What Does Country-Fried Steak Or Chicken Actually Mean?

Sometimes, the things you assumed were just ad copy actually mean something specific. Those "Prime" and "Choice" labels on your beef, for instance, are far from just grocery stores trying to hawk their wares, but actual rankings from the USDA referring to the quality of the beef. Similarly, you may have looked at a diner menu and seen a dish, usually chicken or steak, described as "country fried", and assumed it was just a particularly enticing way of saying it was fried. But "country fried", as with the similar "chicken fried", refers to how the meat is prepared — and more specifically, what kind of gravy covers it. (No word on what this means for chicken fried bacon, however.)

To "country fry" something means to coat it in flour, salt, small bits of bread, and whatever assortment of spices the cook sees fit to use before shallow-frying it in a skillet. As a matter of fact, that's more or less what "chicken frying" means, too — although some will say that "chicken fried" has a crispier batter than "country fried". The real difference comes from what gravy is used.

Mind you, this is a fairly niche difference, and you will often run into places that use "country fried" and "chicken fried" interchangeably. But traditionally, something that is "country fried" is covered in brown gravy, similar to what you might pour over meatloaf. Something that is "chicken fried", on the other hand, will be covered in a white gravy made from cream.

Where did these dishes come from? Well, the South, obviously, but more specifically, they came from German immigrants who settled there. What is a wiener schnitzel, after all, if not a piece of chicken- or country-fried veal? And with that framework in place, why not use a similar cooking method on other kinds of meat, such as chicken or tougher cuts of beef? It was an ideal way to make use of less desirable cuts of meat, and its use spread across the South — leaving "Wienerschnitzel" as name for a popular hot dog chain.