An Homage to Breakfast in the Enlisted Dining Facility

Previously known as the General Mess

Historically known as The Mess Decks or Chow Hall

Now that we've got the politically correct renaming of that place where millions of American's have eaten breakfast out of the way, I want to jog memories of dented steel trays, one-size-fits-all spoons, and coffee cups full of grainy reconstituted orange juice. Over the next three mid-week posts, I'm going to revisit three memorable breakfast delights: often the butt of the many jokes, but always eaten with the most gusto.

These three are (drum roll, please) Minced Beef on Toast, the recipe to be found in the Armed Forces Recipe Service on card L36, (AFRS L36), Creamed Beef on Toast (AFRS L30), and Creamed Chipped Beef on Toast (AFRS L52). I'll spare my audience the more common names. You all know what they are, anyway.

I want to begin with Minced Beef on Toast. This is one of those recipes that the leading Chief in the galley would assign to the new cook just out of school. The accepted thought was that he/she couldn't screw it up. If they could read, they could make this. Right?

It's a simple set of ingredients … ground beef, canned minced tomatoes, onion, flour, mace (the skin on the nutmeg), sugar, salt, and pepper. Cook the hamburger until it's gray. Add the onions. Drain. Dump in the tomatoes, mace, sugar, salt, and pepper. Bring to a set temperature, scoop it into an insert, set it on the line, and slop it over (probably cold) toast. Yummo!

If you're any sort of a cook, you might notice that you can substitute oregano, garlic, basil, and bay leaf for the mace, and add tomato paste for … voila! … meat sauce for spaghetti (AFRS L38). Neither original nor Italian, but hearty, quick, and inexpensive.

Just to improve the point. I made this over the weekend, using nutmeg instead of mace and a half pound of garden-fresh cherry tomatoes of various colors instead of the canned minced tomatoes. The result was sweet and flavorful with a fraction of the sodium.

For your pleasure: Here is a link to my recipe modified from the AFRS. That means it makes four servings instead of one hundred.

Next week: Creamed Beef on Toast (AFRS L30)