I feel a hardy meal coming.
Cutlets (cube steaks) are single-serving sized tenderized cuts of meat that can be pan-fried quickly, and they’ll be on the table tonight. I’ll dredge them in a small amount of flour, then turn them in a little olive oil until they’re brown and cooked through. Searing them like that will give me the pan juices I want for t
he wonderful gravy it makes. Of course, I’ll have to mash some potatoes for this meal.
These are the pan drippings left once the meat is removed–what I want stuck to the bottom of the pan after the cutlets are set aside. There is very little oil here, so don’t think you have to have grease to succeed. Today’s new, slick cookware doesn’t brown to the bottom of the pan good enough for me–great for cleanup, but not so for making my gravy. I love my grandmother’s old Griswold. From the bottom of the pan come the makings for brown gravy.
Quick-fried cutlets, floured or not, make a heck of a sandwich if you happen to have any left over. Build it like a hamburger, but call it what it is–a steak burger. I always think I’ll have extra cutlets left for steak burgers the next day, but usually don’t. That’s a sure sign of goodness, though. Right?
If I wanted smothered cutlets, I’d pan-fry the flour-coated pieces like above, then when they’re cooked through, add enough water to barely cover the meat, maybe throw in some mushrooms, then let it cook another 30 minutes under a lid; let the pan make its own gravy. The flour coating rolls off the cutlets, poof! you’ve got gravy. Don’t over-do the water, or you won’t have the good meat flavor. Cutlets are usually most tender cooked this way, floating in their own sauce.
I could dip the cutlets in an egg/milk mixture, roll them in flour, then back and forth again, if I wanted chicken-fried steak. Egg/milk/flour, double dredging, makes a thicker coating, and to do justice, I’d have to deep-fry them. Delicious, but I don’t use that much oil any more, because as long as I’m deep-frying, I’d have to pop in a side of french fries. What a meal. (With children in mind, slice the cutlets into strips before you fry them, and you’ve got steak fingers–kids might be more willing if they can pick them up and munch.)
Don’t forget, you can use pork cutlets the same way.
What Other People Do 