Chicken Fried {Elk} Steak

YUM! This meal is SO GOOD! My husband is convinced that the next time we get an elk, we need to do more steaks and less ground elk BECAUSE OF THIS RECIPE! 

When it comes to cooking elk, recipes you would usually use beef for are GREAT to use! And, the Pioneer Woman is a source I trust for red meat recipes.  This is a recipe I got out of her cookbook The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl.

Before I begin, the original recipe calls for cube steak.  The cookbook explains that cube steak is just extremely tenderized round steak.  Therefore, using elk back straps or other {boneless} elk steaks is perfectly acceptable.  You just need to TENDERIZE TENDERIZE TENDERIZE.  To do this I bought a meat tenderizer off of Amazon.  It's a Jaccard meat tenderizer and it was just under $20.  Can't beat that! It seems to work really great! And, meat tenderizing is the ultimate stress relief! Never felt better!  

Click here to go to the tenderizer on Amazon.

Now for the recipe.

Chicken Fried {Elk} Steak

3 lbs boneless elk steaks (such as back straps) (THOROUGHLY TENDERIZED)

1 1/2 C. milk, plus around 2 cups for gravy

2 large eggs

3 C. flour, plus about 1/3 cup for the gravy

2 tsp. seasoned salt (I used Lawry's)

3/4 tsp. paprika

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper (or more if you want it spicier)

1 1/2 tsp. black pepper

1/2 C. oil for frying.

Combine 3 cups flour with seasoned salt, paprika, cayenne pepper, and black pepper in a bowl. 

Combine 1 1/2 cups milk and the eggs in another bowl and beat thoroughly. 

Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large frying pan or skillet (cast iron works GREAT!) until ready to fry (you can test this by tossing a little flour in and seeing if it sizzles.

Salt and pepper both sides of each steak and then dip in milk mixture followed by the flour mixture.  Dip back into milk mixture and then back into flour mixture. Place in hot oil and fry on both sides until golden brown and crispy (about 2 1/2 minutes on each side.) Repeat for remaining steaks. You CAN cook more than one at a time if your frying pan/skillet is large enough.

Now for the gravy! 

When you're finished cooking all the steaks, pour frying oil into a glass container. Measure 1/4 cup of the oil and return it back to the frying pan. Sprinkle 1/3 cup flour evenly over the oil. Use a whisk to mix the flour and oil to create a brown paste. When the paste turns golden brown it's ready for the milk. Whisk in 2 cups milk.  Let the gravy come to a slow boil.  The gravy will thicken gradually. If the gravy is too thick, add more milk.

Once your gravy is at a consistency you prefer, serve chicken fried steak over mashed potatoes and SMOTHERED in gravy! DELICIOUS!