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Creamed Dried Beef
1/2 POUND DRIED BEEF, SLICED THIN BUTTER, SIZE OF A WALNUT 2/3 CUP MILK I TEASPOON FLOUR SODA CRACKERS, HEATED AND SPLIT Start beef in cold water, bring to boiling point, drain, stir in butter, milk, and flour. Cook to a creamy gravy and serve piping hot on split crackers or toast.
The beef itself supplies salt enough, but you might like a dash of pepper.
BOILED BEEF TONGUE I SMOKED BEEF TONGUE I ONION, SLICED 2 TABLESPOONS PICKLE SPICE
A camp-stove standby that survives almost unchanged as "chipped beef on toast." The recipe assumes a salty, air-dried beef far stronger than what most stores now sell, which is why it starts with a blanching step.
- Butter the size of a walnutProbably about a tablespoon, though period sources vary. Old recipes often measured fat by eye against familiar objects rather than by weight.
- The blanching step is the hingeCovering the beef with cold water and bringing it just to a boil draws out some of the salt. Skip it with a genuinely salty dried beef and the finished gravy is likely to be unpleasantly salty; with modern jarred chipped beef, a brief rinse in hot water may be enough.
- One teaspoon of flour is deliberateThis makes a loose, pourable gravy rather than a thick white sauce. If you want it to coat rather than soak, work 1 tablespoon of flour into the melted butter first and then add the milk.
- Order of operationsAs written the butter, milk and flour go in together, which invites lumps. Melt the butter with the drained beef, stir the flour into the fat, then add the milk gradually off the boil.
- Dried beef todayModern chipped beef is wafer-thin, mildly cured and sold in jars or sealed packets. Half a pound is a generous amount by current standards; 4 oz will feed the same number of people.
- Soda crackersPlain salted crackers, split through the middle and warmed until crisp. The recipe offers them or toast as equal alternatives.
- YieldServes two as a main course, three or four as part of a larger breakfast. It does not hold; the gravy tightens and the beef toughens on standing, so make it to order.