Carla Hall's Secret Weapon For Extra-Crispy Chicken Fried Steak

There's no mistaking the statement glasses and effervescent energy that is Carla Hall. A former "Top Chef" finalist and cohost of daytime talk show "The Chew" for more than 1,000 episodes, you can feel Hall's enthusiasm for everything (Southern food in particular) as her bubbly personality jumps off the screen. A native of Nashville, she sees soul food classics like chicken-fried steak and macaroni and cheese as celebration foods that are part of her ancestors' legacy. But there's one detour she takes from the "traditional" chicken-fried steak recipe: She keeps her version shatteringly crisp by using rice flour.

Though chicken-fried steak sounds like a take on fried chicken, the only thing poultry-like about it is the way the steak is treated — like fried chicken. And like fried chicken, sometimes, the breading on it can go claggy and heavy-feeling. There's not very much to celebrate about a stodgy and potentially soggy crust. That's where rice flour comes in.

Much like a tempura batter, rice flour absorbs less oil than regular flour, which keeps the chicken-fried steak super-light and tempting (and also works magic as a swap for the crispiest fried chicken). It is an easy upgrade over the traditional chicken fried steak recipe, as you simply replace the regular flour with the rice variety. Although you may be tempted to grind some rice in your food processor and call it rice flour, you likely can't grind rice finely enough for rice flour, at least not enough for a light and crisp chicken-fried steak crust.

Beyond the rice flour upgrade, Carla Hall also advises seasoning with salt throughout the cooking process (rather than just at the end) for restaurant-quality chicken-fried steak. This means salting the meat before you bread it, salting the rice flour mixture, and salting again to taste before serving. 

If you find yourself addicted to the exterior crunch and yielding interior of rice flour-coated CFS, you could also try Hall's rice flour treatment on virtually anything that can be fried. Keep the southern comfort angle flowing with a rice flour-coated version of Cowboy Kent Rollins' steak tenders or look east to achieve super crunchy takes on dishes like Thai fish cakes or satisfying fried Indian appetizer potato and onion pakoras.