SOS

This image is an animated GIF; I don't know why it doesn't work.

In Screen Saver I mention that on a fuel stop at Clark Air Force Base in Manila on the trip to Vietnam I went into a cafeteria type of place where there were vast steam tables with a lumpy, viscous substance that was apparently being offered to the troops as food. I subsequently – after some time in Saigon – learned that the substance, which was also on offer in the Officers' Clubs where I ate most of my meals, was called SOS. I guess that stood for shit on a shingle. Even later in my tour, one of my fellow officers started waxing poetic one day about how good the stuff was. He waxed so poetic that I had to try it, no matter how awful it looked. I soon found myself also waxing poetic about it. It was really good. I have never seen a recipe for it, but I have been able to duplicate it with a fair degree of accuracy.

Ingredients

8 ounces of ground beef

2 or 3 garlic cloves

Olive oil (just a little)

1/8^th cup of flour

Whipping cream

Lea and Perrins

English muffin

Cooking

Use a garlic press to get some garlic in a cast iron fry pan. Put in a little olive oil. Put in the ground beef and blend the oil and the beef and the garlic into a kind of uniform paste. Turn the gas up to high (if you are cooking electric, let the element get red before you put the pan on it). Cover and let cook for a few minutes – 3 to 5 minutes. Remove the lid and there should be a mass of beef and garlic that is partially cooked and is kind of like a beef patty with garlic laced into it. Break it up some, but leave it in lots of chunks. Don't break it down to the size of the grind of the beef. SOS is supposed to be lumpy. Turn the heat down to medium. Turn the chunks a few times until they are done and put the flour in and mix it up with the meat with a wooden spoon. That should yield a bunch of beef and garlic chunks coated with flour. Brown those a bit. Then add some whipping cream. At this point you are turning the mix into a sort of country cream gravy. It will thicken and need some water to thin it down a bit. When it looks like sausage gravy put the mix on your previously toasted English muffin halves and eat.

Anne Claire's Pico

Ann Claire’s Pico – thank you Maria for teaching me



2 – Vine ripened tomatoes, diced small

2 – Cloves garlic, minced fine

1 – Jalapeño, diced fine

1 – Small onion, diced small

1 – Small bunch cilantro, chopped medium

3 – Radishes – diced small (optional)

1 – Lime

1 – Avocado – diced medium



Mix all of above ingredients in bowl, salt and pepper to taste, add juice of lime, stir. Cover and let stand for a short while to get the most out of the flavors. Enjoy

Joe’s Award Winning Meatloaf

You know how to roast garlic?

 

Sauce

 

1 jar roasted red pepper, drained

3-4 cloves roasted garlic

¼ cup diced onion

5 slices fresh (seeded) poblano chili peppers – about half of a large pepper

Pinch salt, dash pepper

 

Blender, food processer, or stick blend until a smooth sauce (may have a bit of pablano chunks)

 

Add ¾ or so cup of good dark honey and mix.  Probably could use brown sugar instead.

 

 

Loaf

 

2 lbs beef, ground chuck is best according to Donna aka Ann Claire's coach

3 spicy brats - meat removed; throw casing away

½ cup onion diced small

Cup shredded sharp cheddar (Ben's idea)

Cayenne pepper – maybe a tablespoon depending on your taste

Fresh roasted garlic, about 6-7 big cloves mashed

2 pieces dried bread, crumbled

Triscuits (I used rosemary and tomato ones) crushed pretty fine - about ½ cup

2 eggs

½ of the sauce above

A bit of A-1

Black pepper; a bunch of it

 

 

Mix all lightly – no squishing the meat!  Use fingers to pull mixture upwards and crumble meat and ingredients together. 

 

Put into bowl, pat down lightly, cover with plastic wrap and sit on counter for 1 hour; preheat oven to 325. 

Turn out onto broiler pan. 

Poke fork or spoon handle (or chopstick) into meat but not all the way through about 6-7 times. 

Spoon on a bit of the sauce on and spread to fill the wells – but not coating the top of the loaf (yet)

Cook until 110 degrees or so, then spoon rest of sauce on.  Keep cooking until medium well. 

Turn on broiler (about 350 if you have an adjustable one) and broil until sauce looks pretty. 

Close oven door and turn it off.  Come back in 5 minutes and remove meat, let set for 5-10 minutes (like a roast)

 

Eat

 

 

We made mashed potatoes with garlic, cream cheese, milk, salt, white pepper.  Cooled, placed in ziptop bag, squeezed into little ramekins, and re-baked and a parmesan chip (fresh made) curled and stuck in the top; drizzled clarified butter on top.  I'm thinking a couple crumbles of fresh cooked bacon would be good on top and a garnish of chopped green onions.