shaun's picture looks like country fried steak to me....with brown gravy made from the pan drippings.
Until I met my MIL I never knew that fried beef was sometimes served with a cream gravy nor that sausage was EVER served with cream gravy! LOL!
I make a country fried steak that doesn't have all the flour beaten into it and is not fried in lots of oil, but just a piece of chuck or round steak or even sirloin which has been dredged in seasoned flour, fried in a little oil , wine of broth added, simmered a bit and gravy made from the juice in the pan.
I don't much care for Salisbury steak...I guess I had too much in school lunches.
But maybe I ought to try my hand at it...If I say something like "fried meatloaf patty with gravy" I might like it.
Linda c

I haven't looked at the WFD thread, I never do, so I can't comment on anyone's picture.

"Chicken fried steak is tenderized round steak dipped in egg/milk wash then dredged in a flour mixture and fried with cream gravy on top."

Yes, that is the true "Chicken Fried Steak" here in Texas.

I don't know what it would be up there in Yankee land.

Nor have I seen a definitive description of "Country Fried" steak.
Maybe whatever anyone wants it to be?

Rusty

original post mentioned Salisbury, which IS ground beef shaped to look like a steak. We usually served it with a tomato gravy... but most recipes call for brown gravy. Sometimes we used tenderized steak.

I think country-fried and chicken fried are the same.

Country-fried steak, to me, has also always meant as angelaid described (pan-fried with cream gravy). I grew up in the west. I didn't know it was sometimes made with brown gravy until just a few years ago when I saw a 'Throw Down' episode on the Food Network with Bobby Flay vs Paula Deen.

Lindac, the stuff my elementary school served that was called Salisbury Steak was unappetizing & that's being kind. As a result, I've never tried making it myself. I have, however, grilled my meatloaf recipe & it's pretty darn good. :) No gravy though. :( We slapped some BBQ sauce on a roll & called it WFD. Wasn't good enough to every repeat though. LOL

/tricia

Here country fried steak is any cheap cut of steak, tenderized, battered and fried in a little grease. The gravy is white, thick and good, usually with lots of black pepper.

Growing up I had Salisbury steak and brown gravy from a frozen container a few times. I liked it back then so I duplicated it with a recipe I found and it tasted identical. Wasn't long until my taste changed and I haven't been able to eat the stuff since I grew up.

I've always called it Chicken Fried Steak and it always has cream gravy, but I always assumed Country Fried steak was the same thing. To me, serving brown gravy with it would just somehow be wrong lol

I don't know that I've ever had Salisbury Steak but I have Ann T's recipe in my "to try" file because it looks so yummy!

But to me chicken fried steak and salisbury steak are two very different animals, so to speak.

Chicken Fried Steak and Country Fried Steak are the same thing to me. Cube steak that has been floured, egged, floured again and fried and served with cream grave or brown gravy, respectively.

Salisbury Steak comes frozen in a box and says Hungry Man on the front and was a super duper once or twice a year treat when I was 8.

Alexa

oops ... just remembered,
tomato gravy (or sauce) goes on Swiss Steak not Salisbury

Wikipedia shows this pix in its article

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salisbury_steak

ugh, no wonder no one has a good word to say about Salisbury Steak

kay

Nope, not Salisbury Steak. I started with Cube steaks.

The way I have always interpreted it is:

Chicken fried steak - A breaded steak, fried and served with a creamy gravy

Country fried steak - Same as chicken fried steak but with a brown gravy. A browned and then braised unbreaded steak with a brown gravy could also be called a country fried steak.

Salisbury steak - patties made from a meatloaf-like mixture served (and often simmered in) a brown gravy.

I am one who likes a good from-scratch Salisbury steak with a mushroom and onion gravy. I recently made Salisbury steaks with minced fresh ginger in them and a sauce containing sherry and hoisin sauce.

I love a good Salisbury steak. Made with ground sirloin and served in a mushroom gravy. Salisbury steak needs to be simmered in the gravy until tender, not just a burger topped with gravy.

Chicken fried/country fried steak isn't common in Canada but I've eaten it in the US. Varies between being really, really good and really , really bad, depending on who made it.

Ann

My MIL used to make a country fried steak that my kids and DH loved...I hated...!
She said the secret was to get a 1 1/2 inch thick piece of round steak, and work a lot of flour into it. She said you take the edge of a plate and just pound that flour in until there is much worked in as you can get....then brown it on both sides in hot Crisco, add a little water and cover and simmer until it's tender.
She probably also added a can of cream of.... soup!
When we would go away and would leave the kids with her....that was her special treat. They chose to go to Grandma's even after they were well old enough to stay alone because of that durned country fried steak!

All of the chicken fried steaks that I've had here in Texas are generally made with round steak and served with milk gravy and not brown gravy. Some of the more upscale restaurants have been using rib eye steaks rather than round steak and serving them with milk gravy too.

Here is a little history about Texas Style Chicken Fried Steak.