Now you have me curious. I always thought they were two names that meant the same thing.

I was curious too so I searched. A quick look online makes me think they are one and the same.

Eileen

Here is a link that might be useful: Wikipedia

As a Southerner, I can tell you they're the same.

It's one of those regional naming things. When I lived in Texas the terms were interchangeable.

Teresa

Thanks. I guess it could depend on the region and the restaurant. Most times it's been a fried steak with a coating like fried chicken and served with a peppery cream gravy but occasionally have received a braised steak with a brown onion gravy similar to how I make Swiss steak but with no tomatoes.

I saw a Bobby Flay "Throwdown" episode several years ago where he went against Paula Deen making Chicken Fried Steak. Bobby made his with a brown onion gravy and took a lot of ribbing from Paula who made hers with milk/black pepper gravy. Bobby lost the throwdown.

/tricia

What's funny to me is that if you move the fried in front to become Fried Chicken, then it's a whole 'nother thing!

I think you have the differences correct, Ruthanna, but the names will vary regionally. I don't remember seeing "country fried steak" in Texas, but Chicken Fried Steak is extremely common, is always breaded, and is always served with a white gravy. I think if you see the name "country fried steak" on a menu, you will have to ask, as it could be ambiguous, whereas the "chicken" version will probably not vary.

Unfortunately, they have the same acronyms.

Lars

In this part of Texas,
They are one and the same.

"What's funny to me is that if you move the fried in front to become Fried Chicken. . . "

Exactly! !
Probably why it is called 'Chicken Fried Steak'. :>)

Bobby Flay's version is 'Smothered Steak'.

Rusty

I think that Texas and neighboring states might refer to it as Chicken Fried and in other Southern regions, Country Fried/Style steak is braised with brown gravy. It's probably best to ask about the preparation if you don't want any surprises.

Teresa

Here is a menu from Hyde Park Bar & Grill in Austin, in which "chicken fried" and "country fried" have the same meaning, but "country fried" is used with the pork cutlet. This is my "go to" restaurant for chicken fried steak when I am in Austin. I used to live 1-1/2 blocks away on Duval Street. This menu is very typical of central Texas food. Note that the crab cakes are called "Yankee Crab Cakes" to distinguish them from deviled crab. I prefer the Deviled Crab and make it myself frequently - it is much spicer.

Lars

"What's funny to me is that if you move the fried in front to become Fried Chicken. . . "

As a Yankee, I had heard of Chicken Fried Steak before but had never been to a restaurant that served it. Shortly after we were married, I met DH's folks in TX. Sadly, a year later (shortly after they'd come up to visit us and see the ocean) his dad died of a massive heart attack. We flew down, and after the family (MIL, her 9 kids, and their spouses) had met with the funeral director and made the arrangements, we went out to dinner in Amarillo. I saw "Chicken Fried" (just 2 words) on the menu and ordered it. The look on my face when I was served a flat slab of breaded and fried - something - that wasn't chicken - provided much-needed comic relief to the 18 native Texans at the table...

I've never seen it served with brown gravy here- South Carolina.

Using a batter is cheating, to an old-timer. Used to be you pounded seasoned flour into a piece of lean round steak with the edge of a plate to tenderize it, then pan-fried it in bacon grease and made a milk gravy to go with it.

Yup, it was a pain in the you-know-what. But a liquid batter and those machine-tenderized cutlets are just not the same.

Right you are, jkom51! And I still have the heavy china saucers that make the best pounders!

A friend of mine who grew up in Thompson GA said his mother's pounding implement of choice was a coke bottle. Same process, though; you pounded the seasoned flour into the meat, tenderizing it while making the flour adhere.

Alton Brown did a Good Eats episode on Chicken Fried Steak. He dredges the meat in flour, then uses one of those Jaquard needling devices to tenderize it. He makes the claim (sounds reasonable to me) that the recipe was most likely developed by German immigrants to Texas; it's similar to weiner schnitzel.

Here is a link that might be useful: chicken fried steak by Alton Brown

Same thing and recipes will vary. There's going to be purists on anything who say it ain't _____ if it ain't _____... but what's called a garage sale is no different than a tag sale and a sub or a grinder and the endless arguments over chili. But then, some people take coleslaw dressing and call it BBQ sauce, or call chicken stew "white chili" or call hamburger a "steak"! And for that matter, many people/places make it with hamburger. Things change and evolve. Shepherd's pie being made with turkey? Or better yet, with vegetable granules called meat?

Years ago I tried chicken/country fried steak with beef gravy and really liked it. Many places have a far tastier beef gravy than they do the white/milk/cream/country, etc gravy and when my cousin tried to straighten me out on it, I pointed out it's CALLED chicken fried steak WITH white/milk/cream/country, etc gravy so get off'n yer high horse! He conceded and even tried it and most often after, ordered it with beef gravy.

They are NOT the same thing. Country fried steak has a lighter coating and is not crispy. It also has a brown gravy. Chicken fried steak has a thicker crispy coating and white or white pepper gravy. Both are different from smothered chicken.

At Cracker Barrel, it's call 'Country Fried Steak' and is served with cream gravy.

I lived in Oklahoma for a lot of years and the terms 'Country Fried Steak' and 'Chicken Fried Steak' are one & the same thing. Always served with white milk/ cream gravy.

They ARE the same thing. There are different recipes and approaches and gravies, but the name differs because of restaurant menus. It used to all be chicken fried steak. People less familiar with American food and/or language thought it must be chicken because the first word was chicken. To make it easier on the explanations, restaurants changed the name to country fried steak.

All it means is a slab of meat fried the way you'd fry chicken, i.e., with some kind of breading or flour or batter coating. Period. No more no less. And there are as many different ways to prepare and serve it as there are for fried chicken. And as many different kinds of gravy.

You felt the need to bring up a five year old post to inform, probably, fifteen people that what they grew up with is wrong?

Growing up in Virginia and Texas, it was called chicken fried steak. When I moved to Idaho, I find it on the menus, often, as country fried steak. Same dish!

Alas, I wish I could find it on menus here in Wisconsin. The only place I know that has it is Cracker Barrel.

However, I can find cubed steak (pieces of round steak that has been put through the tenderizer) in the meat case in some of the grocery stores so I make it at home occasionally. DSI, in particular, loves it as well as a WI native friend of his who DS introduced to CFS.

But it's probably just as well that CFS isn't served here. They'd only screw it up by trying to add cheese to it or something.