Important Pages:

Today's Cases:

Chic Steak Sandwich

Subject: chic steak recipe
From: Martha 
Date: 2/19/2021, 9:23 AM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com

Recipes, try to open, chic steak recipe, but I've always heard it was made with veal. 
This was on Facebook so I hope you can open this

Hello Martha,

I don't understand your message. What did you "try to open"? What was "on Facebook"?

I'm familiar with "chik steak" from Triangle Cafe in Meridian, MS. My post on it is here: 1-14-2013

Please explain.

Phaed

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, Martha has not replied to my email, but I have some things to say about "chic steak" and "chik steak."

According to this article: History of Triangle Restaurant, the "chik steak" was invented by Glen Phipps in about 1931 at the Triangle Restaurant in Meridian, Mississippi. At first, it was a piece of tenderized pork tenderloin, breaded and deep fried, in a bun with dill pickle and ketchup. Later, the article says, Phipps switched from using pork tenderloin to using a piece of "baby beef." (Veal?) There are a couple of recipes on the web for "chik steaks" that call for just "ground" beef, breaded and fried, somewhat like "chicken-fried steak", but I have doubts about whether the Triangle product was ordinary ground beef or minute steak or even tenderized round steak.

The first thing I came across that I had not seen previously was this article: Acadian Table.
According to it, the "chic steak" (Note the "chic" instead of "chik.") was created at the "Acme Cafe" in Bogalusa, Louisiana in 1946 by George Graham Sr., and consisted of a tenderized piece of pork loin, floured and fried and seasoned with Cajun seasoning and with mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, and dill pickle. Acme Cafe's "Chic Steak" recipe is on that Acadian Table site. Bogalusa, Louisiana and Meridian, Mississippi are only 145 miles apart.

Then, going North to Huntington, Indiana, I found something called simply a "pork tenderloin sandwich", first served at a place called Nick's Kitchen in 1908.
There is a recipe for this sandwich here: Visit Indiana. The big difference in this one is that it uses crushed Ritz crackers to make the breading. The restaurant’s namesake, Nick Freienstein, was born in Huntington in 1876 to German immigrant parents.

There are quite a lot of recipes on the web for making similar sandwiches. Some are tenderized and breaded and fried pork tenderloin, some are tenderized and breaded and fried veal cutlets, some are some are tenderized and breaded and fried chicken cutlets, and some are tenderized and breaded and fried beef. The beef ones are sometimes hamburger, sometimes minute steaks, and some may be tenderized round steak. These are like chicken fried steak and are sometimes called "chicken fried steak sandwiches." Another very similar sandwich is called a "schnitzel sandwich." These also may be veal or chicken or pork. Schnitzel sandwiches appear to go back to Europe - Germany and Austria and Poland in particular, and perhaps were created when someone put a piece of "Wiener Schnitzel" between two pieces of bread?

Phaed