its incredibly easy.

 

melt one stick of butter, let it brown a little, slowly add flour one tablespoon at a time and combine till smooth, then keep adding one table spoon at a time until you have a very thick almost dry roux.

 

I use the chipped beef that is in the lunchmeat section, buddig, land o frost.whatever your store brand is. its really thin and not that appetizin looking. Its pressed beef actually cut really thin. its a bit salty but thats good for the dish. i usually cut in in four strips across and four cuts up and down making eight small pieces out of each slice. you slice it all at once in a stack and then mush it apart with your hands. lol  do this before you make the roux.

 

then throw the meat into the roux and mix well, the roux will sort of stick to the meat and make sort of a pasty mess. brown this a bit, the meat will get a tiny bit crispy on the edges and this makes it taste good.

 

then add milk about half a cup at a time and combine well. keep adding milk slowly and combining it, this is how you end up without lumps, so this is the most important step.  as you add each little bit of milk, mix good it will begin to become more liquidy  as you go, once it is more of a liquid than a mushy solid you can then add the milk faster. As to how much milk to add, you want it to be very thin since it will thicken as soon as it comes to a boil. keep stirring so it doesnt stick till it boils, then turn it down to a low temp. and let it simmer a bit. I now add two cans of baby or small canned peas. fresh or frozen jsut arent right, this is the only thing i ever use a canned veggie for. If you hate peas you can leave them out.(of course the peas are my favorite part) keep heating till peas are hot. and its done.

 

If as it cooks it becomes too thick you can add more milk. i like it sort of medium thin. you might like it thicker or thinner. Its traditionally served over toast. I tend to eat it like soup and dip my toast in it if i have toast with it.

 

i can only estimate measures for you since i dont measure.

one stick butter

8-12 tablespoons of flour

maybe 8 or so oz of beef. it usually comes in 2oz pkgs but this time i found it in larger pkgs.

about half a gallon of milk, to three quarters of a gallon. i use whole milk.

2 cans lesure peas

i put in a bunch of ground pepper too

no salt, till its done, the meat is salty and i dont  think it needs more you might want some.

 

in the time it took to read this recipe, which seems long for something so easy, you will have it done. Its great leftover, but you always need to add milk or water since it becomes like paste (which it sort of is) when it cools. i usually add water when reheating.

 

this is our old family recipe, i think probably from gramma or her mom. ive eaten it since i was a kid and loved it. Its hard to find people who like it. but its major comfort food. I hope if you try it that it works out good for you. its really easy, as long as you go slow adding the flour and the milk.