Steak Fingers and Gravy

When David and I were first married we lived right off of main street in the town where we live.  This meant that we were within walking distance from a lot of restaurants, most of which were cheap. There was one place in particular that we really loved: The College Avenue Deli. They had really good food and really great deals at first, but as time went on their prices went up and their food... well let's just say it wasn't worth the mooooola anymore.

They have since gone out of business. It's like the curse of that one shop because everything that opens there eventually closes. Though I hear 5 buck pizza just moved in there and I bet they will do great. Who doesn't love a 5 buck pizza?

Anyways. When The College Avenue Deli started changing their menu there was one dish that my husband absolutely loved. Steak. Fingers. I know. Gross, right? But he loved them. I would try one every once and a while when he'd order them. To me they were tough and sort of flavorless. And to be honest beef is not my favorite type of meat in the whole world to begin with. I am not sure what made them that way for me. Maybe it was the fact that I was pregnant and my tastes had totally changed. Maybe it is because there was not enough seasoning in the breading, or maybe it was because they had used a tough cut of meat.

But the thing about men is that (most of them) would love it if they could have beef every night for dinner. Just kidding. I don't really know what most men would like. But I do know that David loved these steak fingers. And surprisingly... I did too.

They were perfectly hot and crispy. The meat was tender. The breading was mouthwatering and excellently seasoned. I am drooling right now just thinking of these. The really just reminded me of a finger food version of chicken fried steak.

The only problem I had with this particular recipe was the gravy. It was soooooo flavorless. The recipe says to keep adding salt and pepper to taste. Well by the time it had felt like I had just dumped in all of my salt and pepper (which was a lot but I was eyeballing it so I don't know the exact amount) the gravy as a whole still tasted like frying oil and two percent milk. In an attempt to save our hearts I stopped adding the massive amounts of sodium and added a dash of cayenne pepper which made it OK by itself. It gave it a little kick and some flavor. But to be honest the gravy only tasted good when it was eaten with the steak fingers. Which sort of makes me think that the steak fingers were really what tasted good. So good that they drowned out the actual taste of the gravy.

I think next time I make these I'll just serve them with homemade ranch dressing. I have a hunch that that will taste a lot better. 

I highly highly recommend making the steak finger portion of this recipe. The Pioneer Woman was the original blogger who posted this version of steak fingers and gravy. Follow this link for the actual recipe. You won't be sorry you made these. They're worth the food coma and calories. Promise.

get printable recipe here.