Acorn Schnitzel / Chicken Fried Steak
Chicken fried steak, sometimes called country fried steak, is on of Texas’s great contributions to world cuisine. Except it’s not from Texas at all - it’s simply an American version of a German Schnitzel. The big difference between the two is that the American version uses red meat - typically beef - instead of pork.
In truth, this recipe works with any meat. To do it as chicken fried steak, use beef, venison, or elk. To do it as a schnitzel, use pork. If you’re feeling fancy, you could also use duck or goose. You can even use chicken. After all, chicken-fried chicken is just, well, really good fried chicken.
Whatever your protein of choice, this recipe is delicious. By replacing wheat flour with acorn flour we make the recipe gluten free and improve the flavor - acorn really shines in breading. The tradeoff is that acorn breading tends to be a bit thinner and doesn’t puff up the way wheat flour breading does
Ingredients
For the steak
2 eggs
2 cups acorn flour
2 lbs meat. If you’re going beef, flank steak works well but so can any relatively lean cut.
salt, pepper, and paprika to taste
a stick of butter or other frying oil of choice. Rendered beef fat is delicious, but can be hard to get. Duck and goose fat is divine but expensive. Butter and olive oil scorch if they get too hot, but can work well as long as you watch your heat. Acorn oil would be thematic, but cooking oil removes most of the flavor and so it isn’t really worth the cost.
Variations:
Use 1 cup acorn flour and 1 cup bread crumbs from your favorite acorn bread for a thicker breading.
For the gravy
3 tbs acorn starch
Salt, pepper, and other seasonings to taste. Garlic powder is nice and complements the acorn well. Depending who I’m cooking for, I may or may not fight my constant urge to add chili peppers to everything. Chipotle is nice if you go that route.
2 cups milk
(Optional) 1 cup sautéed mushrooms and green onions.
Process
Lay your meat on a cutting board or butcher block and rub salt and seasoning into it. Let it sit at room temperature for 10-15 minutes like that.
Using a meat tenderizer, pound it out to no more than 1/4 inch thick. Start at the center of the cut and spiral out towards the edges as you pound to slowly flatten and spread the meat. If you have a large piece of meat, you may want to cut it into more manageable size pieces before you start. Using the flat side will give a smoother final piece, the pointed side will break it up faster. Do you.
In two flat pans (I often use pie pans, prepare your breading. Eggs and milk go in one, whisked together thoroughly. Flour and seasoning goes in a second. If you’re using breadcrumbs, those go in a third along with half the seasoning.
Set a saucepan up on your stovetop with your fat of choice for frying and set it to a medium high heat. On my induction stovetop, I set it at a 7 to heat up and then turn it down to a 6. If you’re using butter and the butter starts to brown, it’s too hot.
Coat the meat in flour, then dip it in the egg-milk mixture, then back in the flour, then back in the egg. Repeat this 2-3 times to build up the thickness of your breading. If you’re using breadcrumbs, it goes in those last.
Put the breaded meat in the pan. You’ll probably want to let it cook a bit longer than you think you need - if you’re used to doing this recipe with wheat flour the brown color of the acorn can be deceiving and make you think it’s more cooked than it really is! For red meat, I like it medium rare - so an internal temperature of ~135 f.
When you’re done, use tongs to remove the cutlets and set them aside to rest.
To make the Gravy
While the meat is resting, pour 2-3 tbs of the leftover oil into a saucepan, along with any crunchy bits left in the pan and any unused acorn flour from the breading mix.
Add the acorn starch and seasonings and mix thoroughly, simmering on low heat to make a roux and develop the starch.
Once the roux is thick, add the milk and whisk thoroughly to blend. Let simmer on low heat, stirring occasionally until it thickens. This should take 5 minutes or less. If you want to be fancy, add in sautéed mushrooms and green onions.
Serve alongside biscuits and fried eggs for a truly memorable breakfast, or alongside mashed potatoes and roasted veggies for dinner.
