Nobody glorifies the humble chicken-fried steak quite like Texas.

Today, Oct. 26, Texans' celebration of the breaded, pan-fried beef will reach a fever pitch on Chicken Fried Steak Day - declared an official state holiday in 2011. A Facebook page for the holiday has almost 1,000 "likes," and posts on the page range from simple declarations of affection for the cutlets to heated debates over perfect sides.

An outsider might call it hysteria.

To educate the uninitiated, A-J Media spoke with local experts from Texas Tech to find out if there's any science to justify the chicken-fried fervor.

A quick Google search for "What is chicken-fried steak" yields the simple definition: "a thin piece of beef that is slightly battered and fried until crisp."

Dewey McMurrey, a chef with Tech hospitality services, said what modern Texans know as chicken-fried steak is descended from the German dish, wiener schnitzel.

Schnitzel, McMurrey said, is any sort of meat tenderized with a hammer and coated with flour, eggs and bread crumbs.

"(Schnitzel) came to America with a lot of European immigrants," McMurrey said. "And it kind of got changed to ingredients that we have here. Here, we use beef. There, they used chicken and pork."

According to foodtimeline.org, a website that tracks the history of dishes dating back to biblical times, the earliest reference to the food as "chicken-fried" comes from a 1914 restaurant ad in the Colorado Springs Gazette. The earliest recipe, the website says, was published in 1924.

What makes it so good?

Chance Brooks, associate professor of meat sciences at Tech, said there are three important criteria when determining the palatability of all meat - tenderness, juiciness and flavor.

Chicken-fried steak, he said, satisfies all three, but only when those preparing it give it love.

According to Brooks, the cutlets for chicken-fried steak can come from any part of the animal, but they're usually the most external muscles, right beneath the hide.

"The meat comes from what's left on the carcass after the harvest process," Brooks said. "They're typically very lean, but they're typically tough too."

To tenderize the meat, chefs can beat the cutlet with a mallet, or press on it with the edge of a plate or saucer.

In a factory setting, the meat is run through a cubing machine. The machine flattens the meat and uses tiny blades to score the entire cutlet.

According to Brooks, the beating or cubing fragments the muscle fibers that make the meat so tough.

McMurrey goes the extra mile. He said he likes to use a type of breadcrumb, called panko, that has extra-sharp edges. During the breading process, the edges dig into the meat, giving it extra tenderness.

The steak cutlet isn't the juiciest piece of meat, and the cooking process can sometimes make it drier.

But Brooks said pan-frying the meat in oil can compensate for the natural dryness of the cut.

"The juiciness comes from cooking in the oil," Brooks said. "It adds fat and improves the perceived juiciness of the product. You really improve that cutlet or the palatability of those muscles."

But cooking oil often isn't the only liquid saturating the meat.

It's not a real Texas chicken-fried steak without a coating of cream gravy.

"Gravy masks any dryness that occurs during cooking," Brooks said. "Any liquid or ingredient or condiment takes the place of juice. So you have that perception of it being juicy."

To meet this criterion, breading is king.

"The flavor comes from the batter and the breading that favors the lower-value cuts," Brooks said. "Sometimes there are spices in the breading and things that improve the flavor."

The spices are up to the discretion of the chef. McMurrey likes to stick to the basics.

"Usually I just do plain old salt and pepper in the flour or on the meat before I dredge it," he said. "I like to squeeze some lemon juice on it after it's cooked."

McMurrey said he's never experimented with the tried-and-true dish before.

It's comfort food, some say. Why mess with a good thing?

"I'm just trying to enhance the flavors that are in the original recipe." McMurrey said. "Traditionally, it's a very simple recipe. That might be part of the reason why it's still around today."