Is creamed chipped beef only liked by the people who were or are currently in the military?

[bwinter714]

I'm a Marine, and I remember eating "Shit on a Shingle" in bootcamp in Paris Island. For some reason, it was so damn good, and I am kind of nostalgic for it now that I've been out for quite some time. I was thinking of making it on the Marine Corps Birthday, but I don't think it would be the same. Ahh, memories

I don't know if chow halls across the branches all had it, but the Island certainly did. So my question is, (I'm sure there are exceptions), but there seems to be a higher affinity for that milky white with brown-bits crap slathered on burnt toast from people in the military, is it only us? Or do non-military people really like that too?

[Isolda]

My dad had served in the army and occasionally asked my mom to make it. I didn't care for it, but I do remember it fondly because we kids all called it sh*t on a shingle without getting our mouths washed out with soap. That made it special!

[Whinerdiner]

Another PA reply. Growing up, my grandmother made "dried beef gravy". Man, was it good! She also made "tomato gravy" the same way, substituting fresh tomatoes for the dried chipped beef. She was of English, German, and Pennsylvania Dutch descent.

[Ms.M]

Ditto here! I grew up in central PA, but my mother was from Chester County of English Quaker descent, and made a delicious Dried Beef with Gravy. She had the salty dried beef freshly sliced paper thin from the local CloverFarm store. And, fried Ripe tomatoes were a summer treat, when garden was so full of tomatoes you couldn't possibly eat another slice of fresh tomatoes. Just sprinkle some herbs and flour on the tomato slices, brown lightly on both sides, and save one or two slices to smash up with a little milk to make a gravy.

[alliegator]

SOS and creamed chipped beef fan here. I was often on the menu when I was growing up and I still like the Stouffer's boil in a bag kind over biscuits or a baked potato. I'm from central Pennsylvania (as are a lot of us, it seems!) but none of my folks were ever in the military.

[rockandroller1]

I grew up with a Mom who made the Armor version of creamed chip beef pretty regularly - cheap and filling. And we also did the egg variation, though not with the beef. Never did the ground meat/SOS variation. Oh, and we were not even close to military.

[Dee S]

IMHO, there's a huge difference between creamed chipped beef and SOS. Creamed chipped beef contains, well, chipped beef and has a bechamel based sauce; it's very pure in that respect and even has a more refined appearance. SOS is more of a ground meat (usually beef) in a white gravy that uses the meat fat as the basis and contains additional seasonings (garlic, paprika, cook's sweat, etc). SOS has a heartier structure with no visual appeal (hence the nickname) that makes the entire dish an experience (I kid you not....) while creamed chipped beef is all about the chipped beef.

There's something about SOS while in the service and each branch does it differently. I've eaten at USAF, USN, USA and USMC chow halls but none compares to USMC. The SOS between USMC installations varies. Parris Island sets the standard but a couple other bases I was at did a fine job as well.

Having experienced the BEST military SOS at Parris Island duing boot camp, I get a nostalgic yearning for that specific dish. Try as I might, I've yet to come across a recipe that mimics the good old USMC's recipe. I did find one that makes a standard chow hall batch but it's a bit large for just the two of us. Since hubby's a former sailor, he doesn't appreciate SOS but makes a mean sausage gravy in SOS style.

[aurora50]

Now that you folks have got me thinking, I seem to remember hamburger style SOS that used to be served in my high school cafeteria with a "cream" (term applied loosely) sauce.
Not the best, but even that slop seemed to be tasty to me.

[bwinter714]

That's probably what that was. I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one on this board that wouldn't mind eating it again. So many people here seemed to like it. And I always thought that the military was where SOS won hearts and minds!

Dee, you've been to Paris Island and eaten the chow? Were you 4th battalion or were you there for a relative that graduated? (I think they let family eat in the chow halls now)

[Dee S]

4th Batallion, series 14B from a long time ago. Ooh-rah! When I was there, the new WM barracks were just starting to be used again but we all had to march to Admin chow hall. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed that SOS and how different it was from creamed chipped beef my mom made for us back home. I was probably the only WM to gain weight in boot.

Back then, civilians did not eat in our chow hall.

[bwinter714]

Ooh-rah Semper Fi! Now, they let parents and family eat in the chow halls and visit the training grounds on graduation day :/ My stepfather was Force Recon in Vietnam, and his father was also a Marine, who looked strikingly like Chesty Puller! So when Mike graduated, his father took a jog around the training facilities, and all the DI's made their recruits stop and salute because they thought he was Lt. General Chesty Puller (He was still alive then). I wish I could've seen that. Anyway, back on subject......

[Teacakes]

I grew up eating chipped beef on toast. Daddy was in the military and he always was the one to make it. We all loved it and I still make it today. All my three children liked it. Dried beef in the jar and a white sauce.

[LikestoEatout]

Not military here but I grew up on the stuff. Not sure what meat my mom used originally in the 1950's but later on, Buddig packaged lunch meat was used. Still something I crave, especially in the winter but my partner is now vegetarian and the veggie version is awful. I keep wanting to secretly make myself a big batch.

[EWSflash]

I never was, and I love it. Especially on a toasted English muffin, but toast or biscuits are wonderful, too.

[FrauMetzger]

I grew up just outside Philadelphia in a family of die-hard SOS eaters. I never could stand it, and being a Navy veteran has not changed that one bit. But then, I don't remember it being served in any of the galleys I frequented.

[Will Owen]

Central Illinois kid here, and the Armour stuff in jars was what Mom used to make it. She didn't soak it, she just made the white sauce with no salt and let the meat take care of that. It was a supper dish, always served on toast, sometimes fancied up with chopped hard boiled egg, a wonderful variant.

My branch of service was the Air Force, served almost entirely at Elmendorf AFB outside of Anchorage. Our chow hall's SOS was only the creamed hamburger version; the cream sauce was simply a gallon or three of evaporated milk, reduced in a steam kettle to a thick goo and combined with the browned beef. Very much unlike al b. darned I DO crave a hearty breakfast, especially if afterwards I'm gonna walk half a mile in subzero weather; my favorite version was eggs, hashbrowns, sausage and bacon, with SOS poured over everything. Of course, that was when I had to eat like that just to keep my weight *UP* …

[PotatoHouse]

We had the Hamburger version sometimes also.

[Breezychow]

Yup - the Armour jarred stuff is what my mom bought as well - & we lived in LI, NY. Also served on toast & sometimes with hard-boiled eggs.

[Mayor of Melonville]

In the Air Force we always had SOS with hamburger. Our favorite way was SOS on toast with the eggs on top (reverse order of Will Owen's), chased down with half-white/half-chocolate milk and coffee. This fueled us on midnight shifts in the area known as the Bavarian Siberia (Hof, Germany).

[FoodFuser]

Armors in jars, that could be easily peeled.

Housewife who grew up in the Depression, thus boys coming home
were hooked on that SOS.

Mama, the cook, had no clue of a bechamel
but she made a mean white sauce
that she folded with wafers unfolded from glass jars.

Served them on toast.

Valiance on sauce.
Valiance on Mama.
Valiance on jars of them simple chipped wafers.

[EWSflash]

"that she folded with wafers unfolded from glass jars"

I love the description, FoodFuser, thanks for the visual.

[FoodFuser]

Credit is hers, not mine.

They were best opened closely
with the old-fashioned can opener.

The metal of lid was certainly soft
and gave a soft hiss.
Best held with jar to the softness of belly.
There was something most gentle about it.

The wafers were Mom's to explore, peel and tear.

Yes, I still have a pair of those jars.

[Will Owen]

I think I should add that this is yet another Midwestern working-class treat I introduced Mrs. O to, and she adored it. Her father, family cook and WW2 infantryman, just shuddered when she told him.

[deet13]

Heh, when I was doing Army OSUT/Basic st Ft. Knox, a plate full of cold SOS, lukewarm coffee, greasy bacon, hot orange bug juice, and seconds helpings of strawberry cake made for a fine meal, just before we hit the CS gas chamber...

As for outside of the mil-life, I think SOS is more of a rural or Southern thing.

[gaffk]

I don't think it's southern? I'm from Philadelphia (not far from PA Dutch country several other posters note) and creamed chipped beef is indeed on almost every diner menu in the area. Though I am not a fan, my 82-year old mom loves it and sometimes requests I take her to the local diner that does the best job of it. (And no, neither she nor her family members ever served in the military.)

[deet13]

Maybe you're right. If that's the case, then perhaps SOS started out up there as a regional Penn Dutch recipe, but was transported to the different regions via the US military post-Civil War....

The only reason I say Southern is due to the resemblance SOS has to the sausage gravy we make down here.

[lsmutko]

That's what I thought, too, deet13. That's essentially how I make sausage gravy. Though not a southerner, I learned and developed it to feed a southerner. And sub biscuits for toast.

[gaffk]

Hadn't thought about the sausage gravy aspect. Funny, mom also *hates* biscuits and gravy (and passed that on to 3 of her 4 daughters ;) but loves cream chipped beef. The next time she summons me to the diner, I'll have to ask her what the difference is between the two gravies.

[deet13]

Aside from some spices (nutmeg and Worcestershire sauce) and meats, both SOS and sausage gravy are a simple variation on a bechamel sauce/roux, provided that you substitute butter with meat drippings.

Of course over the past 200 years we've our fair share of Deutsch and Acadian immigrants down here in the South. They moved into the Texas hill country and along our Gulfcoast region. So it's also a possibility that the two types of gravies were created independent of each other...

[Breezychow]

"SOaS" was a common "stretch" meal growing up. My dad got paid once a month, & we always knew when payday was close when we started having things like fried Spam & eggs, Curried Hardboiled Eggs, & SOaS for dinner - lol! But we loved it all. My mom was/is a terrific cook, & anything she made never tasted like scrimping.

[smartie]

help a foreigner - what is it?

[Cathy]

Creamed chipped beef on toast.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/moms-eas...

The beef usually is leftover from a roast, although this recipe calls for the thin sliced lunchmeat beef sold in a package in the grocery store.

(I grew up eating it and still like it. Dad was Navy in WWII before he married mom. I think it was -and is- a way to stretch beef leftovers)

[hazelhurst]

That's foreign to me..my mother (who must have learned it in WW II) used the dried Armour meat in jars, NOT unrolled at first but sliced across. She soaked the meat in ice water to leach out salt. I love the stuff..but we also made some additions I never saw in public offeings , e.g. bell pepper.

[Cathy]

I do remember the dried Armour meat in a jar! I guess mom got all fancy at some point.

[lisaress]

I am from PA Dutch world and Creamed Chipped Beef was extremely common as I was growing up and is still on most breakfast menus around here. We made it with "real" dried beef from the deli case - very salty. You can't make the mistake of getting the dried beef loaf. It looks similar, costs less, but doesn't pack the same punch. I have seen the Armour stuff, but never tried it. I cannot imagine that regular deli beef or scraps from roast beef would taste anything like the Creamed Chipped Beef I know. Get Stouffer's - it is really close to homemade. I keep a few packs on hand when I get the craving and luckily I am the only one in the house who will eat it. For me, it is often the perfect comfort food. To the OP... nope never been in the military.

[cleobeach]

We made it with "real" dried beef from the deli case - very salty.
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Yes! and it needed to be sliced super thin.

[dberg1313]

I grew up eating it, and never had any remote relation to the military. My mother would make it for dinner pretty often, probably because it was cheap in those days, and served it over boiled potatoes with peas on the side. Oddly, we didn't often have it for breakfast. It was very popular with my husband & children but I don't make it so much these days--too many carbs for the diabetics. Also husband has no notion of portion control and will eat a gallon of it (seriously, he will if he gets the chance). I love it over home fries - it's a big seller at the firehouse breakfast
1

[bwinter714]

So Ok, maybe it's a southern thing. I grew up in Albany, NY, so we didn't get the southern comfort foods up here.

I think that the reason why I liked it too was because your body is pretty adept at recognizing calorie-laden food (survivial instinct), and when you're in bootcamp you need all the calories you can get. Just a thought of mine anyway. But I wouldn't mind going back to Paris Island (not for bootcamp, fuck, that was enough the first time around) and seeing if it is still as good as I remember it.

[PotatoHouse]

I grew up in the Navy and I LOVE SOS.

[al b. darned]

While in Uncle Sam's Canoe Club, one form of SOS was Creamed Chipped Beef, but more often it was hamburger either in a tomato or cream-like sauce. The tomato-based version was my favorite, with the chipped beef coming in last. They only time they served SOS was for breakfast. I've never been a big fan of a heavy breakfast, and when it was available on the chow line I usually chose something else. Unlike bwinter714, however, I don't really miss any of them.

[Terrie H.]

I grew up on eating creamed chipped beef often. My maternal grandmother was from northern Maryland where there was a lot of influence from the PA Dutch type of cooking, which I somehow associate with CB. I was at my parents' yesterday at lunchtime and my father asked my mother where the leftover CB was - they had apparently treated themselves for dinner the night before. My mother said "too late - I already ate it. Snooze you lose!"

[centralpadiner]

Yes, it is extremely popular here in Central PA. I don't associate it with the military at all. My mother loves it, my husband loves it and many others in my family with no military experience. It never occurred to me to associate this with the military.

Stouffers makes it? I don't think they even sell that around here. It is always homemade, but I've never made it, personally.

[cleobeach]

I am a PA Dutcher and creamed chipped beef on toast is very popular. I don't care for it in the creamed form but as a child I liked to eat the dried beef just plain, right out of the package.

[Terrie H.]

I tried to explain to my mother that the dried beef at the Amish butcher in Germantown was worth the drive vs Buddig - I could eat that stuff without the cream gravy in a heartbeat.

[cleobeach]

dried beef "roll ups" are regularly found at parties in my area. dried beef spread with cream cheese and rolled to form a tube.

[FrauMetzger]

You brought back great memories, Cleo! My grand mom used to give me those when I was small. Sometimes, we'd be forced to substitute Lebanon bologna, but it was just never the same.

[Kelli2006]

I live in Amish coiuntry in Ohio and I also like creamed chipped beef but I only like it when it is made with a proper roux, plenty of meat and fresh black pepper.

My father was a draftee Lt in Korea and mother mother was a Navy nurse but I was never in the service.

[Terrie H.]

I have a friend who visits from about 2 hours away periodically and times it so he can have the creamed chipped beef served over home fries at a local diner. Highly recommend home fries rather than toast.

[alliegator]

Stouffers must sell it there, when I visit my grandparents in Williamsport, it's in their freezer. It's pretty good in a hurry, if you see some around and have the urge for it, give it a try!

[betsydiver]

stouffer's does it frozen; i think it's boil in bag? I like it alot; salty, creamy,mmmmm

[Terrie H.]

So I asked my soldier about this since I was lucky enough to hear from him tonight. He's a Cajun, which apparently means that SOS wasn't what he grew up with or would choose on the chow line. "Except if my other choice was goat.". Seriously.

[FarFar]

We were passing through Ocean City, MD last year and saw a restaurant named "House of Chipped Beef". Unfortunately, we didn't have time to stop and check it out.

[Terrie H.]

Now that's a curious place.

[christy1122]

I love Creamed Chipped Beef....my Nana made it from scratch yet we grew up on Stouffers. It is always my first choice on a Breakfast Menu....the quetions is always, do they do it good?

[aurora50]

Oh my goodness, none of my immediate family has ever been in the military, yet I'm in love with SOS. Not sure how or where I grew to love it, I think it must have been through my mother somehow. I tend to get the Stouffer's frozen, it's very good.