Army SOS
01-09-2011, 10:37 AM
#23
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Posts: 768
Originally Posted by Carol's Quilts
I always thought SOS (military slang - I won't translate the anagram!) was Creamed (dried) Chipped Beef. It was made with a white cream sauce and served over toast. Armor Meats still makes it - it is packaged in an 8-oz. glass with a metal lid. In fact, Stouffer's makes frozen creamed beef just like what I grew up on. I still love it. Never knew it was SOS until my ex-army husband told me - years and years ago!
My kids got hamburger gravy over mashed potatoes in school in the 70's, and I like that, too, but it's not what we called SOS.
Maybe it depends on what area you're from.
My kids got hamburger gravy over mashed potatoes in school in the 70's, and I like that, too, but it's not what we called SOS.
Maybe it depends on what area you're from.
01-11-2011, 03:06 AM
#26
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Posts: 768
I did a little google research on this and found a site that reprinted recipes from the Army cookbook during World War II. Interestingly enough, there were 4 recipes for this item, 2 of which I never heard of, and the other 2 used either dried chipped beef in a white cream sauce served over toast OR hamburger ground beef in a brown beef gravy served over mashed potatoes.
What they made depended on 2 things - the supplies the Army sent to the Quartermaster Corps (cooks) and/or the cook's choice.
I guess that explains why some vets swear that SOS is chipped beef and others swear it is hamburger. They are both right!
One item I found interesting - one vet wrote in. He was stationed on a Pacific Island, tropical heat and miserable. They had no cold/frozen foods because they did not have the facilities to store them. So they did not have hamburger meat to use. The food they worked with were all canned, boxed or dried. They had dried chipped beef in cream sauce (probably made with dried milk).
So I guess there is no right or wrong about what SOS is. Fortunately for me, we like it both ways - we just call them by different names.
What they made depended on 2 things - the supplies the Army sent to the Quartermaster Corps (cooks) and/or the cook's choice.
I guess that explains why some vets swear that SOS is chipped beef and others swear it is hamburger. They are both right!
One item I found interesting - one vet wrote in. He was stationed on a Pacific Island, tropical heat and miserable. They had no cold/frozen foods because they did not have the facilities to store them. So they did not have hamburger meat to use. The food they worked with were all canned, boxed or dried. They had dried chipped beef in cream sauce (probably made with dried milk).
So I guess there is no right or wrong about what SOS is. Fortunately for me, we like it both ways - we just call them by different names.
01-11-2011, 02:55 PM
#29
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Mid-West
Posts: 3,838
Yes.....I made it like that for yrs, but the mroom soup makes it richer....I like it on potatoes, DH likes it with toast.
Originally Posted by gale
Pat-that's how my sister makes hers. I try to avoid using cream soups but I do use them for some dishes-but this one is seriously just as easy without.
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