I always add some cayenne and garlic powder to the egg wash...along w/ salt and pepper in the breading.

I use only salt and pepper.I've always thought that to be enough.

I don't measure either, but I put ceyenne, salt and pepper in the breading. We don't add salt to many foods, but without it, CFS is very bland.

It can be bland. I use a little cayenne in the flour and use way more salt and black pepper then seems "right". And you can always add a little cayenne to the cream gravy too.

Alexa

While I don't "do" Chicken Fried Steak any more, and never had a real "recipe" when I did, (it is pretty much what several posters here call a "Nike" type dish) the recipe FOAS posted awhle back sounds really good.
It has a LOT more seasonings in it than are usually found in CFS gravy in this neck of the woods.
And it might be just what you are looking for.
I've linked to it for you, it's about 8 or so posts down on the page.
Hope that is an okay thing to do.

CFS seems to be, for the most part, a rather bland food, which is why there is usually quite a lot of black pepper in the cream gravy.
The black pepper is really good in it, and I usually don't care for black pepper, especially in white food.

Rusty

Rusty

Here is a link that might be useful: FOAS' Chicken Fried Steak

Can't remember where I got this, but it's really good!
I add a dash of crushed red pepper flakes to the breading for the steaks AND to the cream gravy, along with a dash of paprika to both

Chicken-Fried Steak

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds of top-round steak
2 cups of flour
3 eggs
1/2 cup of milk or buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of cracked black pepper (can also add cayenne to add more heat).
Lard or vegetable oil

Method:
Cut your top-round steak into four pieces.
Pound beef with a meat tenderizer until flattened and almost doubled in size.
Place flour in a large bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Mix eggs in another large bowl with milk.
Take piece of tenderized beef and coat in flour. Dip coated beef into egg mixture and then dip back into flour again.
Heat on medium enough oil or lard to fill halfway up the sides of a cast-iron skillet. When a drop of water makes the oil sizzle, it's ready for frying.
Take the coated beef and place it in the skillet. When the blood (er, red-meat juice) starts bubbling out of the top of the steak (about three to four minutes) gently turn it over with a long fork (using a spatula can cause the oil to splash out of the skillet). Cook another five minutes and then take the chicken-fried steak out of the pan and drain on a paper-towel-lined plate.
Repeat process for remaining cutlets. And while you're frying the others, you can keep the cooked steaks warm in the oven.
Cream gravy
Ingredients:
Two tablespoons of pan drippings, bacon grease or vegetable oil
Two tablespoons of flour
1 1/2 cups of milk
1 teaspoon of cracked black pepper
Salt to taste.

Method:
Combine fat with flour in a hot skillet, continuously stirring, cook on medium for a couple of minutes until a dark roux is formed.
Add milk slowly to skillet, and mix with roux using either a whisk or wooden spoon (be sure and press out any lumps).
Turn heat to low and continue stirring until mixture is thickened, a couple more minutes.
Add pepper and salt to taste.
If gravy is too thick for your taste, you can thin it by adding either more milk or water a tablespoon at a time.
Goes great with mashed potatoes, fried chicken, biscuits, chicken fried steak, grits, vegetables, rice or anything else you can imagine.

Recently, I watched an Alton Brown Good Eats show about chicken fried steak on YouTube. You could find it easily I think. As you might expect, the emphasis was on process more than recipe. I would think process is very important in making that dish. I have never made it.

Jim

I'll second the previous posts on cayenne and garlic. Salt and huge amounts of pepper seem to do the trick as well (in the flour and gravy).

That jogs my memory. When Alton tasted the sauce for seasoning he added salt and SEVERAL more grindings of black pepper.

Jim

I agree about the method being a big part of the success.

I season the meat and the flour with Weber Grill Creations or McCormick's Grill Mates seasonings.

Thank you everyone. I will report back after tomorrow night. :)