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If you've served in any branch of the U.S. armed forces, then you're familiar with the military's premiere breakfast entree, Creamed Ground Beef, also known as minced beef, or more commonly as S.O.S., or "Same Old Stuff."  It's the sort of dish that you either love or you hate, and there's no middle ground, but whatever the case, you're probably very familiar with it, if you've served in the armed forces.  I'm in the "love it" category, so here's my recipe...  


Special tools:  Large frying pan or chicken cooker; I prefer cast iron
Preparation time:  About 10 minutes
Cooking time:  About 20 minutes
Yield:  4 servings



2 lbs pound ground beef
1/2 cup white flour
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons lard or bacon grease
2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
4-1/2 cups whole milk
1 onion, diced, any variety will work
1  jalapeņo pepper, diced
8 slices white bread, toasted


Crumble ground beef in large pan.  Brown beef over medium high heat, until meat starts to brown, about 6 minutes.  Add diced onions and jalapeņo peppers, and cook another 5 or 5 minutes, until beef is browned and diced onions are translucent.  Remove from heat.  Drain most of grease, but leave a small amount of grease in the pan for flavoring; about a tablespoon.  Add lard or bacon grease.  Return meat mixture to medium heat.

Add flour to meat mixture and stir until flour is cooked, about 2 minutes.  With the mixture still in the pot, add milk and Worcestershire sauce.  The flour will naturally thicken the sauce.  Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly, until ingredients are well blended and the sauce has thickened to about the consistency of runny pancake batter.

Left:  S.O.S. is ready to serve, and is about the consistancy of runny pancake batter.  Right:  Although she has ever served in the military, my beautiful wife, Sharlene, is a fan of S.O.S. and eggs for breakfast.

Serve over toast. If you want to be authentic military, offer scrambled eggs on the side.  Since I'm retired from the Navy, I prefer my eggs fried, over easy.


Oh boy does this dish ever bring back pleasant memories!  If you've ever served with any branch of the U.S.. Armed Forces, you know what a breakfast of "S.O.S." is all about.  This dish tastes especially good if you have scrambled eggs on the side, tabasco sauce, and a cup of strong coffee.  It'll taste just the way they used to make it on that "tin can" you served on, all those years ago.

Photo:  Here's the fantastic breakfast of S.O.S. served on toast, and fried eggs on the side.  Breakfast doesn't get any better than this...

While I served on the U.S.S. Roark, FF-1053, I had a buddy, MSC Fampulme, who used to invite me to the mess deck upon occasion.  He and I shared an interest in cooking, and I used to delight in watching in oversee the preparation of meals for the entire ship's company.  He'd give me recipes, albeit for the whole ship, but by doing simple math, I was able to whittle the recipe down into portions for "real people" so this recipe is actually a scaled version of the recipe that the Chief Petty Officer used on the U.S.S. Roark.

If you want a real treat, and you want to "de-militarize" this dish, add the optional ingredients and serve this dish over sourdough toast.  That will promote this dish from Petty Officer Third Class to Senior Chief in a New York minute!


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