Adventures In SOS

When I was a child, my mother often made the ultimate in easy comfort food, creamed chipped beef.  (I know, I’ve also claimed that macaroni and cheese is the ultimate comfort food.  I don’t see why I have to have just ONE ultimate comfort food…) Also when I was a child, you could get this dish at most any restaurant that served “American food.”  These days, I don’t think you can get this old favorite anywhere…at least, I haven’t seen it on a menu in many years.

Another name for creamed chipped beef is SOS.  Some internet sources will tell you that SOS in this context stands for Same Old Stuff.  But my father, who spent some time working Army Intelligence, asserts that in the army, this dish was called “Sh*t on a Shingle.”  He liked to whisper this to my brothers and me, out of range of my mother’s sharp hearing, and then we’d all giggle.  And then we’d feast on SOS.

One of the things I really like about this dish is that all perishable ingredients are almost certainly something already found in most kitchens …flour, butter, milk.  And the other main ingredients are both canned, and can be stashed in the pantry, ready to be deployed anytime comfort food is required.

You can vary this recipe any number of ways.  The basics are a white sauce with chopped up chipped beef, served over toast.  You can add peas, if you are a Philistine who likes peas.  You could add different spices to the sauce, if that’s your thing.  My mother and I like to add canned mushrooms, but you could certainly sauté some fresh mushrooms if you wanted.  Go nuts.

Okay, the method, followed by the recipe. Step one is to add some boiling water to your jar of beef.  This both adds some hydration back into the beef and also removes some of the salt.  Now I tend to like this dish salty, but if you wanted less salt, you could let this mixture sit for 15-20 minutes, then pour out the water, and add more boiling water.  Myself, I just pour in the boiling water and leave it while I’m working on the sauce.  Drain your can of mushrooms and set it aside.  In a large sauté pan, melt the butter over medium heat, then add the flour, and stir it for at least a minute.  Then lift the pan off the heat, pour in your cold milk, and return the pan to the heat.  Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens to the desired consistency, then turn the heat way down.  Stir in the mushrooms, and then pour the water out of your jar of beef and remove the beef to a cutting board.  The beef will come out in a sort of pillar shape, and you can easily lay the pillar on its side and slice it that way before unrolling it and cross-cutting it. Add the beef pieces to your sauce, and stir long enough for the beef to heat through.  Serve over toast.  Yum!

If you’ve never had this dish, I hope you’ll give this old classic a try.

Creamed Chipped Beef

Click here for printable PDF of recipe

INGREDIENTS

1 5-oz jar chipped beef (also called dried beef)

boiling water

1 8-oz can sliced mushrooms, drained

2 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp flour

1.5 cups cold whole milk

a dash of nutmeg and cayenne (optional)

1/4 tsp black pepper

DIRECTIONS

Pour boiling water directly into the jar of chipped beef and let sit for 15-20 minutes. (This will yield a salty result, so if desired, can drain the water, pour more boiling water into the beef jar, and let sit another 15-20 minutes).

While the beef is hydrating and de-salting, melt the butter over medium heat in a large pan, then add the flour and cook for at least a minute. Add the cayenne and nutmeg at this stage, if desired. Add the pepper. Remove from the heat and pour in the cold milk. Return to heat and stir steadily until the white sauce is the desired consistency.

Turn the heat down to low, add the mushrooms, drain the water from the jar of beef, and cut the beef into bite sized pieces. Add the beef to the sauce and stir until everything is warmed through. Serve over toast.

NOTES

If desired, can freeze this dish. Defrost in the refrigerator, then reheat in the microwave or in a pan on the stove, and serve over toast.

Creamed chipped beef is also delicious over biscuits or over cooked rice or mashed potatoes.