Is creamed chipped beef only liked by the people who were or are currently in the military?

Question

I'm a Marine, and I remember eating "Shit on a Shingle" in bootcamp in Paris Island. For some reason, it was so damn good, and I am kind of nostalgic for it now that I've been out for quite some time. I was thinking of making it on the Marine Corps Birthday, but I don't think it would be the same. Ahh, memories

I don't know if chow halls across the branches all had it, but the Island certainly did. So my question is, (I'm sure there are exceptions), but there seems to be a higher affinity for that milky white with brown-bits crap slathered on burnt toast from people in the military, is it only us? Or do non-military people really like that too?

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I grew up on eating creamed chipped beef often. My maternal grandmother was from northern Maryland where there was a lot of influence from the PA Dutch type of cooking, which I somehow associate with CB. I was at my parents' yesterday at lunchtime and my father asked my mother where the leftover CB was - they had apparently treated themselves for dinner the night before. My mother said "too late - I already ate it. Snooze you lose!"

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While in Uncle Sam's Canoe Club, one form of SOS was Creamed Chipped Beef, but more often it was hamburger either in a tomato or cream-like sauce. The tomato-based version was my favorite, with the chipped beef coming in last. They only time they served SOS was for breakfast. I've never been a big fan of a heavy breakfast, and when it was available on the chow line I usually chose something else. Unlike bwinter714, however, I don't really miss any of them.

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I grew up in the Navy and I LOVE SOS.

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So Ok, maybe it's a southern thing. I grew up in Albany, NY, so we didn't get the southern comfort foods up here. 

I think that the reason why I liked it too was because your body is pretty adept at recognizing calorie-laden food (survivial instinct), and when you're in bootcamp you need all the calories you can get. Just a thought of mine anyway. But I wouldn't mind going back to Paris Island (not for bootcamp, fuck, that was enough the first time around) and seeing if it is still as good as I remember it.

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I grew up eating it, and never had any remote relation to the military. My mother would make it for dinner pretty often, probably because it was cheap in those days, and served it over boiled potatoes with peas on the side. Oddly, we didn't often have it for breakfast. It was very popular with my husband & children but I don't make it so much these days--too many carbs for the diabetics. Also husband has no notion of portion control and will eat a gallon of it (seriously, he will if he gets the chance). I love it over home fries - it's a big seller at the firehouse breakfast
1

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help a foreigner - what is it?

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"SOaS" was a common "stretch" meal growing up. My dad got paid once a month, & we always knew when payday was close when we started having things like fried Spam & eggs, Curried Hardboiled Eggs, & SOaS for dinner - lol! But we loved it all. My mom was/is a terrific cook, & anything she made never tasted like scrimping.

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Heh, when I was doing Army OSUT/Basic st Ft. Knox, a plate full of cold SOS, lukewarm coffee, greasy bacon, hot orange bug juice, and seconds helpings of strawberry cake made for a fine meal, just before we hit the CS gas chamber...

As for outside of the mil-life, I think SOS is more of a rural or Southern thing.

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Central Illinois kid here, and the Armour stuff in jars was what Mom used to make it. She didn't soak it, she just made the white sauce with no salt and let the meat take care of that. It was a supper dish, always served on toast, sometimes fancied up with chopped hard boiled egg, a wonderful variant. 

My branch of service was the Air Force, served almost entirely at Elmendorf AFB outside of Anchorage. Our chow hall's SOS was only the creamed hamburger version; the cream sauce was simply a gallon or three of evaporated milk, reduced in a steam kettle to a thick goo and combined with the browned beef. Very much unlike al b. darned I DO crave a hearty breakfast, especially if afterwards I'm gonna walk half a mile in subzero weather; my favorite version was eggs, hashbrowns, sausage and bacon, with SOS poured over everything. Of course, that was when I had to eat like that just to keep my weight *UP* …

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I grew up just outside Philadelphia in a family of die-hard SOS eaters. I never could stand it, and being a Navy veteran has not changed that one bit. But then, I don't remember it being served in any of the galleys I frequented.

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I never was, and I love it. Especially on a toasted English muffin, but toast or biscuits are wonderful, too.

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Not military here but I grew up on the stuff. Not sure what meat my mom used originally in the 1950's but later on, Buddig packaged lunch meat was used. Still something I crave, especially in the winter but my partner is now vegetarian and the veggie version is awful. I keep wanting to secretly make myself a big batch.

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I grew up eating chipped beef on toast. Daddy was in the military and he always was the one to make it. We all loved it and I still make it today. All my three children liked it. Dried beef in the jar and a white sauce.

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IMHO, there's a huge difference between creamed chipped beef and SOS. Creamed chipped beef contains, well, chipped beef and has a bechamel based sauce; it's very pure in that respect and even has a more refined appearance. SOS is more of a ground meat (usually beef) in a white gravy that uses the meat fat as the basis and contains additional seasonings (garlic, paprika, cook's sweat, etc). SOS has a heartier structure with no visual appeal (hence the nickname) that makes the entire dish an experience (I kid you not....) while creamed chipped beef is all about the chipped beef.

There's something about SOS while in the service and each branch does it differently. I've eaten at USAF, USN, USA and USMC chow halls but none compares to USMC. The SOS between USMC installations varies. Parris Island sets the standard but a couple other bases I was at did a fine job as well.

Having experienced the BEST military SOS at Parris Island duing boot camp, I get a nostalgic yearning for that specific dish. Try as I might, I've yet to come across a recipe that mimics the good old USMC's recipe. I did find one that makes a standard chow hall batch but it's a bit large for just the two of us. Since hubby's a former sailor, he doesn't appreciate SOS but makes a mean sausage gravy in SOS style.

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I grew up with a Mom who made the Armor version of creamed chip beef pretty regularly - cheap and filling. And we also did the egg variation, though not with the beef. Never did the ground meat/SOS variation. Oh, and we were not even close to military.

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SOS and creamed chipped beef fan here. I was often on the menu when I was growing up and I still like the Stouffer's boil in a bag kind over biscuits or a baked potato. I'm from central Pennsylvania (as are a lot of us, it seems!) but none of my folks were ever in the military.

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Another PA reply. Growing up, my grandmother made "dried beef gravy". Man, was it good! She also made "tomato gravy" the same way, substituting fresh tomatoes for the dried chipped beef. She was of English, German, and Pennsylvania Dutch descent.

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My dad had served in the army and occasionally asked my mom to make it. I didn't care for it, but I do remember it fondly because we kids all called it sh*t on a shingle without getting our mouths washed out with soap. That made it special!

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I grew up in Virginia Beach (Hampton Roads = East Coast Military Hub). My dad was a cook in the air force and then later a radar tech in the Navy. He LOVED making SOS and cream chipped beef at home and I still love it to this day. I have to agree that Stouffer's is good for that nostalgic thirst quencher. I can't say that it's a favorite in all military families as my husband (his father was a navigator in the Navy) absolutely cannot stand it. Ah well, we each have our flaws :) All SOS however is not made equal. My extended family in NC makes it, but it's just not the same. My family up north? They just don't get it, lol.

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Had it often at AOC School (same one Richard Gere went to in Officer and a Gentleman...but in Pensacola). I think we liked it because we were pushed to our limits and ANYTHING would taste good.

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I really wanted to like this stuff, because it sounded so good. Alas, after giving it a go a few times, I had to conclude that chipped beef is just no dam' good. And, no, I don't have a military background, although my dad did.

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Not at all! It was a frugal, tasty staple of Middle Western families in the late 19th and up until the mid-20th century. I still make it as a family treat, on toast or baked potatoes.

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If it looks like the photo on the left, I love it. The other? I tolerate it.

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Dad used to eat the hell out of this stuff. I mean licking the plate clean. It was pretty obscene. I have fond memories of smelling that stuff in his beard as a kid. It's getting harder to find the Stouffers boil-in-a-bag in the frozen food section, but Armour, Hormel, and Esskay make dried beef and it isn't that difficult to make a bechamel, so I've been doing it a lot on the weekend.

There's a pretty interesting book about the history of military chow recipes, it includes the distinct versions of chipped beef/S.O.S. that the various Services prepare. I had no idea that the secret ingredient in the U.S.M.C. eggrolls served at the DC Marine Corps Barracks was cheddar cheese.

http://www.amazon.com/Military-Life-Elegant-Histories-Recipes/dp/1931948607

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My mother, who was from outside Philadelphia, used to love it. And they used to give it to us occasionally for lunch at school in Manhattan, but everybody hated it. I remember my mother would buy the meat in glass jars, I think at B. Altman (where she also would order Strode's scrapple), and my grandmother would make the cream sauce and put it on toast. I won't tell you how long ago that was.

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It was the end of the month at our house...Midwest slightly past mid century. Budding beef in the package. We could stretch one package for all 5 of us! I remember hating to wash the dishes afterwards! Dad was in the navy for about 14 days...so probably not the influence.

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I grew up in the Baltimore area and chipped beef is very popular. I don't think it's so much military in origin, I think it's more a combination of PA Dutch influence and an inexpensive, rib-sticking option for a blue-collar community.

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Not quite the same, but a family favorite is my late grandmother's dried beef balls. The thin sliced Armour dried beef, cream cheese, maybe a little horseradish, I'm not sure what else. Rolled into salty creamy little bite-sized balls and served with the pre-dinner snacks at holidays - Grandma's typical cocktail hour spread was beef balls, celery with cream cheese, olives, and goldfish crackers for the grandkids. Neither grandparent was in the military, but they were Depression era and very frugal.

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Not at all. I love the stuff. I even love the frozen Stouffer's version.

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I love both types--chipped beef and ground beef--grew up on it. Preferably with mashed potatoes but bread will do.

 I make a version occasionally with ground beef, mushrooms, bell peppers, and peas topped with shredded cheese that I invented for the kids when they were little...I guess you could call it A La King, but we call it Volcano...pile the mashed potatoes high and let the gravy run over.

Hmm, it's 5 below zero, I think I know what's for dinner!

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having it for breakfast right now... theStouffer's frozen

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We grew up with the chipped beef (buddig chipped beef, thank you) on toast version. I loved it. Enough so that the first time I had family over after returning to meat eating, I served it as an hors d'oeuvres. Small toast squares. Spoon a bit of the chipped beef and sauce on. Tasty and wonderful memories.

ETA: Oops. No one in my immediate family was in the service, but my dad's dad was in the navy, 1940s. And it was called shit on a shingle in our house.

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I feel like adding context: I'm 24, female, in upstate NY (I swear this is not a personal ad) with no connection to the military** and I love it. It being the version with the dried, salty beef (I know there are a few variants depending on the recipes you're looking at).

**Oh, and it was not cooked for me growing up. Just something I came upon and started eating on my own.

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Another upstate NYer here. My mother made creamed chipped beef served over toast frequently when I was a child. I recall fondly those small glass jars that we used as juice glasses. I imagine she learned to make it from her mother who had attended Fanny Farmer Cooking School in the late1920s-early 1930s. 
Although my father had been a Marine in WWII, and was an excellent cook, he never made it that I'm aware of. (My parents were separated and I went back and forth between houses during the week)

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Okay here it is... the real deal "SOS" Major Gonads USMC retired.

Most recipes are basic, Flour, milk and dried beef...but you MUST add Pea's lots of pea's and a fair amount of Worcestershire sauce, these ingredients are a must !
NO GUTS NO GLORY...

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I'm a Marine as well. Been out for 30 plus years and I still remember it well. It was about the only part of that first breakfast I really liked. Was a lot better than their excuse for scrambled eggs.

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Is creamed chipped beef only liked by the people who were or are currently in the military?

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