If you draw a line across the United States and travel anywhere south of that line, every truck stop you encounter is guaranteed to have chicken-fried steak. It’s available other places as well, although not so much at those chain restaurants. As far as food goes, chicken-fried steak is the embodiment of evil. It is beef dipped in batter, deep fried, and served up with cream gravy. A magnificent triple load of grease, cholesterol, and calories. That’s real American.

The beef is cube steak is pounded senseless with a mallet. Or maybe it’s done with a shotgun at ten paces. Whatever. The result is flavorful, but chewable. There is no chicken involved; it is fried in the style of fried chicken.A good chicken-fried is juicy inside with a crunchy batter that will stand up to the gravy. There are no exotic ingredients, but there is skill in preparation. It can be eaten any time, but especially for breakfast.

The food police won’t spot you if you eat it while traveling. Our first example comes from the Patio Drive-In, on California Route 49 in San Andreas. That’s in Calaveras county up in the mountains, 125 miles east of San Francisco. Calaveras County is where they have the frog jumping contest every spring.

Every small town should have a place like the Patio Drive-In. It’s a tidy place with inexpensive basic food well prepared. The chicken-fried steak is a deal for hungry travelers.

It was after nine on a weekday morning, when most of the real people are off working. No rush reading the paper.

On to where truckers abound. The Petro Cafe is a place for heavy duty chicken-fried steak. The Petro is at a truck stop just off Interstate 5 as you head west over Pacheco Pass. You know this a serious truck stop, because they have a movie theater, an on site massage therapist, and Betty Boop memorabilia. Most important, chicken-fried steak breakfast is always served.

The chicken-fried steak was formidable, enough food for two normal people. It was served up for about $8 or $9. There was an upgrade option for $3 or so more. That added a third egg and a second chicken-fried steak. Whoa, we are talking about a BIG trucker for that.

cooks.com provides the basic recipe, and our recipe search engine turned up many more I suppose it could be made using fancy French copper cookware instead of a cast iron skillet, but I wouldn’t try it.