Chicken-fried steak is a beef cutlet, usually cube steak or tenderized round steak, breaded and pan-fried the way fried chicken is prepared, despite containing no chicken; it's a staple of Southern and Tex-Mex cooking in the United States. The steak is seasoned, dredged in flour, dipped in egg, coated in breadcrumbs or cornmeal, and fried until golden and crisp outside while staying tender inside. It's traditionally served with a peppery white gravy made from the pan drippings, and its roots are often traced to German and Austrian immigrants in 19th-century Texas who adapted schnitzel-style breaded cutlets to local beef.