Creamed Meat (Beef, Lamb, Veal or Ham)

Recipe No. 299 from the U.S. Army’s WWII cookbook — Meat. Quantities are exactly as printed, for 100 servings; a scaled-down 8-serving version is in the notes.

Ingredients

• Meat, carcass — 25 pounds
• or — as needed

Meat, ground — 17 pounds

• Onions, chopped (optional) — 1 pound (1 No. 56 dipper)
• Bacon or meat fat — 1 pound (½ No. 56 dipper)
• Flour, sifted — 1½ pounds (1½ No. 56 dippers)

Milk, evaporated — 16—14½-ounce cans

• Beef stock or water (for milk) — 2 gallons (8 No. 56 dippers)
• Salt — as needed
• Pepper — ¼ ounce (1 mess kit spoon)
• Bread, toasted — 100 slices

Directions

Key ingredients

Evaporated Milk

1. Cut meat into 1-inch pieces; grind.
2. Cook meat in its own fat until brown, stirring frequently.
3. Cook onions in bacon fat; add flour and mix thoroughly.
4. Mix milk and beef stock or water; heat.
5. Add hot milk to fat and flour mixture gradually. Heat to boiling point; boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add salt and pepper.
6. Pour sauce over meat; simmer until meat is well-done but not overcooked.
7. Serve on toast.

Notes

SCALED TO 8 SERVINGS (the original is ÷12.5): Meat, carcass — 2 lb or — to taste Meat, ground — 1 lb 5¾ oz Onions, chopped (optional) — 1¼ oz Bacon or meat fat — 1¼ oz Flour, sifted — 2 oz Milk, evaporated — 1¼ can(s) (14½ oz) Beef stock or water (for milk) — 2½ cups Salt — to taste Pepper — a pinch Bread, toasted — 8 slices

Chopped green peppers or pimientos may be added to sauce and simmered with meat.

— TM 10-412, Army Recipes (War Department, 15 August 1944), recipe No. 299, Meat. Army measures: 1 No. 56 dipper = 1 qt; 1 No. 55 dipper = 1¾ qt; 1 mess kit cup = 1½ pints.