Air Frying Class

Kyl Haselbauer has 20 years of experience working in fine-dining and modernist kitchens, including Bar Cotto and Anchovies &amp; Olives in Seattle. He is also the owner of Bright Spot, a café and coffee shop in Seattle.

Kyl Haselbauer

Chicken-fried steak is perfect for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and even when it’s poorly executed, it’s still pretty good. Who can resist fried meat smothered in an unholy amount of gravy?Usually, making chicken-fried steak means heating up a pot of oil and making a mess of dishes, but with the help of an air fryer you can have this American classic on your table in under 30 minutes with a fraction of the cleanup.There are two things to note about how this recipe differs from standard chicken-fried steak procedure. First, we use toasted panko in place of a standard flour dredge, which leads to a crispier result, since you don’t have to spend time hydrating and gelatinizing a raw starch. Second, we found that coating steaks with mayo helped the breadcrumbs to stick, boosted flavor, and improved the crispiness of the crust. As the cutlets cook, the mayonnaise emulsion breaks, and the oil it exudes helps to “fry” the breadcrumbs.While the steak cooks, we make a simple, roux-based gravy on the stovetop and fortify it with plenty of black pepper. For a balanced pepper flavor, we toast half of the pepper in butter and reserve the other half for whisking into the gravy at the end.
 
The result is crispy, juicy, succulent meat that’s nearly indistinguishable from a fried steak, draped in a silky, rich, and peppery gravy.

Chicken-Air-Fried Steak