CFS

[Idahorn2]

Was reading the other day in Brittin and Daniels' "Texas on the Half Shell" that, for all the talk about chili and BBQ, the Texas Restaurant Association says (the book is nearly 30 years old) more CFS is served in Texas by weight than the other two combined.

There is a thread running elsewhere about where to go to get good CFS. Except for lukewarm praise for Cracker Barrel (there is one here in Boise), this does me no good. I will give theirs a try if I ever get done with my diet (30 down, 60 to go).

The first CFS I can recall eating was at a diner attached to a Standard station in Santa Anna in the Winter of '58. On any reasonable scale, it would be in the awful category--but I loved it and had a couple more during the week I was staying out there with my Grandparents. Very much like a grade B Sysco prefab product might be imagined now- or an elementary school lunchroom staple.

Pretty obvious CFS is roughly related to Wiener Schnitzel, which we have just about mastered using Mimi Sheraton's German cookbook. Every time we get a new Texas-related cookbook, I try the CFS recipe, or at least contemplate it. Beer batters, breading sticking to Carnation milk, yada yada. I made some a few years ago for dinner guests, but I ended up looking like Casper the Ghost and the kitchen floor was, well.... The CFS was just passable. Prudhomme has a recipe using tenderloin and cayenne--thereby gilding the lily to an all new depth of insanity.

Anyway--what is the best home recipe? Breaded or battered, deep or pan-fried? Egg, milk, buttermilk, or evaporated milk? What kind of fat or oil? Have to say I would not want it to be 2+ inches thick with the beef only a thin grayish brown streak. Maybe good round or even sirloin, about a half inch thick, pounded out.

 

[austintexas]

my $.02:
seasoned flour batter
buttermilk
pan fried
peanut oil
sirloin

 

[Idahorn2]

Should I infer that you dust the pounded sirloin with the salt and peppered flour, dunk it in the buttermilk, then back in the flour for a real coat?. Followed by the hot peanut oil. Do you cook it in deep fat or 1/2 inch or so of oil and turn it after awhile?

Thanks for the suggestion. I like the simplicity.

OOPS. Didn't see you said pan fried. Thanks again.

 

[DoubleMaduro]

This website and cfs recipe should be all you need for a good cfs and cream gravy.

www.texascooking.com/recipes/texascfs.htm

 

[Beef]

Cut and paste from my buddy M. Middleton

This is my personal “recipe” for THE BEST chicken fried backstrap, perfected through years of trial and error. Now, there ain’t nothin’ fancy about it, and it gets modified a little each time I cook it, depending on what spices are in the cabinet. The key to a perfect, tasty, crunchy, fluffy crust is to make sure you DOUBLE DIP it, and deep-fat fry it!

Required:

• Flour, a bunch
• Pepper
• Salt
• 2 eggs
• Large bowl full of milk
• One half of a venison backstrap
• Peanut Oil (Highly recommended over other oil types!)
• Two paper grocery sacks (Remember: Paper, not plastic!)

Optional:

• Tony Chachere’s Cajun Seasoning
• Cayanne Pepper
• Your favorite spices
• Outdoor gas cooker
• 12 quart cast iron dutch oven
• Ore-Ida Onion Flavored Tator Tots.

Cut one folded grocery sack about twelve inches from the top. Cut resulting “O” from top of the sack down the crease to form one long, twelve inch strip of paper. Place end of strip into bottom of the cut sack, with remaining portion hanging over the side. This will serve to absorb the grease from your finished product. Set aside.

Break eggs into large bowl of milk. (Mix in any liquid spices of your choosing, such as Cholula, a Tex-Mex hot sauce, or other hot sauces). Slice backstrap into ½ inch cutlets. Place cutlets onto a cutting board and take outside. Using a meat cleaver, or the mouth of a glass Coke bottle, beat the backstrap until well tenderized. (This step is very important, don’t skimp on quality to save time! Also, don’t do this step in your wife’s kitchen! Take it outside!) Toss tenderized cutlets into milk/egg mixture.

Dump a bunch of flour into other sack. Add some salt and pepper. Throw in some other seasonings. I’d tell you what kind and how much, but you know how you like it better than I do!

Fire up outdoor cooker to about 350 degrees. Fill dutch oven about half way from the bottom with peanut oil. There should be enough to more than cover the meat.

Remove, one at a time, several pieces of backstrap and place carefully into sack full of flour mixture. Fold top of sack and shake vigorously. Add more pieces of backstrap until all are fully coated.

Remove each of the floured pieces of meat and lay them carefully on a clean plate. Add more flour and seasoning to the sack. Dip the flour covered cutlets, one at a time, back into the milk/egg mixture until well coated and place back into the flour sack. Note: This is where many people get lazy and ruin the whole dish! Take the time to double dip ‘em!

Inside the sack, you will now find small clumps of flour/egg/milk. Grab a couple of these and drop into peanut oil to check heat. You should have nice, bubbly grease and the “crunchies” should soon rise to the top. Remove “crunchies” and snack on them. Tasty!

When satisfied that oil is properly heated, place several pieces of meat into the pot. Once again, you should see a nice bubbling action. When the meat begins to float, stir gently for another couple of minutes and then remove and place in bottom of the cut grocery sack. Be sure not to overcook! Fold the next level of the top part of the sack over the first batch of meat. This will serve to soak grease and keep the batch warm. When second batch is done, put them on the second level and fold top over once again.

When all of the meat is cooked, deep fry Tater Tots until crispy. Remove from grease and place on top layer of paper sack. Gently grab the top of the paper sack and pull straight up. This will mix the Tater Tots and the meat into the sack, and most of the grease will be removed on the strip of paper. Grab a big ol’ handful of meat and tots for your plate and serve with plenty of cold Heinz ketchup! (You can serve with other vegetables, but the rest is just filler material anyway!)

Note: If you can’t figure out the paper sack trick, screw it. Put paper towels in a pan!

 

[hookem2102]

paprika is your friend.

 

[bozo_casanova]

Idahorn2, while there's no good CFS in Boise, (well, the "Texas Roadhouse" on Eagle is probably passible, even if not fashionable to admit) I travel there a lot and find that the Boise staple of "finger steaks" are a pretty good substitute, except for the lack of decent cream gravy.

My personal advice would be to make you some bacon grease cream gravy, go get some finger steaks from Busters on Broadway, take them home and Bon Appetite!