Featured Menu:
Serves 4
Chicken-fried Steak
Creamy Mashed Potatoes
greens (Country-style Collards)
store-bought pound cake (Granny's Pound Cake)
In honor of our 40th anniversary, we'll be spotlighting our editorial staff's favorite recipes all year long. Veteran Test Kitchens Specialist and native Texan Vanessa McNeil Rocchio introduced her family's chicken-fried steak to Southern Living readers in 2001. Because of its crunchy coating, tender inside, and peppery gravy, we gave it our highest rating and added it to our personal recipe collections.
The secret to Vanessa's chicken-fried steak is in the breading. "Saltine crackers make a great crust," she says. To achieve maximum flavor, Vanessa suggests firmly pushing the cracker crumbs into the cube steak to fill the crevices and to keep the steak from shrinking as it cooks. One taste of this amazing dish, and you'll see why we couldn't help but name it one of our best-ever recipes.
This article is from the January 2006 issue of Southern Living.
