Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Food, Cooking, and Game Preparation S.O.S.?

Anybody like Sh*t on a Shingle, or make this old Army chow hall food? My father had it at Ft. Polk many years ago with the dried beef and on toast...when I was at Ft. Benning we got it with ground beef and on toast or biscuits. I hate to admit it, but I liked both versions...but I haven't had it in years.

As I understand it, it is nothing more than making a light butter based roux, milk added to finish the "white gravy", seasoned to your tastes, then add the chipped dried beef or browned ground beef to the gravy...served on toasted white bread.

Anybody got any other suggestions or tips or am I off on this totally?

There was a short lived restaurant here called Hawkeye's that served the best S.O.S. I've ever had. The wife and I would have breakfast there 2-3 times a week. Then the first cook quit and the new cook was a hack and Hawkeye's went the way most new places do. My wife makes very good S.O.S. she learned from a pro in the US Army. Has a bit of butter saut�ed onion and more butter than what is in a normal recipe for S.O.S. we like to have the ground beef kind over scrambled eggs and the chipped beef kind with toast and grits.

you guys are making me hungry.

Close. My dad spent part of his tour in Austrailia in WWII as mess sergeant. Hq. Battery, 147th FA, SDNG. Here's how he taught me to make it:

Brown ground beef in a pan. Add enough flour to absorb the grease. With todays lean beef, and with chipped beef, I use margarine to add more fat. Don't brown the flour, the idea is to coat the flour with fat so it doesn't make lumps. Add milk and a shot of coffee until it feels right, salt and Tabasco. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly as it scalds easily, and it'll suddenly thicken more than you think it should.

I can't give proportions, it pretty much goes by feel. Too thick, add a little milk or coffee. Too thin, sprinkle a little flour and mix but expect lumps. Wondera flour is good here as it doesn't want to make lumps. To give you some idea of proportions, when ground beef was fatter the amount of flour was just enough to absorb all the fat.

On the coffee, Dad said he caught one of his cooks adding coffee to thin out the SOS and was all set to give him hell, but it turned out better that way.

Hellufalot better than the stuff they served at mess halls I've had the "pleasure" of dining at. Sitting in a steam table really kills it.

A little touch of garlic salt along with the onions is a pretty good addition too.


BCR

I use the Carl Budings brand dried beef. I have have found some other brands to be too salty. Instead of butter I use bacon or sausage grease. It's not real heart friendly, but it sure does taste good!!

Mike

Good info from all. The kinds I have had had no chunks of onion or anything at all other than meat...basically seasoned gravy and meat, ground or dried. And the gravy was always very white to slightly off white. But its something to play with and perfect.