Chicken Fried Steak

A bare-bones version of chicken fried steak with no ingredient list and no cut named — the method is the whole recipe, so a few details are worth spelling out.

• The cutNo cut is named. The instruction to hack the meat points to a thin, lean, tough steak — round steak, or what a butcher may call cube steak once it has been run through the tenderizer. As a modern guide, figure about 1/3 to 1/2 lb per person, cut roughly 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.
• "Hack meat slightly"Score the surface in a shallow crosshatch with the knife tip, or pound it with the edge of a heavy plate or a mallet. The point is to cut the long connective fibers of a working muscle so the piece does not curl and toughen in the pan. Cube steak is already hacked and needs none of this.
• The cold-water soakA few minutes in cold water leaves the surface wet so the flour clings without egg, in place of the milk-and-egg dip used in other versions of the dish. Drain but do not pat dry, then season and flour just before the meat goes into the fat, or the coating turns pasty.
• "Hot fat"The recipe gives neither depth nor temperature. In modern terms, enough fat to come a third of the way up the meat, at roughly 350-375F — hot enough that a pinch of flour sizzles at once. The fat of the period would most likely have been lard, shortening or bacon drippings; any neutral oil with a high smoke point works. Too cool and the crust absorbs grease instead of setting.
• TimingThin steaks want 3-4 minutes a side and no more. The recipe gives no time at all; judge by color and pull the meat when the crust is deep brown. Long cooking is what makes round steak dry and grey inside.
• Do not crowd the panTwo or three pieces at a time in a 10-inch skillet. Each addition drops the fat temperature, and a pan packed with steak steams rather than fries — which loses the crust the recipe is built around.
• Cooking over a fireIf cooked outdoors, this belongs in a heavy skillet or Dutch oven over coals rather than flames, where the heat is steady. Rake a level bed and keep a cooler zone at the edge to hold finished pieces.
• ServingThe drippings and browned flour left in the pan are the traditional base for cream gravy, though the recipe does not mention it. Serve immediately; the crust softens within minutes of resting.