steak is as rich as the dish itself and offers some clues to the naming of the entree. This battered and fried steak is not considered gourmet food, but it makes the most of a cheap, tough cut of beef to transform it into a toothsome treat. Does this Spark an idea?

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How It's Made
- Chicken fried steak consists of a tough round steak cut thin and punctured across the surface to tenderize it. This puncturing is also called cubing, but butchers will also sell pre-tenderized round steaks labeled as cube or cubed steak. This steak is dredged in a flour and egg batter and fried in a skillet of oil. Chicken fried steak is almost always served with white cream gravy.
History
- The origins of chicken fried steak are not set in stone, but food historians attribute it to a version of wienerschnitzel adapted by German settlers in central Texas to use the native longhorn cattle in Texas instead of veal. The longhorn meat had to be tenderized before flouring and frying. According to "The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink," the official name of chicken fried steak did not emerge until the Dallas Morning News published a recipe for "chicken fried steak with cream gravy" in 1932. This appears to be the first pairing of the name with the dish, but similar recipes for chicken fried steak had appeared in cookbooks for the 100 years before the Dallas Morning News recipe.
Where's the Chicken?
- Fried chicken and chicken fried steak share a similar name from their respective traditional preparation methods. Fried chicken is traditionally pan-fried in fat in a skillet. Today, modern restaurants deep-fry chicken to cook it faster. Some restaurants today deep-fry chicken fried steak, but this makes the dish unpalatable. Like traditional fried chicken, chicken fried steak should be pan-fried in oil in a deep skillet until crispy and cooked through. These common traditional preparation methods are the reason given for the naming of chicken fried steak.
Chicken Fried or Country Fried?
- While chicken fried steak is normally found in Texas and country fried in the South, these two terms appear on some restaurant menus interchangeably, but that does not mean that the dishes are the same. Preparation and toppings differentiate chicken fried and country fried steaks. Chicken fried steak has a batter containing eggs, but country fried steak uses a light flour dredging without eggs before frying it. The topping for chicken fried steak is almost always white gravy, but country fried steak is served with brown gravy.

Texas Monthly; "The Best Little Chicken Old Chicken Fried Steak in Texas: A Few Words on High Art in Low Places"; Richard West; May 1974
"The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink"; Andrew F. Smith; 2007
"The Big Texas Steakhouse Cookbook"; Janice Shay, et al.; 2011
"Good Eats 2: The Middle Years"; Alton Brown; 2010
"Good Eats: The Early Years"; Alton Brown; 2009