You may or may not know that I am actually a small town Southern girl. I was born in Salem, VA and lived in a tiny town called Blountville, TN until I was nine. I had a really thick accent with incredibly long "I's", spent weekends on my great grandparents family farm complete with outhouse visits, and ate home cooked meals every night.
My parents were raised in East Tennessee (my dad) and Southwest Virginia (my mom) and lived relatively small town lives. They shared Bristol (TN/VA) as a stomping grounds, not knowing each other until they were 18. Their mothers, my grandmothers, cooked relatively the same way. Something I like to call Southern cooking. You just cooked. You didn't follow recipes. You cooked the way your mom cooked and her mom before her. In the new year, I would like to challenge myself with cooking the way my "mom's" did. From scratch, feel, and memories. I would like to get away from cookbooks and having to measure every single detail. Just throw it in and go. (I'll still cook from a cookbook just like I did last night. I would like to cook with a little more freedom.)
I decided Monday night was a night to get "back to my roots". It was literally freezing out, minus 10 or lower with the windchill, and that kind of temperature calls for feel good food. (Not the Feel Good Food that Giada recently wrote about. Her's is more "feel better about what you're eating/putting in your body food.) Mine is the kind of food that's warm and sticks to your ribs, and waist and thighs.... What I'm trying to say is that if you are currently watching your weight, or cholesterol count, don't continue to read!
I made one of the first meals my mom walked me through when I finally decided to start cooking; cube steak with macaroni and cheese. And, it was one of the first meals I cooked for husband when we were first dating. (Story to come with the macaroni and cheese post.) Again, stop reading this if you are trying to do anything of the things listed above! Keep reading if you're into fried food!
The ingredients you need: flour, seasoned salt, black pepper, and cube steak.
You will also need plenty of vegetable oil to coat the pan. Not like a cup, but a nice amount will do!
Add your cube steak to the flour and coat thoroughly on both sides!
Add the flour coated steak to a very hot pan of oil. It should sizzle as soon as the steak hits! Look at that oil dance!
Cook for several minutes before flipping over. Once both sides are brown and crisp, cover the skillet and place your heat on low. This allows the meat to continue to cook, but the steam will tenderize the steaks. So good!
Once all the cube steak pieces are cooked through, barely to no pink in this dish, place cube steak on paper towels to drain. Don't allow yourself to look at the amount of oil that has escaped onto the paper towel. Just don't even look!
I decided Monday night was a night to get "back to my roots". It was literally freezing out, minus 10 or lower with the windchill, and that kind of temperature calls for feel good food. (Not the Feel Good Food that Giada recently wrote about. Her's is more "feel better about what you're eating/putting in your body food.) Mine is the kind of food that's warm and sticks to your ribs, and waist and thighs.... What I'm trying to say is that if you are currently watching your weight, or cholesterol count, don't continue to read!
I made one of the first meals my mom walked me through when I finally decided to start cooking; cube steak with macaroni and cheese. And, it was one of the first meals I cooked for husband when we were first dating. (Story to come with the macaroni and cheese post.) Again, stop reading this if you are trying to do anything of the things listed above! Keep reading if you're into fried food!
The ingredients you need: flour, seasoned salt, black pepper, and cube steak.
You will also need plenty of vegetable oil to coat the pan. Not like a cup, but a nice amount will do!
Add three to four heaping spoonfuls of flour to a large, shallow bowl. Add the season salt and pepper to the flour and mix together.
Add your cube steak to the flour and coat thoroughly on both sides!
Add the flour coated steak to a very hot pan of oil. It should sizzle as soon as the steak hits! Look at that oil dance!
Cook for several minutes before flipping over. Once both sides are brown and crisp, cover the skillet and place your heat on low. This allows the meat to continue to cook, but the steam will tenderize the steaks. So good!
Once all the cube steak pieces are cooked through, barely to no pink in this dish, place cube steak on paper towels to drain. Don't allow yourself to look at the amount of oil that has escaped onto the paper towel. Just don't even look!
I generally add a few drops of Worcestershire sauce to each piece. It just adds a little big of tang. As far as sides are concerned, my mom's mac and cheese is usually a staple. She also serves coleslaw, but Joel isn't too hip on that Southern salad. Steak fries are great! I decided to whip up some triple berry muffins at the last minute and received praise as soon as Joel's plate was cleaned!
Up next, the macaroni and cheese that caused Joel to say "What are you putting in there?" Stay tuned!
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