Texas Chicken Fried Steak and Sausage Gravy

This hearty breakfast entree is a Texas specialty!
  
     I have suffered through plenty of poorly prepared chicken fried steak breakfasts at lousy restaurants over the years.  Cheap greasy spoon diners and franchise restaurants usually serve pre-made frozen battered steak, or even worse, a frozen pre-made battered ground beef patty as chicken fried steak.  Many franchise chain restaurants and diners use canned sausage gravy instead of making it from scratch.  It is a sorry state of affairs, when a professional cook cannot even make sausage gravy!
     This recipe is easy to make the original Texas way.  The cutlet of beef must be pounded thin and flat, so that it pan fries evenly and quickly.  The original Texas chicken fried steak is pan fried and not deep fried.
     Texas chicken fried steak with sausage gravy does have an interesting nickname.  Many Americans call this entree by the name "Heart Attack On A Plate!"  If you are on some kind of a low cholesterol diet plan, then by all means, skip over this recipe!
  
     Sausage Gravy:
     Heat a sauce pot over medium/medium low heat.
     Add 1 pat of unsalted butter.
     Add 4 ounces of uncased bulk pork breakfast sausage.
     Stir and break up any sausage clumps as it cooks.  The sausage should be crumbled into small bits.
     Cook the sausage, till it becomes a light brown color.
     Add a little bit of flour to the pan, while stirring, to soak up the grease and to form a simple pan roux.
     Constantly stir the roux and sausage for about 30 seconds.
     Add 2 cups of milk while stirring.
     Stir till the gravy heats and begins to thicken.
     Add sea salt and black pepper.
     When the gravy begins to gently boil, reduce the temperature to low heat.
     Stir the sauce occasionally as it simmers and reduces.
     Simmer and reduce, till the sausage gravy becomes a medium thin cream sauce consistency.
     Keep the sausage gravy warm over very low heat.
   
     Texas Chicken Fried Steak:
     Place an 8 ounce piece of skirt steak on a counter top.
     Pound the steak with a meat mallet or wine bottle, till it becomes evenly thin and tender.
     Dredge the steak in flour that is seasoned with sea salt, black pepper and 1 pinch of ground sage.
     Dredge the steak in buttermilk.
     Dredge the steak in the seasoned flour a second time.
     Heat a saute pan over medium heat.
     Add 4 pats of unsalted butter.
     Add 1/3 cup of vegetable oil.
     When the butter and oil becomes hot, place the battered steak into the pan.
     Pan fry the steak on both sides, till it becomes a golden brown color.
     Remove the chicken fried steak from the pan.
     Set the fried steak on a wire roasting rack to drain off any excess grease.
     Keep the Texas chicken fried steak warm on a stove top.
   
     Texas Chicken Fried Steak and Sausage Gravy:
     Heat a non-stick saute pan over medium low heat.
     Add 1 pat of unsalted butter.
     Add 1 egg.
     Cook the egg sunny side up or cook the egg to your preferred style.
     Place the chicken fried steak on a plate.
     Spoon a generous amount of the sausage gravy over the steak.
     Place the sunny side up egg on the plate.
     Serve with some grilled diced potato home fries that are seasoned with sea salt and black pepper.
     Garnish with a parsley sprig.
  
     Delicious and filling!  This is one of America's favorite breakfast entrees.  There is nothing like a freshly battered pan fried chicken fried steak!  Chicken fried steak is best when it is cooked to order.
     This is how chicken fried steak and sausage gravy is cooked in Texas.  Fresh makes a big difference in quality.  The sausage milk gravy is full of seasoned breakfast sausage flavor.  Delicious!  ...  Shawna