My grandfather was career navy. Among all of the jobs he had over the decades when they enlisted at 17 to when he retired in his fifties, one was as a cook. The official navy SOS recipe is available online, but navy cooks did their best to improve it when they could.

My grandfather had his own version using chipped beef when he was cook, but started modifying it ashore as he really liked it, but felt it could be better. By the time my punk ass was born, he had more or less perfected his version. I was a picky eater as a kid, and despite hating mushrooms, and not liking things that looked weird, I loved this stuff, and so did every grandkid that came after (I was the eldest living).

Included are some notes that cover some things he never really wrote down, or aren’t obvious to someone not used to this kind of cooking.

This can be done with chipped beef. It won’t be as good, and you’ll need more oil while sweating the onions.

Dunno if anyone will run across this, or bother to try it if they do, but if something I love this much, that came from someone I loved deeply does interest anyone, it would be silly not to put it out there :)

1 1/2 lb ground beef.
2 md onions, chopped.
cooking oil, if needed.
salt and pepper to taste.
5 tbs flour, approximate.
splash of vermouth.
1 can or cup of shrooms. note Optional, but worth it. Canned actually work well, but nothing wrong with fresh, just make sure they go in early.
2 c milk or cream. note go with cream or half & half, milk just isn’t as good.
approximately 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg, to taste. note unless you have an allergy do not skip this. Trust us.
1/2 tsp sugar, to taste . note which means none. Papaw never used it, but it was in the navy recipe, so it was always in whatever version he had written down, just crossed out. No idea why, since he did leave out the chipped beef entirely in his written versions.

Crumble the ground beef into a skillet and brown with the onions. and/or shrooms. salt & pepper added as it browns.

If beef is very lean, add a tablespoon or two of cooking oil

deglaze with vermouth.

Add flour, one tablespoon at a time, stirring and cooking each spoonful, before adding the next.

Be sure to cook flour thoroughly

Add enough flour to absorb most of the oil.

stir in milk or cream.

Allow to simmer on low heat to thicken.

Adjust consistency as necessary. note with vermouth if it needs thinning. Won’t take much.

Add nutmeg and sugar and adjust to taste