Recipe #5: Chicken Fried Steak and Cornbread (P)

The Experience

This week's in-class cooking experiment was an extremely successful one. While I enjoyed the creativity involved in the previous bento box activity, I didn't feel that the end result was nearly as satifisying as the group preparation of collard greens/hoppin' John--not only in flavors, but also in terms of the communal cooking experiment. For the most part, the bento box was a solo project; even though we chose a partner, the preparation of the boxes was done alone and the selection and placement of the food items in the box was for me a personal experience. With our in-class cooking exercise on Thursday, we all got to feel what it was like to cook as a community. Though we divided into sub-groups, and the sub-groups divided even further in regard to division of labor, at the end of the day, the whole class gathered together and shared jointly in the fruits of our work.

Our group got to work pretty quickly. We were lucky enough to have Adam in our group, who brought in the recipe for the non-vegetarian collard greens, and had prepared them many times before. He naturally settled into a leadership role, letting us all know ahead of time what needed to be done and the order in which these tasks should be conducted. Most of the people in the group did prep work--washing and spinning the greens, frying the bacon, cutting the greens into squares for Adam to stir fry. My job was to chop the greens again after they had finished cooking and all the ingredients had been assembled.

While the greens were cooking, our group did a lot of talking and laughing--we discussed restaurants we liked and food we liked to prepare at home. We talked about class readings and experiments, and discussed how The Future of Food has made us all more aware of where our food comes from and how the price of what we eat is more than just money. Everyone seemed to have a good time. Even though we were relative strangers at the beginning of the class period, the simple act of cooking a meal together gave us all something in common and made us part of a community of sorts, even if only for a little bit.

The Experiment

The community cooking event in class was a very worthwhile experience for me, so I decided to extend it into the weekend by organizing another event in my home. I invited 4 of my closest friends over to make a meal with a lot of components together. Excited to have a new greens recipe, I prepared them again using Adam's recipe. We also made chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, country gravy (the same gravy from my biscuits and gravy) and corn bread.

Chicken Fried Steak
5 steak filets (I let the diners choose how big or small they wanted their steak to be, and we used flat iron steaks)
Flour
Eggs
Salt
Pepper
Chili Powder
Cayenne Pepper
Mustard seed
Peanut Oil

This recipe is not an exact science, as I don't usually measure while I'm cooking. Since most of the ingredients go into the batter, I usually just add them to taste.

Cut the filets to the desired size and pound flat with a meat tenderizer. Place the flour on a palte and add salt, pepper, chili powder, cayenne pepper, and mustard seed to the flour. Open eggs into a separate bowl, and mix until just combined (don't froth them). Roll the steak in the flour, then dip it into the egg, and repeat until the meat is double coated. Drop into a wok of hot peanut oil and fry until the outside is golden brown (usually 5-9 minutes depending on oil temperature). Remove steaks from oil and drain. Place steaks in a 35o degree oven for another 6-10 minutes, keeping an eye on them the whole time so they don't get too dark. Serve with mashed potatoes and country gravy (we used the vegetarian version).

Corn Bread (recipe from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman)

1 1/4 c buttermilk or yogurt (I've never made it with yogurt, so can't vouch for how it will turn out)
2 tbsp butter
1 1/2 cup medium-grind cornmeal
1/2 flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar (you can add more if you like sweeter corn bread, but adding too much gives it an odd texture)
1 egg

Melt the butter in an iron skillet (or bread pan, whatever you're baking the bread in) on medium heat (about two minutes) then turn off heat. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Mix the egg gently into the buttermilk, and slowly add this liquid mixture into the dry ingredients, stirring constantly (but not frothing). Once combined, pour the batter into the skillet of melted butter. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes, or until the top is a light golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the bread comes out clean. This recipe tastes best if the cornbread is served hot.