This SOS creamed beef recipe is one of the easiest dishes. My dad always made it when I was growing up, and I still crave it today!
SOS stands for “sh*t on a shingle,” and growing up, I loved it when my dad made this for dinner.
I mostly loved it because I could say “sh*t” and not get in too much trouble.
This is one of those classic old-fashioned military meals nostalgic for many people. My family included!
Although SOS is traditionally made with chipped dried beef – a dried, smoked, and salted meat product – my family has always used ground beef. When you use chipped beef, you typically call it “creamed chipped beef.”
Either way, it’s tasty, but I find the ground beef to be a bit more filling and a lot less salty.
Texturally creamed hamburger gravy is similar to sausage white gravy. It’s great spooned over toast, soft white bread, or homemade biscuits.
Visually, it’s not the most colorful or beautiful dish but filling and comforting.
Sometimes, that cancels the old rule: “You eat with your eyes first.”
Plus, it’s like the dinner version of sausage gravy and biscuits, which you know means it’s going to be amazingly delicious! I like to make mine and serve it over toast, but I hear serving it over potatoes is also a great way to scarf down this deliciousness.
If you’re unfamiliar with this dish, you should know it’s comfort food. It’s super cheap to make and works perfectly when you have a big family to feed.
SOS can be made with either ground beef or chipped beef but for this recipe I used ground beef because that is what my family uses. Popular chipped beef brands Buddig beef or Hormel.
To keep things simple, season this SOS creamed beef recipe with salt and pepper, but sometimes, adding other spices like garlic, crushed red pepper flakes, or even fresh herbs is fun.
I like mine with a little sprinkling of crushed red pepper or a pinch of cayenne pepper because I always crave heat!
How to make creamed hamburger
The great thing about this easy recipe is that it doesn’t require a lot of extra energy in the kitchen. And it can be made relatively cheap!
Add ground beef and onion in a large skillet and cook until the meat is browned.
Drain the beef, remove it from the pan, and set aside.
Melt butter in the same pan and add flour to create a roux to help thicken our gravy/cream sauce.
Slowly stream in 2 cups milk and gently simmer until thickened.
Add the ground beef and onions to the pan, stir, and simmer until warm.
Serve over sliced toasted bread (Texas toast is fun!) or biscuits.
More ground beef recipes
Are you looking to feed a crowd of people? Try my Ground beef tacos
Do you love a one-pot recipe? Try my One pot ground beef stroganoff
Craving a little heat? Try my Chipotle ground beef enchiladas
Want to bust out the Instant Pot? Try my Instant Pot lasagna soup
SOS Creamed Beef Recipe
Author: Brandy O’Neill
This SOS creamed beef recipe is one of the easiest dishes to throw together. My dad used to make this all the time and I still crave it to this day!
Chipped beef even found its way into the white gravy mixture with the future doughboys right before World War I. Soldiers and sailors eventually dubbed it “SOS” (“Save Our Souls” or “Same Old Slop” being the PG-rated translations) when served on a piece of toast.
Even on busy mornings, afternoons, and nights, restaurant kitchen staff know that "SOS" isn't a distress signal. Rather, this shorthand is vital in communicating a particular customer's preference regarding condiments. SOS merely indicates that a patron asked for their sauce on the side.
Or, as we colloquially called it, “SOS” – “Sh*t On a Shingle.” Back in WWII when SOS was named “SOS,” it was made by serving creamed chipped beef gravy over toast.
He said that veteran's groups who tour the base are taken to a mess hall and served creamed beef on toast made using the recipe in the 1944 Army recipe book, TM 10-412. Again, many veterans tell Hanson it their favorite meal while in the Army. And SOS remains popular among soldiers today.
Dried beef, also called chipped beef, is beef that has been partially dried, salt-cured and thinly sliced. You can easily enjoy this cured meat as an appetizer, snack or meal. Dried beef has a rich past but is a relatively obscure meat product in most parts of the country today.
What is the gravy at KFC made of? The restaurant uses a simple combination of gravy powder, water, and – their secret ingredient – chicken crackling. This is a collection of the browned bits and pieces leftover from frying their world famous chicken.
Red-eye gravy is a gravy made from the drippings of ham fried in a skillet or frying pan. The pan is deglazed with coffee, giving the gravy its name, and uses no thickening agent. This gravy is a staple of Southern United States cuisine and is usually served over ham, grits or biscuits.
This classic sauce is made by combining two unusual ingredients. A beloved Southern favorite, red eye gravy is made with the duo of ham drippings and black coffee. The dish gets its unique name from how the round circles of ham fat look like red eyes when floating on top of the coffee.
Welcome to the U.S. Army Reserve Survivor Outreach Services (SOS) website. If you came to this page because you are a surviving Family member, please know we are here for you. SOS is the official U.S. Military program designed to provide long term support to surviving Families of Fallen Soldiers.
SOS stands for Save Our Ship. SOS refers to the Morse code alert for a ship in distress. It is currently used as an internet slang initialism to signify any emergency situation.
The phrases "save our souls" and "save our ship" came later, through popular use outside of marine communication. It also can be used in modern-day slang to communicate discomfort or urgency over text: "SOS, I need you to call me with an excuse so I can leave this date."
The term "sawmill gravy" comes from early logging camp food and old-time sawmills. It was originally made with cornmeal, bacon drippings, milk, and seasonings. This resulted in a somewhat gritty gravy; in fact, rumor has it that the loggers would accuse the cooks of putting sawdust in the recipe!
British gravy is more like what America would consider a jus or red wine sauce, but thickened with cornflour. Think of an American 'au jus' but with a consistency of whole milk.
It seems evident that homemakers invented chipped beef on toast during the depression era, but we actually have our WWII vets to thank for this one. This meal was a traditional army recipe that was super easy to make, cheap, and incredibly filling.
In U.S. military food terms, SOS generally implies some kind of meat in a sauce, served over toast (the toast being the “shingle”), and often served as a breakfast dish.
S.O.S.'s origins are a bit unclear. Marine Corp lore traces the dish back to World War I, when an Army field kitchen was unable to keep up with the rapidly advancing Marine Brigade.
Apparently, it goes back to old London rhyming slang. Londoners used to cry “hot beef!” (rhymes with: “stop thief!”) to raise the alarm in a touch-and-go situation. “Beef” came to be equated with “to shout”, and it evolved from there to represent what we know it as in its modern form.
Creamed chipped beef on toast is a popular breakfast dish in the United States. It is most commonly served in diners in the northeast, where I lived most of my life, though it can be found in other areas of the country as well.
Introduction: My name is Pres. Carey Rath, I am a faithful, funny, vast, joyous, lively, brave, glamorous person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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