Creamed Dried Beef – gluten-free

This recipe that we call Creamed Dried Beef goes by several other names including “Cream Chipped Beef” and “S^*t on a Shingle.” As you can imagine serving this to my children when they were young we chose a kid-friendly name although since then my kids have latched onto the funnier one. As goopy and sloppy and ugly as this recipe looks, it’s deceivingly good – creamy, salty, crunchy from the toast and suitable for breakfast, brunch or dinner. My whole family of picky eaters scarfs this stuff up and hopes for leftovers the next day – something that hasn’t happened for years. They just eat too darned much and that amount won’t fit in my pan!

This dish was common during the WWII era when money was tight and this stretched the protein a little more. Bread was cheap as was flour and milk. It was also a simple dish for soldiers fighting overseas where the meat was often replaced with hamburger or sausage. Many other recipes call for pimentos or hard-boiled eggs and some added peas for color. To me, that’s verging too close to Chicken a’ la King so we keep it simple here. Dried beef, a simple roux and rich, whole raw milk. If you’re dairy-free this works just as well with nut milk but choose something neutral in flavor. I made it like that plenty of times when I couldn’t eat much dairy because of food sensitivities.

Look at this beautiful beef. This is a perk of living in Amish country, Lancaster, PA. We have fresh dried beef available everywhere. I honestly didn’t even realize that it comes in a jar until I started looking up other recipes and its history. Fresh dried beef is soft and flexible as it’s only partially dried. It lasts for weeks in the refrigerator but I do try to use it relatively quickly. It’s a smoked and dry-cured meat so it has plenty of flavor and doesn’t require much seasoning in the recipe. In fact, I don’t use any salt and allow the eater to add the pepper at the end.

This recipe can be whipped up in mere minutes, usually while the toast is toasting. It could easily be a weeknight dinner served with some roasted veggies but we prefer to have it for breakfast most of the time. Orange juice is a great compliment to the salty sauce.

Feel free to double this recipe. It feeds four with two pieces of toast each. You can also adjust the sauce to the thickness you want by adding more milk. I like it pretty thick because I like to dip my toast instead of covering it. Some people like soggy toast. I am not one of them. 🙂

Creamed Dried Beef

 

Author:

www.mrfarmersdaughter.com

Print

 

Ingredients

• 2 c. dried beef, chopped or torn into small pieces
• 3 T. butter
• 5 T. brown rice flour
• 3 +/- milk (or dairy-free alternative neutral in flavor)
• Pepper to taste

Instructions

1. In a shallow, wide skillet (with 2-3" sides) melt the butter.
2. When butter is melted, add dried beef and stir to coat completely with butter, heating the meat.
3. Sprinkle brown rice flour over beef and stir to coat completely.
4. Add one cup of milk and stir quickly. It will thicken fast.
5. As it begins to thicken, add another cup of milk, stirring constantly.
6. Add remaining milk and continue to stir until sauce comes to a simmer.
7. Simmer for one minute then remove from heat.
8. At this point you can think the sauce if you like. It will be relatively thick.
9. Serve over toast with plenty of pepper.

3.4.3177