Warning. No chicken was hurt.

It's been a great day. Starting off with three cups of coffee. Brewed the same pod of Keurig coffee twice but what the heck.  Looking back I should have added a little bit of Baileys but I try to save that for the weekend. The sun was out and it looked to be a promising day on my horizon. Besides, I was on a Melody mission.

This last weekend proved to be very interesting in the life of myself as Harley Man clued me into some very interesting facts I had never known in all of my forty-nine years rotating around the sun.

Hope you are sitting down because this may shock you....wait.....for.....it......

Chicken Fried Steak isn't chicken.

It's BEEF. BEEF!! Like as in cubed STEAK! WTH?? I never in my being have ever, ever tried this-because I thought chicken shouldn't taste like steak. Sit back, and let me tell you how I came to learn of this truth. Well, during our little road trip this weekend through the Big Horn Mountains we ended up on the western edge at a quaint little town called Ten Sleep. And stopped to wet our whistle and have a bite to eat. One of their specials was Chicken Fried Steak in a Drunken Gravy. Now that sure got my attention and I proceeded to order a cheeseburger (I might add on a pretzel roll).  Harley Man decided the chick (lunch special, not the bar keep) was calling his name and ordered that straight up. Except for fries, not mashed.

Our meals came and mine was exceptionally good and Harley Man was sitting to my right raving how delish his chick was. I decided to try a tad of the gravy, after all, it was drunk. Oh my golly, dang, jiggity jang it was so incredibly wonderful. We both finished and waddled out to the truck for the trek back to Gillette.

Except this is where I learned the truth about the chick. It is actually beef. With pork in the drunk gravy. There isn't any chicken at all. Harley Man explained the concept behind the recipe's name. I am still trying to wrap my brain around this concept but came home and proceeded to locate a recipe and try it first hand! That, my friends, was my mission today.

Tonight I tried out a recipe I found, and tweaked it a little bit. I cannot believe this chic has been missing this comforting meal all of these years. I still need a little bit of refining it to my liking, but you can count on your sweet patootie that will be happening. Did I mention there is pork in the gravy?

This is the ground pork (pre-browning) with crushed red pepper flakes, garlic, onion, salt and of course a little pepper action. There is no chicken pictured. On a side note this is my Grandma Becker's mixing bowl. Love. 

This is the cubed steak after sitting and soaking up buttermilk and then dipping it from flour, into beaten eggs and milk, and then the final station of saltine cracks and planko crumbs. There is no chicken pictured.

This is it. Chicken Fried Steak with Drunken Gravy. There is no chicken pictured. 

No chicken was harmed in this process. 

Harley Man couldn't eat it all but said it was delicious. I did serve up a pretty big portion. 

There is one other thing I learned this weekend but let's just digest that there isn't any chicken in you know what recipe. I don't want to ruin your evening. And if you are in the town of Ten Sleep, you must visit the Ten Sleep Saloon and Steakhouse. Superb. We'll meet you!! 

I love to say drunken gravy. 


Grandma Becker's entry on June 4, 1990
"Wind gone down-just a little breeze. Cool but warmed up fast. Washed and at 11:00 we took Helen to Janesville for dinner. Home 1:30. Gerald got washing in. I put away. Rested and at 3:00 we went to Allison Nursing Home to see Earl. Very bad-stopped to see Vera-can't walk. Sits in wheel chair most of day. Earl passed away 10pm."


It's a great day to be alive~make it a great day.

xoxo 

Melody