Impossible? Maybe not...

Last night I put on my serious cooking apron, as promised and attempted to compete with years and years of country cooking by making the fabled recipe: Country Style Steak with Gravy. 

To properly prepare Country Style Steak you are first going to have to purchase something called "Cube" Steak.  It is basically a cheap cut of meat that has been run through some sort of tenderizer machine.  You'll need about 1 and half pounds for a family of four.   

The first step is to beat your meat (not what you think) by placing plastic wrap on the counter, then the meat and covering with another piece of plastic wrap.  This will cut down on the mess completely.  With a mallet or a rolling pin, beat the meat to help tenderize it.  Do not skip this part.... you will regret it!

After tenderizing, cut into smaller pieces and season with salt and pepper.  Once seasoned you will lightly bread in flour.  I used just plain ole' flour.  I fried the meat in about a half a cup of vegetable oil on medium high heat.

This is what it should look like after you have fried the cube steak.  Now... for the hard part.  Gravy!

You'll need about three tablespoons of flour and about a third of a stick of butter, melted.  Nothing about gravy is healthy, so be warned.  While the butter is melting you will need to remove all the oil and grease from the frying pan.  You will need to leave the drippings.  I couldn't find an easy way to do this... so I used Bounty Paper Towels to soak up the grease.  It worked well for me and this way I didn't have to pick up my heavy pan and try to balance it over a cup in my sink without burning myself.

After removing the grease and the butter is melted, combine the melted butter with the flour.  Make sure that the flour is completely dissolved into the butter.  No lumps, no clumps... it should be a nice rue or like a paste.

Then you've got to add the rue to the drippings with a cup of water and whisk, whisk, whisk.  Heat the mixture slowly until it gets thick... which for me didn't take long and I ended up adding another half a cup of water to thin out the gravy. 

Then add the rest of the meat back into the pan and cover.  Simmer the gravy mixture for around 20 minutes.

Then plate it:

I served the Country Style Steak with Gravy over a bed of long grain rice.  My green vegetable was string beans and because the Husband loves yeast rolls, I pulled a few out of a bag and popped them in the oven.

My meal was a big hit.  The gravy was good... the only thing I messed up was the rice-- having never cooked plain rice before I accidentally salted the water and that left us with an overly salty meal.  Next time... no salt!