Chipped Beef

Chipped beef, or dried beef, is made from the lean cuts of top round, bottom round, or sirloin tip or knuckle. The beef is brined, then dried and sometimes smoked to preserve the meat, before being shaved—or chipped—into thin pieces. The end product’s light weight and resistance to decay have made it the ideal food for wayfarers for centuries, as well as the perfect ration for soldiers and sailors. Creamed chipped beef on toast was served so often in U.S. military mess halls during World War II that it came to be known by the earthy name “shit on a shingle.”