Yesterday, we posted about a project to recreate sailor’s grub from the 17th century. Food for sailors has improved dramatically in the last three hundred years. Or has it? The Naval Historical Foundation has a new blog titled CHOW which explores the history behind U.S. Navy culinary traditions. A recent blog post looks at creamed sliced beef on toast, a Navy and Army breakfast, served for breakfast and universally known as “S__t on a Shingle” or “S.O.S.”
From their post: The exact origin of S.O.S. is fuzzy. According to Wentworth and Flexner’s 1967 Dictionary of American Slang, no specific origin is known. The dish, which consists of sliced dried beef mixed in a thick creamy gravy, appeared in military cookbooks at the start of the twentieth century. Some cooking sources, such as the online website “Seabee Cook,” claim the dish came from the Army. Steve Karoly, who authored an article on the subject, claims the “Army favorite” has become “the most popular version of SOS.” Some Navy veterans may disagree.
The Royal Navy equivalent is SOAR – S… on a raft.
Kidneys in gravey on a slice of fried bread.
Not SOS! SOS is that ground beef in a tomato sauce on toast.
What you have here is Creamed Foreskins. And I kid you not.
Ex Destroyer Boatswain’s Mate ( and perennial Messcook)
My dad, who was in the army made SOS with cooked hamburger.
I guess all the sailors had high blood pressure from all the salt.
Ahhhh, memories of breakfasts long past in places far away!
This seams to be missing something, but I can’t remember if it was green pepper or onion or both, or maybe neither?
Sausage or Beef S. O. S. (Stuff on a Shingle) recipe
http://www.food.com/recipe/sausage-or-beef-s-o-s-stuff-on-a-shingle-152508
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In my 40 years in the Merchant Marine I learned SOS was ground beef in cream and bacon fat gravy on toast and that dried beef in cream sauce on toast was called foreskins on toast.
I have many fond memories of my time in the U.S. Coast Guard. Maybe it was because I avoided the SOS. There was always something better to eat on board USCGC Westwind.
Don’t forget buzzard puke, sliced boiled eggs in white sauce on toast…. The Old Geezer