Shit on a shingle

Shit on a Shingle, sometimes known as SOS for those too polite to use any toilet humor, is a food that in essence consists of chipped beef cooked in a el cheapo white sauce (usually milk and cream thickened with flour), and served on toast. I suppose the beef represents the shit and the toast serves as the shingle.

To make it you do the following:

1. Put the milk, cream, and beef into a saucepan along with some black pepper and whatever other spices you think would make this more edible.
2. Heat, stirring constantly, until the beef is rehydrated and the sauce is hot.
3. Slowly add flour to thicken, just as you would to make gravy.
4. Serve on toast, buttered if possible.

As far as I can tell both the meal and the name originate from the Army mess halls during World War II. It was easy to make, lots of calories, lots of protein, and a captive audience.

Shit on a Shingle

SOS for short, it's great comfort food. It's also much greater than the simple sum of its parts; there's something magical about it that grabs hold of hardwired biological imperatives for what tastes "good". Likely, it's the grease, fat, and salt.

Also, it's so easy a child could do it unsupervised, assuming you were irresponsible enough to allow a child to operate a stove unsupervised. If you are, well, hey, they gotta learn about fire sometime, right?

Ingredients:
About 1 lb. hamburger, better more than less
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 brick cream cheese
1 pkg. English muffins (Un-Americans may find that a crumpet is close enough)

Directions:
Brown and chop hamburger. Do not drain.

Add mushroom soup and cream cheese, stir until well mixed. The heat will soften the cream cheese and make this easier than trying to beat them together separately.

Simmer, stirring occasionally until hamburger grease homogenizes with the rest, and the whole mess begins to thicken.

Serve ladled over toasted muffin halves, salt and pepper to taste.