The Navy has ruined steaks for me. They buy the cheapest meat available,
freezer-burn it, cook it until it's greyish-white inside and then act like
they're doing you a FAVOR because they're giving you STEAK!

Other disgusting Navy food:

Steamed carrots, Navy-style, are crumbly and woody while having an odd
flavor somewhat reminiscent of insecticide. I don't know what they do to
make carrots taste that way. Maybe our resident AOL newbie can shed some
light on it; he was a mess crank for most of his "career".

Navy-style pancakes have a magical quality: When you pour syrup on them the
syrup disappears instantly, leaving no trace (or flavor) that it was ever
there. The pancakes clearly are only one generation removed (if that) from
sawdust.

Creamed ground beef: As I wrote in a formal meal critique, "it tastes of
beef fat and glue, and looks like something a dog vomited after gorging
itself on carrion."


Any other military food memories?

Bob

On 2011-11-11, Bob Terwilliger > wrote:
> The Navy has ruined steaks for me. They buy the cheapest meat available,
> freezer-burn it, cook it until it's greyish-white inside and then act like
> they're doing you a FAVOR because they're giving you STEAK!

I think it's the way they are taught to cook it. Even when I went to
a cooking school, headed by a retired 30 yr Navy cook, he'd ruin a prime
roast like I've never seen. I learned a lot of great cooking from
that man, but give him the choicest cut of beef and he'd cook it to
freakin' death. Prime rib roasts roasted till they were a uniform
shoe leather brown, edge to edge. It was absolutely grim.

> Any other military food memories?

I was in the USAF. We had one guy who ended up unable to get back to
base before his leave ran out, so he turned himself in to a Navy ship
docked in Italy, rather than be AWOL. He was there for a week before
the paper work was straightened out, and he said that Navy grub was
the best GI food he ever ate. I don't know if Navy food is really
good, but it shows you how really bad USAF food was.

nb

"l, not -l" > wrote:

>The worst food I had in the Army was canned scrambled eggs from a box of
>C-Rations. C-Ration canned eggs were intolerable and I know of no-one who
>could eat them;

Wh-a-a-a-a-at?????!!!!!!!!!!! We [Marines in Vietnam 69-70] would
fight over them. A little Tabasco sauce & they were fantastic. I'd
take the eggs before peaches and pound cake. In our circle, if I
remember right, the worst c-rat meal was the Ham and Lima beans. [Ham
& MFers]. Beans and franks were popular-- as was Chicken noodle.

Was eggs the meal that came with the chocolate covered coconut? I'd
trade most anything for one of them. I wonder how much paraffin
was in that chocolate to keep it from melting in 110F heat?

And don't forget those Lucky Strike Greens-- what a meal.

>however, they did make a pretty decent bunker/hootch warmer
>during monsoon season. We'd steal a little gas/kerosene/whatever, chop the
>eggs up, in the can, and pour the fuel in; the eggs allowed for a slower
>burn of the fuel and acted as a wick. Without the eggs; fuel would boil
>away too fast, with it, a small amount of fuel would go a long way.

Here's where I'm supposed to say "You had kerosene?' and someone else
should pipe up 'You guys had hootches?'<g>

>
>Pretty much every prepared (vs. canned or freeze-dried) meal I had in the
>Army was good, not great. I was fortunate that the Army cooks I was around
>knew what they were doing and could do miraculous things with mediocre
>ingredients. Of course, when you are used to eating C-Rations regularly, a
>hot prepared meal is hard to screw up. To the best of my knowledge, REMFs
>were the only ones to complain about mess hall food where and when I was in
>Vietnam.

After eating C-rats for 6 months, I preferred them to the mess hall
food when I went back to the rear. There were some exceptions,
[SOS comes to mind] but I didn't care for much of it.

Best 'meal' I had in Vietnam was the night the kids scrounged a big
can of dehydrated shrimp and a huge can of salted nuts. They
traded us for a couple c-rat meals & we pigged out up on the mountain
for some holiday or other.

Stateside I was at a Naval Weapons Station for a year or 2 and the
rare times I ate on base the food was good.

Jim

Bob Terwilliger wrote:
>
> The Navy has ruined steaks for me. They buy the cheapest meat available,
> freezer-burn it, cook it until it's greyish-white inside and then act like
> they're doing you a FAVOR because they're giving you STEAK!

I remember a scene in the movie Apocolypse Now. A sausier chef joined
the military and decided to try being a cook because he thought he
already knew the trade. They showed him a huge pot with prime rib in
it. "I looked in there and it was was turning gray I tell you. Most
horrible thing I've ever seen in my life". That from a guy who had been
in a shooting fight the scene before.

> Any other military food memories?

The first time I ever had lobster in my life was at Navy boot camp. The
holiday meal would have been Labor Day I think.

The day I arrived at my first station after technical school I stepped
into the chow hall and for dinner they had an enormous beef leg being
carved to order. Some places the food is great. Other places the food
is terrible. I never knew which one until I ate there a few times.

For myself I like making puffy frittata style omlettes. At the chow
hall they always made thin style omlettes on the big grill. I ended up
liking that style at least as much.

On Nov 11, 3:55*am, "Bob Terwilliger" >
wrote:
> The Navy has ruined steaks for me. They buy the cheapest meat available,
> freezer-burn it, cook it until it's greyish-white inside and then act like
> they're doing you a FAVOR because they're giving you STEAK!
>
> Other disgusting Navy food:
>
> Steamed carrots, Navy-style, are crumbly and woody while having an odd
> flavor somewhat reminiscent of insecticide. I don't know what they do to
> make carrots taste that way. Maybe our resident AOL newbie can shed some
> light on it; he was a mess crank for most of his "career".
>
> Navy-style pancakes have a magical quality: When you pour syrup on them the
> syrup disappears instantly, leaving no trace (or flavor) that it was ever
> there. The pancakes clearly are only one generation removed (if that) from
> sawdust.
>
> Creamed ground beef: As I wrote in a formal meal critique, "it tastes of
> beef fat and glue, and looks like something a dog vomited after gorging
> itself on carrion."
>
> Any other military food memories?
>
> Bob

In boot camp we were served some sort of egg/hash and it was awful.
Unfortunately, it was always the most thing served on your plate along
with some soggy toast and old fruit.

Powdered eggs. Just the thought makes
me gag.

That filled milk is pretty bad, till you get
used to it.

And even thou not so bad, who ever knew
there were 1001 ways to do roast beast.

Bug Juice for breakfast!

Oh, that canned bacon, nasty stuff.

All in all there was usually something
that ok. Then there was always the
"gedunk" to hold one over.

On Nov 11, 3:55*am, "Bob Terwilliger" >
wrote:
> The Navy has ruined steaks for me. They buy the cheapest meat available,
> freezer-burn it, cook it until it's greyish-white inside and then act like
> they're doing you a FAVOR because they're giving you STEAK!
>
> Other disgusting Navy food:
>
> Steamed carrots, Navy-style, are crumbly and woody while having an odd
> flavor somewhat reminiscent of insecticide. I don't know what they do to
> make carrots taste that way. Maybe our resident AOL newbie can shed some
> light on it; he was a mess crank for most of his "career".
>
> Navy-style pancakes have a magical quality: When you pour syrup on them the
> syrup disappears instantly, leaving no trace (or flavor) that it was ever
> there. The pancakes clearly are only one generation removed (if that) from
> sawdust.
>
> Creamed ground beef: As I wrote in a formal meal critique, "it tastes of
> beef fat and glue, and looks like something a dog vomited after gorging
> itself on carrion."
>
> Any other military food memories?
>
> Bob

After reading this post I was reading the CNN website. Lo and behold
they have an article about military food...just exactly what you are
talking bout.

http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2011/11/11/...ar/?hpt=hp_bn8

good article about Korea and mess cooking ....

"Bob Terwilliger" > wrote in message
b.com...
>
> Any other military food memories?
>

Pineapple. Any and all forms of Pineapple. I was
stationed at Beaufort Marine Corps Air Station and
apparently the pineapple growers had a bumper crop
that all ended up in the hands of the Marines. For a
solid six months we had pineapple with every meal
in just about every conceivable form except pina
coladas. Pineapple jam, pineapple juice, pineapple
glaze on almost all meats, pineapple upside down
cake, pineapple sundaes, pineapple rounds, chunks,
crushed pineapple. OMG I still have trouble with
canned pineapples.

pavane

On Nov 11, 3:55*am, "Bob Terwilliger" >
wrote:

> Any other military food memories?
>
In the army was where I learned how much cooking technique matters.
Two mess halls with identical provisions and menus could exist on the
same base and one would suck while the other was deservedly popular.
The cooks mattered.

As to C-rations, ham and eggs chopped (with hot sauce, as noted) was
much more popular that ham and m-fs.

As to SOS, it was good on a cold morning that was going to be full of
physical work.

As to Navy cooks, one (SeaBee actually) gave me my first delicious
liver and onions ever.

As to steaks, the only one I can remember was a porterhouse at Travis
AFB on my return from Nam. I thought it was the best thing
ever. -aem

On Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:50:27 +0000 (UTC), Doug Freyburger >
wrote:

>> Any other military food memories?
>
>The first time I ever had lobster in my life was at Navy boot camp....

In Nam in mid-69, my first sergeant somehow traded (??? don't ask) some repair
services to a Korean battalion for a deuce-and-a-half full of live lobster,
enough to feed our 300+ man company.

Everyone was ecstatic except me -- I hate lobster. 8;(
I ate LRPs that night.

-- Larry

aem wrote:
>
>In the army was where I learned how much cooking technique matters.
>Two mess halls with identical provisions and menus could exist on the
>same base and one would suck while the other was deservedly popular.
>The cooks mattered.

Absolutely, same shipboard as well.

>As to C-rations, ham and eggs chopped (with hot sauce, as noted) was
>much more popular that ham and m-fs.
>
>As to SOS, it was good on a cold morning that was going to be full of
>physical work.

SOS was the most expensive meal the military served, chipped beef was
expensive.

>As to Navy cooks, one (SeaBee actually) gave me my first delicious
>liver and onions ever.

Calves liver was excellent. It was popular, even those who never
tasted liver before loved it.

>As to steaks, the only one I can remember was a porterhouse at Travis
>AFB on my return from Nam. I thought it was the best thing
>ever. -aem

If it's still as it was when I was in the navy there was no better
ingredients to be had at any price, the military got first pick at the
best of USDA prime beef. All the food was superb quality, but not all
cooks... there were keyboard kooks even then. And one thing for
certain, those who bitched the most and the loudest about the food
made it their business to be at the head of the chow line, always went
for seconds and thirds, and ate the most. I never got any complaints,
even the ships captain came to the general mess decks to eat my chow
rather than what their pineapples/stewards concockted. And there was
only one kind of beef steak, fillet mignon (in four years I never saw
any cut of beef rib, no rib roaats aboard ship, and no beef contained
bones), frozen in 40# cases, each steak so identical you'd think
cloned. There was but one cooking method... griddled to order in
butter... could have any doneness, could have yours raw if you wanted.
Steak was served often, at least twice a week, often for breakfast
with fried eggs atop (battle breakfast). I liked serving steak, it
was about the easiest meal to prepare. The only other beef I remember
were various cuts of chuck, sirloin, and round; ground, stew beef,
cubed, and beef roast. Prefried (petrified) canned bacon was in
demand, the snipes would swipe all they could get their grimey meat
hooks on, the black gang had the means to cook it. I used to pay
tolls on the Conn Tpk with fresh baked bear claws. I've no idea what
kind of food the military serves nowadays.

"Bob Terwilliger" > wrote in message
b.com...
> The Navy has ruined steaks for me. They buy the cheapest meat available,
> freezer-burn it, cook it until it's greyish-white inside and then act like
> they're doing you a FAVOR because they're giving you STEAK!
>
> Other disgusting Navy food:
>
> Steamed carrots, Navy-style, are crumbly and woody while having an odd
> flavor somewhat reminiscent of insecticide. I don't know what they do to
> make carrots taste that way. Maybe our resident AOL newbie can shed some
> light on it; he was a mess crank for most of his "career".
>
> Navy-style pancakes have a magical quality: When you pour syrup on them
> the syrup disappears instantly, leaving no trace (or flavor) that it was
> ever there. The pancakes clearly are only one generation removed (if that)
> from sawdust.
>
> Creamed ground beef: As I wrote in a formal meal critique, "it tastes of
> beef fat and glue, and looks like something a dog vomited after gorging
> itself on carrion."
>
>
> Any other military food memories?

I've never been in the military but my husband is in the Coast Guard and he
says their food is good. We had a Coast Guard chef who lived behind us in
CA. I had his food a few times and it was really good.

On Fri, 11 Nov 2011 21:32:48 GMT, "l, not -l" > wrote:

>On 11-Nov-2011, wrote:
>
>> In Nam in mid-69, my first sergeant somehow traded (??? don't ask) some
>> repair services to a Korean battalion for a deuce-and-a-half full of live
>> lobster, enough to feed our 300+ man company.
>
>In early-to-mid-68 we (1st Cav, 1/5th) shared a base with ROKs; I never got
>any lobster from them but we did trade rations on occasion. I didn't care
>to try their fish-eye soup; but, their rice candy was terrific.

Our II Corps base camp on QL19 was back-to-back across a mountain ridge with the
ROK Tiger Division from '68 to '70, so we had a lot of contact with them. What
we mostly developed a taste for was ginseng wine (with the root in the bottle).

-- Larry

notbob wrote:

> I was in the USAF. We had one guy who ended up unable to get back to
> base before his leave ran out, so he turned himself in to a Navy ship
> docked in Italy, rather than be AWOL. He was there for a week before
> the paper work was straightened out, and he said that Navy grub was
> the best GI food he ever ate. I don't know if Navy food is really
> good, but it shows you how really bad USAF food was.

I think we're running into a case of how the grass is always greener on the
other side of the fence. When Navy guys went TDY to Air Force facilities,
they always returned with stories about how much better the Air Force food
was.

Bob

"Bob Terwilliger" > wrote in message
b.com...
> The Navy has ruined steaks for me. They buy the cheapest meat available,
> freezer-burn it, cook it until it's greyish-white inside and then act like
> they're doing you a FAVOR because they're giving you STEAK!
>
> Other disgusting Navy food:
>
> Steamed carrots, Navy-style, are crumbly and woody while having an odd
> flavor somewhat reminiscent of insecticide. I don't know what they do to
> make carrots taste that way. Maybe our resident AOL newbie can shed some
> light on it; he was a mess crank for most of his "career".
>
> Navy-style pancakes have a magical quality: When you pour syrup on them
> the syrup disappears instantly, leaving no trace (or flavor) that it was
> ever there. The pancakes clearly are only one generation removed (if that)
> from sawdust.
>
> Creamed ground beef: As I wrote in a formal meal critique, "it tastes of
> beef fat and glue, and looks like something a dog vomited after gorging
> itself on carrion."
>
>
> Any other military food memories?
>
> Bob
reconstituted milk is not a fond memory, when I think of the word I can
still taste the stuff.

"Bob Terwilliger" > wrote in message
b.com...
> notbob wrote:
>
>> I was in the USAF. We had one guy who ended up unable to get back to
>> base before his leave ran out, so he turned himself in to a Navy ship
>> docked in Italy, rather than be AWOL. He was there for a week before
>> the paper work was straightened out, and he said that Navy grub was
>> the best GI food he ever ate. I don't know if Navy food is really
>> good, but it shows you how really bad USAF food was.
>
> I think we're running into a case of how the grass is always greener on
> the
> other side of the fence. When Navy guys went TDY to Air Force facilities,
> they always returned with stories about how much better the Air Force food
> was.
>
> Bob
In Vietnam when infantry guys went to the airbase they could trade their Cs
for generators and air conditioners (and lots of other things).

In article m>,
"Bob Terwilliger" > wrote:

> Any other military food memories?

I grew up in a military town. I ate a few C rations with friends that
had them while camping. I don't remember most rations, but ham and lima
beans were a real score for me. This memory is over fifty years old.
I made some of my own about a month ago for the first time since I had
them then. It turns out that I still like them.

leo

On 11/11/2011 12:50 PM, Doug Freyburger wrote:

> The first time I ever had lobster in my life was at Navy boot camp. The
> holiday meal would have been Labor Day I think.
>
> The day I arrived at my first station after technical school I stepped
> into the chow hall and for dinner they had an enormous beef leg being
> carved to order. Some places the food is great. Other places the food
> is terrible. I never knew which one until I ate there a few times.

I was only in the reserves, though I came really close to joining the
army. I went through the tests, interviews, medical, got accepted into
direct entry officer and when they called to tell me I was expected and
to report to Chilliwack in two weeks I took a pass. I later regretted it.

One summer in the reserves we went on a exercise with the regular
forces. They had a nice little tent city and breakfasts were amazing.
They had bacon, back bacon, ham, eggs anyway you wanted them, all
prepared served and eaten in a huge tent.


I remember the steam table with a big pan of pork and beans. I noticed
them the first morning and took a pass. The next morning there was bean
pan was not filled as high and it looked a little drier than the day
before. Each morning the craters in the surface of the beans was bigger.

Combat rations were something to behold. They came in cardboard cartons
and contained a foods for breakfast, lunch and supper. There were
different menu numbers and I used to know what each of those menu
numbers contained. I forgot long ago, but I do remember that some of
them contained such delicacies as Vienna sausage and canned Jambalaya.


>
> For myself I like making puffy frittata style omlettes. At the chow
> hall they always made thin style omlettes on the big grill. I ended up
> liking that style at least as much.


My FiL was in the American army and served n France during WWI. Most of
his war stories were about the meals the had, how they pooled their
rations and the stuff they scrounged. They once pooled their money and
resources and paid a French woman to prepare a meal for them. He was
really looking forward to it. Just as they were leaving when someone
came to tell him there was going to be a big push that night. He told
the guy to tell him he could not find him and they proceeded to go AWOL
for the best meal they had had in a year.

In article m>,
"Bob Terwilliger" > wrote:
> Any other military food memories?
>
> Bob
Not mine, but Someone used to look forward to getting off guard duty at
midnight and checking in at the mess hall (is it a mess hall in the Air
Force?) for SOS.
--
Barb,
http://web.me.com/barbschaller September 5, 2011

"Melba's Jammin'" > wrote in message
...
> In article m>,
> "Bob Terwilliger" > wrote:
>> Any other military food memories?
>>
>> Bob
> Not mine, but Someone used to look forward to getting off guard duty at
> midnight and checking in at the mess hall (is it a mess hall in the Air
> Force?) for SOS.


is that telling us more about the SOS or the guard duty?

On 2011-11-15, Melba's Jammin' > wrote:

> midnight and checking in at the mess hall (is it a mess hall in the Air
> Force?) for SOS.

Yep. Mess hall or chow hall. But, ours (USAF late 60s) had hours. I
don't know what the late night personel did. I was in the fire
dept, and even we had hours. If I wanted a meal or snack at
o'dark-30, I had to make it myself or go to the open all night snack
bar on the flightline, typically a limited payfer grill.

nb
--
vi ....the heart of evil!

In article >,
"Pico Rico" > wrote:

> "Melba's Jammin'" > wrote in message
> ...
> > In article m>,
> > "Bob Terwilliger" > wrote:
> >> Any other military food memories?
> >>
> >> Bob
> > Not mine, but Someone used to look forward to getting off guard duty at
> > midnight and checking in at the mess hall (is it a mess hall in the Air
> > Force?) for SOS.
>
>
> is that telling us more about the SOS or the guard duty?

Probably the guard duty. :-0)
--
Barb,
http://web.me.com/barbschaller September 5, 2011

On Nov 11, 5:55*am, "Bob Terwilliger" >
wrote:
> The Navy has ruined steaks for me. They buy the cheapest meat available,
> freezer-burn it, cook it until it's greyish-white inside and then act like
> they're doing you a FAVOR because they're giving you STEAK!
>
> Other disgusting Navy food:

When I was at Navy OCS in Pensacola back in the late 90s, one of the
things the mess hall served were brussels sprouts. Now, I'll admit
that I'm hypersensitive to bitter in general, but these balls of
concentrated sulphur were, quite possible, the worst thing I've ever
eaten. It's hard to describe just how happy I was when when I was
able to decline them after my first week.

--
Ernest