SOS/Chipped Beef on Toast, Done My Way with Ham

This was a recipe my dad used to make us from his long-ago military experience. Then, it was a way to extend and make palatable preserved, dried beef. It was my favorite breakfast for a rainy Saturday morning. I’ve adapted it to using ham rather than the overly-processed ‘chipped beef’. It’s better than the beef, in my humble opinion.

Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 2 - 4

Prep Time: 5 minutes   Cook Time: 20 minutes  

Ingredients

3 Tbsp butter/oil or a mixture of both
3 Tbsp flour
2 cups milk
1 cup shredded/thinly sliced ham
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/4 tsp or more to taste sweet paprika
Wheat toast, or English muffins, toasted

Optional: poached eggs, 1/2 cup grated cheese

Directions

Thinly chop ham and set aside.

Bearnaise/White Sauce:
In a medium, heavy-bottomed sauce pan, melt the butter/oil over medium/high heat. If it smokes, turn the heat down to medium.

Add the flour, stir with a whisk until blended.

Slowly add milk, stirring constantly. Keep stirring until thickened.

Add the ham and seasoning. Taste for seasoning and adjust to your taste.

Cook over medium low heat for 5- 10 minutes. Stir frequently. Thin if necessary with more milk. It should be thick but pourable. Here you can add 1/2 cup grated cheese if you like. I sometimes do…

If you are adding the optional poached eggs, poach your eggs in a separate pot while you make the toast.

To serve:
Butter each piece of toast then ladle the white sauce with ham over. Top with poached egg if using.

Eat it all up and then go for seconds. This goes very well with tart orange juice!

Categories: Breakfast, Budget, Dairy, Old-Fashioned, One Dish Meal, Other Breakfast

Tags: SOS

Submitted by: mouse on November 3, 2011