Both of my parents were children of the Great Depression. Life wasn’t easy for them, but somehow they came out of it with incredible attitudes — not only to survive but to succeed. When my mother left her small town in Vermont, that in itself was seen as a huge success by her family and friends. My father served in World War II and then attended college on the G.I. Bill in Boston as a first-generation student.
Many people of that era wanted to leave the difficult memories of the Depression years behind, but my folks had some sentimental feelings about them, especially when it came to food. Depression-era and wartime dishes continued to make regular appearances on our table. It just wasn’t summer if, at some point, we didn’t make the Depression-era specialty spam and pineapple kebabs on the grill. Simple suppers sometimes featured creamed (canned) salmon and (canned) peas over mashed potatoes, or old-fashioned goulash (don’t even think Hungarian!). In summers, my mother craved dandelion salad, something that started with us boys weeding the lawn. For dessert, who could forget tomato soup cake or applesauce cake?
All of these dishes entered into my world of comfort food. My brothers and I love all of these things to this day; I consider them sentimental cravings. I’m generally not aware of which dishes are from the Depression or which were wartime in origin, but now they are comforting reminders of our parents and family meals.
One of the most maligned dishes of this era is Creamed Chipped Beef on Toast. Associated with military mess halls, it was inexpensive, filling, and – to many former soldiers – disgusting. It even bore the moniker, “S.O.S.” (If you don’t know what that means, look it up.) To me, though, this is among my favorite comfort foods. Today I share the recipe for the creamed chipped beef and, soon, will share my toasting bread recipe.
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Brad
August 27, 2022 at 3:18 amNeeds LeSeur peas
Cocoa & Lavender
August 27, 2022 at 7:25 amOkay, even though you are the oldest brother and theoretically have a longer memory than I, as the one who helped her cook, I assure you that Mom never put peas (LeSueur or otherwise) in her Creamed Chipped Beef. They would have been in her creamed salmon and peas! Check her cookbook — the proof is there! 😊
Lynn D.
August 27, 2022 at 7:35 amMy mom would put sliced hardcooked eggs in hers. Or rather she’d gussy-up creamed eggs with bits of chipped beef. Delicious and not the salt bomb.
Cocoa & Lavender
August 27, 2022 at 8:20 amThanks, Lynn — I like the idea of hard-cooked eggs in the chipped beef. Until today, I had not heard of creamed eggs – I definitely need to try that!
Barb
August 27, 2022 at 7:41 amThanks for the memories! My dad was a Marine in WWII. He loved S.O.S., so we ate it frequently. Your recipe is much more generous with the beef. We had 10 mouths to feed, so my Mom’s recipe was more sauce than beef. It was still tasty though.
Cocoa & Lavender
August 27, 2022 at 8:22 amKudos to your mother, Barb, for feeding 10 mouths so well! I have to be honest, I think my version has more beef than my mother’s did, too. I am so glad this brought back good memories for you — it certainly did for me.
Ron
August 27, 2022 at 8:36 amDavid, I believe we must have lived in the same house. Your description of your dining habits fits mine to a “T”. But, we also often had cream canned tuna on toast and ground beef in cream gravy on toast (the true SOS in our house). Never with peas, but instead always with canned generic green beans on the side.
Like your dad, my dad also served in WWII mainly in the South Pacific, and the only protein they ate for months at a time was chipped beef on toast and Spam. Thus, he was one of those returning veterans who looked upon these dishes with disgust. But, when he was away we often had these, and I have fond memories of the dish. We saved the little glass jar that the chipped beef came in and used them for slingshot practice. Does it still come in a jar?
John / Kitchen Riffs
August 27, 2022 at 8:44 amS.O.S!! LOL!! 🙂 I haven’t had this for years. DECADES! Not since I was a kid. I’ve actually been thinking about it lately — giggling at the idea of putting it on blog. You beat me to it. 🙂 In reality, this is a pretty satisfying dish. But when I think about it, it certainly reminds me of the somewhat austere meals of my youth — there was no money to waste in my house, that’s for sure. Anyway, fun, fun post — thanks.
Cocoa & Lavender
August 27, 2022 at 9:03 amI actually debated whether or not to post this — but it’s such a favorite of mine, John, and I figured it just be for others, too. I braced myself for the naysayers… but, so far, very few! I think we were having austere times as kids, too, but — to my parents’ credit — we were never aware of it. Thanks for your comment, as always.
Vance Morgan
August 27, 2022 at 9:18 amDavid, I’m a generation older than you (my dad was in the Navy in WW1) and my mother (and my father who was a chef) cooked these’s foods during WW2 and beyond. Thank you for including them in your blog! Now, I have to hope Anne likes SOS! We both liked canned peas.
Vance
Cocoa & Lavender
August 28, 2022 at 5:53 amI don’t understand how anyone couldn’t like SOS! But I hope Anne does, and you get a chance to make some. Vance, I never knew your father was a chef. Did he have his own restaurant?
Valentina
August 27, 2022 at 9:24 amI love food memories, and while this dish might have started in the depression, it’s lovely that it’s become a comfort food memory for you and your family. Food often seems to work that way. :- ~Valentina
Cocoa & Lavender
August 28, 2022 at 5:54 amI do love the way that food brings comfort to us both in the present and with memories. Thanks, Valentina.
Jill
August 27, 2022 at 10:05 amOh thanks for the memories. My Scottish grandmother made this in my childhood always using the jar of dried beef and served on toasted English muffins. As an adult I have used the Stoufers frozen pack when I was having dinner alone. Must try your recipe.
Cocoa & Lavender
August 28, 2022 at 5:55 amI have never thought to use English muffins, Jill, but that’s a great idea! Also, I don’t think I ever knew you had a Scottish grandmother…
Bob Garrett
August 27, 2022 at 11:09 amHaving spent four years in the Navy, including two of ’em mostly at sea, my feelings about this recipe are somewhat mixed. On board the ship, out of several hundred crewmates, most loved SOS dinners, but many others couldn’t even enter the mess deck. Once in a while, our cooks offered sunny-side-up eggs as toppings (to add a different flavor…or hide what was underneath?) and that’s when I’d really enjoy the meal. Of course, the separate officers’ mess never, never, NEVER served SOS, opting instead for much fancier offerings (they even had caviar one time) and thus presenting a stark class differential. I wonder how this dish will “go down” in history.
Cocoa & Lavender
August 28, 2022 at 5:56 amI never thought about the class differentiation between officers and enlisted men/women. I think the eggs on top would be a great addition to this, Bob. Maybe I need to try that, although I wouldn’t be trying to hide anything.
Nancy Layton
August 27, 2022 at 11:28 amMy mom would make this dish on Mondays. Monday was her day to do the washing and she was always tired by the end of the day. This was a quick dish for her to make. I’d much prefer this to the other quick and easy meal – SPAM!
Cocoa & Lavender
August 28, 2022 at 5:57 amNancy, I don’t think I’ve had spam since I was a teenager… I am curious maybe to get a can of it just to give it a try again. (Did you know it’s garlic free?) I assume I will dislike it immensely, and I don’t think that petting pineapple chunks to it will make it any better.
Matthew Thornton
August 27, 2022 at 11:45 amDavid,
My Dad was one of seventeen children who lived through the Great Depression many times over as one might guess with that many mouths to feed. As suggested earlier my grandmother enhanced hers with onions (wild ramps) and peas if available.
Luckily my mother chose to serve the meal only once a year in honoring the past… (much like the much-hated corned beef and cabbage…lol.
Cocoa & Lavender
August 28, 2022 at 5:59 amMatt, I used to despise corn beef and cabbage when I was young, but I’ve grown to appreciate it as an adult. But, once a year is plenty! However, I would have only eat creamed chipped beef on toast regularly!
Sippitysup
August 27, 2022 at 1:53 pmOmg! We ate this too. Only I have always called it “chick” beef on toast. I’m only just realizing today that it’s “chipped” beef. I never knew because I never bothered to seek out this recipe. Unlike you, I hated it passionately as a child. The only thing worse than canned (squeaky ) mushrooms. GREG
Cocoa & Lavender
August 28, 2022 at 6:00 amI will definitely join you in the canned, squeeky mushroom camp, Greg. Those are disgusting! But I think you should give creamed “chick” beef on toast another try!
Lynn D.
August 28, 2022 at 4:41 pmMy mom would also add a small can of mushrooms to her creamed chipped beef and eggs on toast (or homemade biscuits). That elevated it into the realm of the gourmet!. I find that as I get older I crave the old comfort foods of my childhood.
Cocoa & Lavender
September 2, 2022 at 10:15 pmIsn’t that the truth, Lynn. The comfort foods of my youth become ever more important as I age. But, as for canned mushrooms… I just can’t.
Christina | Christina's Cucina
August 27, 2022 at 3:35 pmI didn’t have to look up SOS as I learned it somewhere in reading about it in the past, haha!
I’m not a big fan of things like this (food my in laws would have made), but as I pointed out on FB or IG this morning, I feel like you’re keeping me company since I posted about beans on toast (from a can, mind you)! Thanks for keeping it real, David! No one can tell us we’re food snobs! 🙂
Cocoa & Lavender
August 28, 2022 at 6:01 amI really think you ought to give this a try, Christina! It’s really quite good. And, no, we are not food snobs! I really appreciate that point of view!
Eha
August 27, 2022 at 4:34 pmThank you for sharing both your memories and the beautiful wedding photo of your parents. Scanning he recollections of so many of your readers early on my Sunday morning I can see how you have touched those of so many ! Being older and the child of elderly parents my father served in Estonian schoolboy battalions in WWI . . . the abysmal lack of almost any food was my childhood fate in WWII . . . and I do remember !!! For three years we were on subsistence rations in American refugee camps in post war Germany. Do not have a clue what ‘chipped beef’ is but have never ever opened a tin of Spam since and it took awhile to begin liking baked beans again 🙂 ! And my Dad functioned as Camp Supply Officer for over 4000 displaced Estonians at the time and was rationed a few extras !!!! My food memories happily wander to Baltic-German and French0Russian dishes inherited from St Petersburg nobility which were part of my childhood, but 🙂 WWII I’ll happily omit . . . weed soup and bread with no flour . . .
Cocoa & Lavender
August 28, 2022 at 6:04 amWhat was used to make the bread if not flour? Very curious… It is funny how people react differently to difficult times and memories. I wish my parents were alive so I could ask them more questions about this. It must’ve been an incredibly difficult time for you… Big hugs.
Eha
August 28, 2022 at 8:03 pmWell, I was a kid tho’ I faithfully stood my ‘share’ in the 6-10 hour Q to buy the allowed loaf a couple of times a week . . . ‘flour’ was made from anything which could be dried and ground, mostly it was just sawdust ! We lived in the Black Forest area the last year of the war and spent most of the days in the forests foraging for mushrooms, berries and weeds. Ha ! Pretty dangerous as these in SW Germany were full of shot-down Yankee and British airmen trying to escape to Switzerland and France. Dad was army and helped with maps and guidance . . . guess who learned a father-daughter sign language, stayed on forest paths and seeing Wehrmacht uniforms went into ‘playacting to tell those on the slopes !!!!!! C’etait la ville !!!
Eha
August 28, 2022 at 8:09 pm‘la vie’ methinks – I hate my spellcheck !
Cocoa & Lavender
September 2, 2022 at 10:13 pmYou have lived an incredible life, my friend. I’m so grateful you are able to share it with me… with us.
sherry M
August 27, 2022 at 9:16 pmchipped beef? i wonder what that is?:-) our mum used to make cornbeef fritters (meat from a tin!), and give us Camp Pie (more meat from a tin) sandwiches with tomato sauce. oh yes and sugar sandwiches. just sugar – white! EEk… Fun memories.
Cocoa & Lavender
August 28, 2022 at 6:06 amI never thought to explain what it is, as it’s so common here I thought everyone would know. 🤷🏼♂️ Chipped beef is shaved and dried slices of beef which are salted to preserve them. It was perfect for keeping beef safe to eat during the war. I do remember my mother making us sugar sandwiches when I was young, but they also had butter in them. I guess that’s the fancy version, right? The corn beef fritters actually sound really good…
Madeleine
August 27, 2022 at 9:38 pmI grew up eating and loving this. Thanks for posting. Your parents were a very beautiful couple.
Cocoa & Lavender
August 28, 2022 at 6:07 amThanks Madeline. They did make a beautiful couple — I love old photos like this!
Carolyne
August 27, 2022 at 10:44 pmDear David,
I love your parents’ wedding photo and the culinary comfort foods, but only you could make chipped beef look so good!
xo
CKA
Cocoa & Lavender
August 28, 2022 at 6:08 amI guess I will take that as you don’t like CCBoT? 🤣 I have to say, it did present some photographic challenges.
sherry
August 27, 2022 at 11:06 pmgreat wedding photo!
Cocoa & Lavender
August 28, 2022 at 6:08 amI really love simple weddings like this. Thanks, Sherry.
Frank | Memorie di Angelina
August 28, 2022 at 6:56 amWhen I saw your FB post I almost spit out my morning coffee. I thought to myself, he actually blogged on SOS! And yes I’m old enough to remember what that means, although I never actually ate it. My parents were Depression kids but they weren’t nostalgic about the period. Their attitude was more like “Thank God that’s over!”
One Depression era dish I do remember from my childhood was Peas and Eggs. I hadn’t had it for ages until I saw a video on a YouTube channel called Clara’s Great Depression Cooking. If you haven’t checked it out, you should. It’s absolutely priceless. I bet you’d find many familiar recipes there.
Cocoa & Lavender
September 2, 2022 at 10:20 pmI actually think you would like Creamed Chipped Beef on Toast, Frank. Considering all the cucina povera you like, this is right up your alley!
I will definitely check out Clara’s Great Depression Cooking — I imagine there will be a lot there to enjoy!
Jeff the Chef
August 29, 2022 at 7:43 pmMy mom made SOS with ground beef, which is even less appetizing. But I oddly have fond memories of it, too!
Cocoa & Lavender
September 2, 2022 at 10:17 pmWow — never knew it was made with ground beef. That’s probably the fancy version!
2pots2cook
August 31, 2022 at 5:19 amMust do! My family made so different food during hard times. But, all in all, it brings warm memories back for sure!
Cocoa & Lavender
September 2, 2022 at 10:22 pmIt does, indeed! I wonder if chipped beef is available where you are.
Raymund
September 1, 2022 at 4:07 pmFirst time I heard of chipped beef. Having read your story, we do share similar background being my parents lived in the same era but for us instead of chipped beef we do something similar but with sardines, it is cheap but I love it
Cocoa & Lavender
September 2, 2022 at 10:23 pmOh, how we love sardines! I’m not sure my parents had them, but they are so good!
John
September 3, 2022 at 3:42 pmYou’ve just taught me something, David. I’d never heard of chipped beef until now. I figured it was some kind of dried or cured beef; similar to biltong. I’d definitely like to try this one day!
Cocoa & Lavender
September 4, 2022 at 7:31 amIt is a salted and dried beef, John, but it’s shaved — or “chipped” — very thin. I wonder of you could shave Hilton’s the same way?
Marcelle
September 5, 2022 at 9:23 amDavid, I love vintage recipes like this and this very dish was one of my dad’s favorite. However, he only ever referenced it by S.O.S. 😆 ‘Chipped beef’ has way more appeal. Thank you for sharing about your parents. It’s amazing what their generation went through and came out of it all with class, grace and humor. Evan’s grandfather is 95 years old and I love to hear his wartime stories, stories about how things were. He was a marine back in the day. I’m going to treat my family to this dish this week, looking forward to the conversation. Thank you , my friend! 😊
Cocoa & Lavender
September 9, 2022 at 6:53 amI miss many members of that generation in my life — I learned so much from them. (I still have three — all in their nineties — who inspire me to this day.) I hope you got to make the chopped beef, Marcelle! I
A Toast For 2023! – Cocoa & Lavender
December 31, 2022 at 3:01 am[…] Toasting Bread, however, has what it takes. It’s the one I used for my Creamed Chipped Beef on Toast. It’s perfect for a poached egg. With some French butter and honey it’s nirvana. It is neither […]
Mad Dog
December 31, 2022 at 6:53 amI’d never heard of this until a couple of days ago on a different blog. I’d like to try it, but don’t know where I’d get chipped beef in Europe.
Cocoa & Lavender
December 31, 2022 at 8:48 amYou know, Mad Dog, there is no equivalent in Europe but if you could get a butcher to slice Spanish Cecina or Italian Bresaola so thin that it shreds, you could use that pretty successfully. It’s worth a shot, any!