SOS

[letscook]

I loved that dish when I was a kid many many moons ago.
My mother would rinse the beef off, make the white sauce ( bechemel sauce) she would add in boiled eggs sliced in half and peas. Would have it on biscuits
We are 8 kids so back then she learned how to stretch meals.
She still makes it today as it is one of my dad favs. He will be 86 in July and I will be 59 and both very healthy so it can't be all bad for you. Moderation is the key folks.

 

[jabbur]

My Mother and Grandmother made many imaginative dishes using white sauce to stretch a small amount of food.

Things like hot dog coins, sausage, hard boiled eggs, canned tuna, salted cod, etc...

One of my favorites growing up was when Mom would make "creamed salmon" on toast. It really wasn't salmon - she used the canned mackerel. She's put the 4 slice toaster on the table with the big pot of white sauce and fish in the middle of the table and we'd toast the bread right there so we would have nice warm toast for everyone. She would also make a big pot of Constant Comment tea which went very well with the meal. It was the only time we had that tea! I remember trying to make this meal after I got married. I bought a can of salmon and made the white sauce. It didn't taste the same. That's when I learned she used mackerel since it was cheaper. So next time I got the can of mackerel but I still couldn't get it to taste like hers so I've not made it since.

 

[Aunt Bea]

One of my favorites growing up was when Mom would make "creamed salmon" on toast. It really wasn't salmon - she used the canned mackerel. She's put the 4 slice toaster on the table with the big pot of white sauce and fish in the middle of the table and we'd toast the bread right there so we would have nice warm toast for everyone. She would also make a big pot of Constant Comment tea which went very well with the meal. It was the only time we had that tea! I remember trying to make this meal after I got married. I bought a can of salmon and made the white sauce. It didn't taste the same. That's when I learned she used mackerel since it was cheaper. So next time I got the can of mackerel but I still couldn't get it to taste like hers so I've not made it since.

I too have trouble duplicating some of the simple meals I grew up with. It's impossible to recreate the atmosphere and the memories. For me one of the toughest to duplicate is plain old goulash with tomatoes, ground beef and elbow macaroni. It never comes out quite the same.

I am also a big fan of Constant Comment tea hot or cold!

I was thinking about you this morning!

I just picked up the fixins to make some of jabbur's Mexican chicken parm, that's a keeper!

 

[Steve Kroll]

I too have trouble duplicating some of the simple meals I grew up with. It's impossible to recreate the atmosphere and the memories. For me one of the toughest to duplicate is plain old goulash with tomatoes, ground beef and elbow macaroni. It never comes out quite the same.

Sometimes that can be a good thing, though. My mother's goulash was ok, but nothing phenomenal. Her "secret" ingredient was canned spaghetti sauce.

We have goulash about once a month when our daughter is home from school. While I still use mom's basic recipe, I like to think I've made a few improvements over the years. Instead of canned sauce, I use San Marzano tomatoes, a healthy dose of good quality paprika, and a splash of wine.

 

[Addie]

I still make that 'goulash' today for my daughter. Only we called it American Chop Suey. Or as the kids called it, "Glump" for the sounds of dumping the tomatoes and elbows into the pot. Like she says, "Ma, I just can't make it taste like you do." I don't put anything exotic in it. Just sauteed onions, hamburg, one large can of chopped up American tomatoes, and one pound of elbows seasoned with salt and pepper and mix it all together. Her husband sends me requests for the dishes he ate during the time he was dating my daughter. His mother only cooked Italian. He never had a popover until I made them. And never had SOS. I have found out though that my daughter does NOT have the patience to stand at the stove and stir. She would rather construct than stir. Other than that, she is a great cook.

 

[jabbur]

I still make that 'goulash' today for my daughter. Only we called it American Chop Suey. Or as the kids called it, "Glump" for the sounds of dumping the tomatoes and elbows into the pot. Like she says, "Ma, I just can't make it taste like you do." I don't put anything exotic in it. Just sauteed onions, hamburg, one large can of chopped up American tomatoes, and one pound of elbows seasoned with salt and pepper and mix it all together. Her husband sends me requests for the dishes he ate during the time he was dating my daughter. His mother only cooked Italian. He never had a popover until I made them. And never had SOS. I have found out though that my daughter does NOT have the patience to stand at the stove and stir. She would rather construct than stir. Other than that, she is a great cook.

I hate dicing! I don't mind standing and stirring but don't ask me to dice anything. The best thing I ever did was to buy the chop wizard! My mom loved to sit at the table and chop and dice. Maybe that's why some of my things don't taste the same.

 

[Addie]

I love prepping. I have always said, stick me in the back room of a restaurant, give me a bag of potatoes and carrots to peel, all the dicing and chopping needed for the day, and I would go home very happy. Sometimes I feel let down when all the prep work is done and I just have to let it sit there and finish cooking.

 

[JMediger]

We enjoy SOS every couple of months. I use either the bagged Carl Buddig or the jarred Hormel if it's on sale. I make just a basic bechamel and serve over toast. I like peas on mine too. DH, not so much so I serve them on the side. SOS is how I learned how to make a flour based sauce. My mom always uses corn starch for gravy so flour was foreign to me until my Ex-MIL taught me to make bechamel for SOS.

 

[Claire]

Mom used to do just as JMediger said, including the peas and with the addition of some slice hard-boiled egg to top it. In U.S. chow-halls, as far as my experience goes (and it does, far and wide), it was usually made with ground meat -- beef for supper, sausage if you were lucky for breakfast (a la southern sausage gravy over biscuits) in a milk gravy. It was ubiquitous and boring, hence the nickname.

 

[tinlizzie]

SOS was the salty beef in a jar (yes, juice glasses later) not rinsed, maybe chopped up a bit; Campbell's mushroom soup was the sauce over the shingle (Wonder Bread toast). It's a wonder we all grew to adulthood.