A Poor Man’s Chicken Fried Steak or a Cheeseburger in Paradise
The other evening I sat down with the kids and watched a show on the food channel with them. There was this guy with short blonde spiky hair who went around to small diners and sampled their wares. Man what a great job.
This one diner he featured on his show specialized in battered and deep fried gizzards. Now if you have never tried chicken gizzards let me tell you that you have been missing out. They can be very good if you know how to prepare them. And from the looks of things on that show the owner of the diner knew what he was doing.
Not only did the diner specialize in deep fried gizzards but everything on the menu from appetizers to deserts were deep fried. The owner slash head cook was battering up and deep frying Twinkies and Oreo cookies and French fries and cheese burgers and you name it. Talking about inspiring, I just about teared up.
When I saw the cheese burgers go into the deep fryer I got an idea. How about a poor ma’s chicken fried steak made with hamburger. Right then and there I started planning my Sunday dinner. I figured I could round up some inexpensive ground beef, season it up a bit and make a quick and easy meal.
Sunday rolled around and as soon as we were back from church I started in on what I just knew was going to be a real break through in modern day cooking. I took a little over three pounds of cheap ground beef and paced it in a bowl with two large eggs. The eggs I figured would help to firm up the hamburger patties and keep them from falling apart. Then I added a couple of tablespoons of Worcestershire and a few shakes of onion and garlic powder and salt and pepper to taste. I mixed it all to together and made some nice size patties. Then I cooked them slowly on our electric griddle until they were just done.
While the patties were cooking I mixed up a little of my special batter that I always use whenever I deep fry something. All it is pancake batter but when I go to sell my own little bags of deep fry mix some day I’ll call it something fancy and charge you an arm and a leg like the rest of them do so you better pay attention. Like I was saying I mixed up a little of my special batter. I took a 2 or 3 cups of flour or there abouts, one egg, a couple of teaspoons of baking powder, a slosh of vegetable oil, a teaspoon or so of sugar, a pinch of salt and mixed it all up with enough milk to make a pancake batter that is just a tad bit on the thin side. Sorry for the vague recipe on the batter, I rarely measure. Besides I don’t usually get inspired to deep fry something unless there is leftover pancake batter in the fridge.
After the patties are cooked through I remove them from the griddle and place them one at a time in the batter and get them all coated real good and them ease them into the hot, 350 degree, oil. I cook until they are a golden brown and then remove and let them sit on a paper towel for a moment. Then serve with either a brown or country gravy and your favorite potato dish.
To tell you the truth I wasn’t feeling very industrious after a long hard session of church so I dispensed with the gravy and potatoes. The wife whipped up some of her wonderful hamburger buns and we made deep fried cheeseburgers out of them just like the TV guy did. They were great. A cheese burger with a crunch, very nice.
The next time I feel like I’m getting a little low on cholesterol or that my arteries are flowing a little to smoothly I’m going to try some of those battered and deep fried Twinkies. Man they looked good sittin there on TV with that sauce all slurped over them and topped off with a large dollop of whipped cream. When I do I’ll be sure and let you all know how it turns out.