Hamburger Gravy

Shit on a Shingle (S.O.S.)

Tonight's supper is fast, cheap, and easy…like my morals. S.O.S. made military style in a BS&R Red Mountain #8 skillet, with sliced dried beef and onions, fried up and brought together in a roux of good old butter and flour for gravy. This was so easy, extra milk had to be added to keep the gravy from becoming too thick. Best of all, the entire dish was done in 30 minutes – including waiting 10 minutes as the pan heated up on the stovetop.

Army Style

  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 2 teaspoons lard or bacon grease to fry the onions
  • 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 2 1/2 cups milk
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 5 ounces dried beef slices, chopped ("Sliced dried beef" is usually sold at the supermarket in the same aisle as canned meats, Spam, corned beef, and other delicacies.)
  • 3 slices bread, toasted
Heat a 10-inch cast iron skillet on just under medium heat for ten minutes. This will bring the entire pan to the right temperature for frying the onions.
Peel and chop onion. Slice dried beef into small pieces. (Note: the "sliced dried beef" sold at the store is extremely salty! There's no need to add any more salt to this dish if you're using this.)
Add 2 teaspoons grease to the hot skillet, and spread it around for the grease to heat up, melt and cover the entire surface of the pan. Add onions to the pan. Stir fry the onions for five to ten minutes until they are soft and tender.
Add 4 tablespoons butter and mix everything together until the butter is melted. Add 1/4 cup of flour, and stir to mix. This will produce a thick roux. Add about 1/4 of milk to the pan, and stir everything together. The first time you add the milk, the gravy will sizzle and become even more solid. At this point it may look like lumps of wet flour in your pan rather than gravy. Don't worry -- this is correct! Continue adding in milk, about 1/4 cup at a time, and keep stirring it to thin out the gravy. It will only take a few minutes before the roux reaches the right consistency and thickens into gravy. Add dried beef pieces, and mix everything together until the gravy is thick.
In fact, you'll find that the gravy can even become too thick! I'm not sure if this happens especially when gravy is made in a cast iron pan, but it's very easy for the gravy to continue to thicken and become a thick -- if tasty -- paste. When this happens, just add more milk and stir it to thin the gravy. The gravy needs to be served almost immediately when it reaches the right consistency, or else it will become too thick! It's a good custom to stir one last splash of milk into the gravy immediately before serving.
Serve over toast or bread.

Home Style

Of course, you can use any kind of meat, or other base, in this recipe! Rather than beef gravy, you can also use this recipe to make sausage gravy (which is every popular!), bacon gravy, mushroom gravy, onion gravy, turkey gravy for Thanksgiving, gravy for chicken...the list is endless.
  • 2 pounds potatoes, preferably russet potatoes (This is for serving over mashed potatoes -- if you are serving over toast, skip the potatoes.)
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1 clove garlic, minced (or 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder)
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 2 1/2 cups milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 8 ounces (1/2 can) cooked peas (optional)
  • 3 slices bread, toasted (if serving over toast)
  • For mashed potatoes (optional):
  • 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil
Place potatoes into a large pot or cast iron dutch oven. Add 2 tablespoons salt, and fill 2/3 of the way with water. Cover, bring to a boil, and boil 30 minutes. (If you're serving this over bread or toast, you can skip the potatoes. I also enjoy serving this gravy over rice.)
While water is boiling, Peel and chop onion.
Immediately when the potatoes begin to boil, heat a 10-inch cast iron skillet on medium heat for ten minutes. This will bring the entire pan to the right temperature for frying the ground beef.
When the pan is hot, add ground beef and stir fry for ten minutes, until the hamburg is thoroughly cooked. Add onions and garlic to the pan. Stir fry the onions for five to ten minutes until they are soft and tender.
Add 4 tablespoons butter and mix everything together until the butter is melted. Add 1/4 cup of flour, and stir to mix. This will produce a thick roux. Add about 1/4 of milk to the pan, and stir everything together. The first time you add the milk, the gravy will sizzle and become even more solid. At this point it may look like lumps of wet flour in your pan rather than gravy. Don't worry -- this is correct! Continue adding in milk, about 1/4 cup at a time, and keep stirring it to thin out the gravy. It will only take a few minutes before the roux reaches the right consistency and thickens into gravy. Add the cooked hamburg, and mix everything together until the gravy is thick.
In fact, you'll find that the gravy can even become too thick! I'm not sure if this happens especially when gravy is made in a cast iron pan, but it's very easy for the gravy to continue to thicken and become a thick -- if tasty -- paste. When this happens, just add more milk and stir it to thin the gravy. The gravy needs to be served almost immediately when it reaches the right consistency, or else it will become too thick! It's a good custom to stir one last splash of milk into the gravy immediately before serving.
Take the pan off the heat. Drain and mash potatoes. Mix in butter, milk, pepper, basil. Serve gravy over mashed potatoes. I must admit the end result looks even *more* like..errr..like vomit than the army S.O.S. listed above. However, I'll reassure you it tastes excellent, as this is hamburger gravy served over homemade mashed potatoes. It may indeed look like a pile of...S.O.S.... but I doubt anyone would turn away after tasting this themselves.
Out of curiosity, I researched and found an actual World War II recipe for "Diced Meat In Gravy," a.k.a. S.O.S. I can only wonder if the U.S. Army required the recipe to sound as disgusting as possible. The original recipe is generic, as it only uses "meat, cooked, diced" without specifying the type of meat. Tonight's supper did make some modifications to this recipe. The onions were initially fried in about a teaspoon of lard, but the roux was made from 4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) butter, 1/2 cup flour, and two cups of whole milk. This certainly made it much more appealing and tasty than the ingredients seen in this recipe. Click here to download the TM10-412 War Demartment Technical Manual of Army Recipes.

Biscuits and Gravy

And of course a gravy recipe wouldn't be complete without biscuits and gravy! This may be the only thing more cherished in the South than cornbread, though it may be a toss-up.
X-Day -- July 5th, 2023, 7:00 AM: The time is upon us at last: X-DAY! At precisely 7:00 AM on July 5th, the Alien Sex Goddesses from Planet X (a.k.a. the X-ists) will arrive at last to RUPTURE up the true paid-up members of the Church of the SubGenius into their Intergalactic Escape Vessels, while ushering in the Apocalypse at last for the end of the world! "Bob" sold it, I smoked it, that settles it! The End Is HERE! EXCEPT... For the past 25 years, the Xists and "Bob" have left us high and dry, standing there with stupid looks on our faces, looking up to the skies and waiting again and again for the End Of The World. But it doesn't seem to have happened...YET. And so, I am preparing an EMERGENCY BACKUP PLAN for the 1-in-1-million chance that this MIGHT not be the year, and the Xists don't show up for the 26th time. And this emergency backup plan is...BREAKFAST!

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