Page:The Stag Cook Book.djvu/92

Rh it into portions, each about the size of your hand. Don't try to cook the steak all in one piece. It must be in small sections, just as fried chicken is best when each joint is cooked separately.

Have the butcher then take his sharp knife (which is much better for the purpose than any knife you have at home, because he knows the art of sharpening and you don't), and criss-cross each piece, on both sides, don't forget. So that each piece will be in tatters, almost ready to fall apart.

Put in the frying pan plenty of good sweet lard. Don't use butter. It will burn. Don't fry in deep fat, as with doughnuts, but plenty of fat, as with fried chicken. Rub each portion of the raw steak in flour. Rub it in good. Drop into the hot skillet. Cover it with lid. Keep covered. This cooks it through and makes it tender.

Fry till a golden brown, turning once in a while. You notice the process is exactly as with fried chicken, Southern style.

After you lift out the meat, put in the flour, let it scorch a bit, then pour water and milk mixed into the hot grease and meat particles left in the skillet. Just how much, you will have to find out by experiment. Let it boil up and boil down, keep stirring, until you have gravy of the right consistency. Flavor according to taste, with salt and pepper, before cooking. If the result is not good it is because you have not followed directions.

Round steak not only is cheap, but it is all good meat, with the minimum of waste, and properly cooked it TASTES better than any part of the beef. [88]