# When is the last time you ate creamed beef on toast (Shit on a Shingle)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 27, 2016, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-last-time-you-ate-creamed-beef-on-toast-shit-on-a-shingle/769818 "2016-10-27T01:14:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![mind\_the\_gap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@mind\_the\_gap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mind_the_gap)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-last-time-you-ate-creamed-beef-on-toast-shit-on-a-shingle/769818/61 "2016-10-27T22:29:24Z")
Oh man, SOS was a favorite of my pop’s. Used to eat it all the time growing up and I thought it was pretty good. (But I love me salty foods as long as it’s not overdone.) I’ve made TOS (Tuna on a shingle) and COS with chicken. Kinda forgot about Buddig’s meats though. It’s not the most princely of meals, but for me it’s a connection w/ my dad so maybe my heart enjoys it as much as my mouth. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-last-time-you-ate-creamed-beef-on-toast-shit-on-a-shingle/769818/62 "2016-10-27T22:54:30Z")
> [@mind\_the\_gap](#): > > Oh man, SOS was a favorite of my pop’s. Used to eat it all the time growing up and I thought it was pretty good. (But I love me salty foods as long as it’s not overdone.) I’ve made TOS (Tuna on a shingle) and COS with chicken. Kinda forgot about Buddig’s meats though. > It’s not the most princely of meals, but for me it’s a connection w/ my dad so maybe my heart enjoys it as much as my mouth. I’ve got the same connection, but with my grandpa, who got the recipe from his cook in WWII the Big One. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-last-time-you-ate-creamed-beef-on-toast-shit-on-a-shingle/769818/63 "2016-10-27T23:04:23Z")
Never had SOS, frequently had “tuna and peas on toast”, which was tuna in white sauce with canned peas. I liked it. I’d make it nowadays, but my husband makes gagging noises if I mention it. Tuna casserole is close enough to satisfy my craving. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-last-time-you-ate-creamed-beef-on-toast-shit-on-a-shingle/769818/64 "2016-10-27T23:05:44Z")
> [@Personal](#): > > Not since the 70s, but that’s exactly what the old man would call it. Said they ate it often in Vietnam. We _had_ it in Vietnam, that doesn’t mean we _ate_ it. Old shoe leather was available. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-last-time-you-ate-creamed-beef-on-toast-shit-on-a-shingle/769818/65 "2016-10-27T23:10:05Z")
[http://www.stouffers.com/our-dishes/Creamed-Chipped-Beef/151](http://www.stouffers.com/our-dishes/Creamed-Chipped-Beef/151) Yummy, serves two, or me. In the navy, we called it creamed foreskin. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-last-time-you-ate-creamed-beef-on-toast-shit-on-a-shingle/769818/66 "2016-10-27T23:13:34Z")
> [@Orwell](#): > > We have a butcher near us that makes excellent pork sausage - very flavorful, and not too salty or fatty. While I may make SOS a couple times a year, I make sausage gravy at least four to six times a year using this sausage, and plenty of it. Sometimes with pancakes and sometimes with waffles. I prefer either of those to biscuits, but that’s purely a personal preference. As mentioned, the sausage gravy I see at restaurants looks anemic and disgusting compared to mine. My father loved sausage gravy on pancakes. It made my mother gag. His response was always “Who’s eating this, you or me!” And honestly, what is a pancake if not just a flattened biscuit made with extra milk? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-last-time-you-ate-creamed-beef-on-toast-shit-on-a-shingle/769818/67 "2016-10-27T23:26:12Z")
For some reason, sausage gravy on a pancake just sounds wrong to me… but sausage gravy on waffles sounds entirely right and proper, and I once made a sausage-gravy-based thing for serving with blini, which are even closer to pancakes. I guess there really is no accounting for taste. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-last-time-you-ate-creamed-beef-on-toast-shit-on-a-shingle/769818/68 "2016-10-27T23:46:31Z")
Last winter, I got a deal on some lovely bresaola (air-dried beef) and made CCB with it. It turned out surprisingly good, perhaps because it wasn’t as salty as the stuff my mother made, and I could improvise around it. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-last-time-you-ate-creamed-beef-on-toast-shit-on-a-shingle/769818/69 "2016-10-27T23:48:00Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > However… it’s a not-uncommon style for dealing with leftovers. Slice up leftover steak or roast, warm it up in canned mushroom soup. We may use toast, but since this is all about left-overs, it’s as likely to be day-old French bread, biscuits, mashed potatoes or rice. We usually add some frozen green peas. If you’ll allow this to be considered SOS, then I eat it a few times a year. > [@sitchensis](#): > > I do eat a combination of whatever leftover meat we have plus a type of gravy or cream of mushroom soup, all on top of either potatoes, egg noodles or bread. I generally make it about once a month, usually with the tail end of a crock pot roast. That’s not creamed chipped beef on toast, what most people who know what SOS is think of when they hear ‘SOS’. First, it’s never made with mushroom soup. Second, even if it’s made with sausage instead of dried beef, it’s ‘gravy’. Sausage gravy, roast beef gravy, whatever gravy. SOS is specifically dried beef in a sauce made of roux, milk, and seasonings. When it’s SOS, it’s a ‘sauce’. When it’s sausage, it’s a ‘gravy’. Unless it’s creamed tuna. Then it’s TOS or TOT. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-last-time-you-ate-creamed-beef-on-toast-shit-on-a-shingle/769818/70 "2016-10-27T23:54:12Z")
I have heard of it but I have never had it and I don’t think I have ever seen it. Being the good Louisiana boy that I am, if I ever encountered that shit in the wild, I would just load it up with about ten long squirts of Tabasco sauce. Almost any such concoctions are edible that way because you can only taste the Tabasco. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-last-time-you-ate-creamed-beef-on-toast-shit-on-a-shingle/769818/71 "2016-10-28T00:23:37Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > I have heard of it but I have never had it and I don’t think I have ever seen it. Being the good Louisiana boy that I am, if I ever encountered that shit in the wild, I would just load it up with about ten long squirts of Tabasco sauce. Almost any such concoctions are edible that way because you can only taste the Tabasco. Stouffer’s, linked to by **Ignatz** , above, is what I grew up with. Mom didn’t make it from scratch. You should be able to find it there. The truth be told, I like Stouffer’s better than my own. But mine is considerably cheaper and I can make it on a whim. No need for Tabasco, outstanding condiment though it is. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-last-time-you-ate-creamed-beef-on-toast-shit-on-a-shingle/769818/72 "2016-10-28T01:16:35Z")
OK, dammit… Creamed tuna is on the stove. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-last-time-you-ate-creamed-beef-on-toast-shit-on-a-shingle/769818/73 "2016-10-28T01:19:10Z")
I’ve never eaten a bite of SOS but I have cooked plenty of it for my (now-ex) husband. Armour dried beef in the little reusable juice glass, slice it finely, fry in some bacon grease, add flour to make a roux, then milk to make it a gravy. Serve over toast or, preferably, biscuits. Cover with black pepper. Enjoy. I don’t eat sausage gravy either, but I cook it for my family. They seem to like it, at any rate. The very idea of creamed tuna makes me want to barf. Tuna casserole and tuna melt, ditto. Canned tuna was never meant to be served HOT, IMHO! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-last-time-you-ate-creamed-beef-on-toast-shit-on-a-shingle/769818/74 "2016-10-28T01:45:18Z")
> [@Cub\_Mistress](#): > > The very idea of creamed tuna makes me want to barf. It’s what’s for dinner tonight! (As I just posted. 😃 ) > [@Cub\_Mistress](#): > > Tuna casserole and tuna melt, ditto. Both yummy. Especially with some sliced tomato between the tuna and the cheese in a grilled tuna-and-cheese sandwich. > [@Cub\_Mistress](#): > > Canned tuna was never meant to be served HOT, IMHO! Oh, yeah? What about tuna mac? Hm? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Brooky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Brooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brooky)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-last-time-you-ate-creamed-beef-on-toast-shit-on-a-shingle/769818/75 "2016-10-28T01:47:38Z")
Father was Air Force, he made the first batch, I was 10 and fixed dinner each night. I jazzed it up, I called mine the mess ~I have 5 siblings & I would fry up hash browns & cook an egg to request & layered it all `~hence “The Mess” I am having out of town company & think I’ll whip some up for the after the bar 2 am meal!! Thanks for the memory! ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-last-time-you-ate-creamed-beef-on-toast-shit-on-a-shingle/769818/76 "2016-10-28T05:02:39Z")
Never. And judging by the photo in the OP’s link, I think I’d rather _come down with_ shingles. mmm ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-last-time-you-ate-creamed-beef-on-toast-shit-on-a-shingle/769818/77 "2016-10-28T05:28:07Z")
Probably in October 1967, on my last day in the Marines. I kind of miss it. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-last-time-you-ate-creamed-beef-on-toast-shit-on-a-shingle/769818/78 "2016-10-28T07:11:26Z")
Now see what I know as SOS was the sausage/ham gravy on biscuits cause that’s what my military relatives say it was made as … ive never had it made with beef ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-last-time-you-ate-creamed-beef-on-toast-shit-on-a-shingle/769818/79 "2016-10-28T12:40:16Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > That’s not creamed chipped beef on toast, what most people who know what SOS is think of when they hear ‘SOS’. > > First, it’s never made with mushroom soup. Second, even if it’s made with sausage instead of dried beef, it’s ‘gravy’. Sausage gravy, roast beef gravy, whatever gravy. SOS is specifically dried beef in a sauce made of roux, milk, and seasonings. When it’s SOS, it’s a ‘sauce’. When it’s sausage, it’s a ‘gravy’. Unless it’s creamed tuna. Then it’s TOS or TOT. As I mentioned above, I grew up calling it “dried beef gravy,” and that’s still how I think of it. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-last-time-you-ate-creamed-beef-on-toast-shit-on-a-shingle/769818/80 "2016-10-28T12:48:57Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > Now see what I know as SOS was the sausage/ham gravy on biscuits cause that’s what my military relatives say it was made as … ive never had it made with beef It refers to a number of variations. The chipped beef version is supposedly the standard one, but the version served to my dad and his fellow army soldiers in Vietnam was made with ground beef. I’ve also heard people referring to sausage gravy served in this fashion (over toast) as SOS. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-last-time-you-ate-creamed-beef-on-toast-shit-on-a-shingle/769818.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-last-time-you-ate-creamed-beef-on-toast-shit-on-a-shingle/769818.md?page=5)