Great stuff, ate it at Thailand, Okinawa, Guam and Carswell air base. Great stuff.

Good recipe, some differnt variations I have run accross:
seen some with either mushrooms, onions, bell peppers, jalapenos, garlic added. Seen it served in ramen noodles(minus the flavor packet), rice, toast, crossaints, and the standard toast. Of course with those who enjoy this meal regualarly, the standard anticholesterol tablet is served 1 hour prior to the meal.

The Air Force version of SOS also had Worcestershire sauce as an ingredient in the recipe.

Retired E-8

My daddy used to make it with bacon chopped and chopped hard boiled eggs in the gravy. He called it SOS, on toast YUMMY. Thanks dad. I think of him every time I eat it.

I remember when I ate this cream beef in the ARMY at Fort Bragg North Carolina.

I grew up a Navy brat and then spent adulthood in the Army. Amongst my assignments in the Army was as preparer of the SOS. This is about as close to the exact basic recipe home-sized as it can get. Only thing, a touch (1/2c) too much milk in the roux for 3TBS of flour.

It's SoS no matter which meat you make it from as long as it's served atop bread (toast, biscuit, waffle, ...) -- the meat can be any ground or thin sliced meat you have handy. Way-way back chipped beef is what the navy had on ships in barrels (not so many cows out in the ocean) so it was 'creamed chipped beef on toast' that was origin of the military variety. (you can still get this in jars at the grocery - soak it in fresh water first!)

The USMC, Army, and Air Force adopted it with what we had readily available most places; ground cow. 'Creamed Beef on Toast' It can as easily be ground pig, ground goat, ground sheep, even ground bird or game animal and it's still SoS. Though some eyebrows will be raised when you start deviating too much. Creamed Spam on Toast might not fly too many places but Creamed Tuna on Toast isn't too bad. I've even used last night's leftover roast beef and it's amazing good eats.

What makes it SoS is that it's creamed meat (the first S) on a bread shingle (the second S) - what makes it "gravy" is that we made a roux and then reduced a liquid with it. [make it really thin with a beef stock and you have cream of beef soup] Serve it over egg noodles with a dollop of sour cream and it's dinner. Military cooks are multitaskers. :-)

As for the roux - at sea and in-the-field it was very often powdered milk as the base. Land-side, when it was handy, some real cream is wonderful in this dish. Half-and-Half works pretty well too. Just don't go with more than 50% cream or it gets really thick really fast.

Accessories? Black pepper is just about obligatory. A few splashes (at the table) of Tabasco is many folk's favorite. Some beef stock base, Worcestershire, or (when in Europe) Maggi is great. In Asia you can use Soy, Teriyaki, Oyster/Fish Sauce, etc and it's good too. But those aren't essential to SoS - they just make it a touch more flavorful and happy on some tongues.

Great recipe Peg, thanks for lots of memories.

My dad was in the Army. I became a cook. I was always amazed that where ever I cooked, SOS was the first recipe I was asked to put on special as often as possible. It always brought a full house of thankful military who couldn't find it anywhere else. I also made it at home for young G.I.'s that worked for my mom and admired my 16 year old daughter. Some weekends or holidays as many as 20 or so showed up with the ingredients daily.

Good stuff.

I grew up eating this. I took cooking class once with a retired army cook. He made sos with a milk flour roux, then added ground beef, onion, pimento and lots of black pepper. Both ways it's scrumptious..

I never brown ground beef in any type of fat and/or oil. I don't use onions either. And, I serve the mixture over skillet-browned potatoes and serve it for the evening meal and then use any left-overs for breakfast. So, so good!

Worcestershire sauce is the secret ingredient in the military version.

SOS. Reminds me of when I was in the Navy. I like it on boiled potatoes.

Sorry but this is not the US Naval recipe that was used on the lst fresno while I was onboard, we used only chipped corn beef, the recipe above is just what a Missouri boy calls hamburger gravy, the other which is never talked about is tuna gravy on toast which my father dearly loved during his stint of service in the army during the Korean war. Getting back to the recipe everything else in the recipe is correct, thanks for letting me comment., Henry.

Haven't had any decent sos since Air Force days late 50s in Libya. Had some today at local restaurant. made with chipped beef... ugh. I'm going to try this recipe... can't wait. Have it over toast with easy over egg on top!!!

Excellent Recipe! Used to eat this with two eggs over easy at Ft Devens, MA every morning.... mmmmmmmmm I noticed none of the Vets alluded to what the "SOS" really stood for :-)