Traditionally, a Sloppy Joe is ground beef with vegetables such as celery, onions and/or bell pepper cooked with tomato sauce and served on buns. It started off as a dinner time meal in the Southern US states, made popular by working mothers because of their ease of preparation. The earliest traceable published recipe of the Sloppy Joe is from MacCall's Cookbook published in 1963. It entailed sauteing 1/2 lb. of ground beef together with 1 lb. of a beans-and-ground-beef mix in barbecue sauce in a skillet in medium heat. Once the ground beef changes from a red to a brown color, then add the beans-and-ground-beef mix in barbecue sauce together with catsup. Let this simmer for 5 minutes. Split the hamburger buns in the middle and toast them for a minute. Once the beef and beans mixture is cooked scoop this over the toasted buns and serve.
The Sloppy Joe has come a long way since then. The following recipe is more gourmet than the 1963 version.
For the seasonings:
3-4 teaspoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon steak seasoning blend
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
To cook, add the extra virgin olive oil to the pan and allow the mean to brown over medium heat. Once the sirloin is browned, add the dry spices and mix well. Add the onions and bell peppers next together with the Worcestershire sauce and vinegar and allow to simmer for 5 minutes. Lastly, add the tomato sauce and tomato paste an simmer on low heat. After 5 minutes, the mixture is ready to be scooped on the lightly toaster and buttered crusty rolls.
Other popular Sloppy Joe versions do not entail any tomato sauce or paste at all. Here is an easy tomato-free Sloppy Joe recipe with 10 minutes of preparation, 30 minutes cooking time and 6 servings.
Ingredients are the following:
1 lb lean ground beef
1/4 cup bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup onion, chopped
For the seasonings:
3/4 cup catsup
3 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
half a teaspoon of garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
To cook, brown the beef in a skillet. Once the beef is brown, add the choped bell peppers and onions. Keep the heat to medium to avoid burning the meat and vegetables. Mix in the rest of the seasonings next. At this point, reduce to a low heat for about 30 minutes to allow the ingredients to marry. This can be served with your choice of bread.
Since the Sloppy Joe is such a popular meal, there have been a lot of variations in the ingredients. There have even been non-sandwich or bread takes on Sloppy Joe such as Sloppy Joe pizza, macaroni and cheese and spaghetti. The ground beef had also been substituted with turkey meat in some recipes. In this case, the Sloppy Joe is called a Sloppy Tom. Another variation to the recipe is to add a little kick to the mixture by adding about half a teaspoon of chili powder for every pound of meat. Even vegetarians can enjoy the meaty flavor of the Sloppy Joe by using vegetarian meat substitutes such as textured vegetable protein or veggie ground round.
Whichever version of the Sloppy Joes suits your taste buds, it remains one of the versatile and easy to prepare dishes of all times. Don't forget to always serve with a table napkin, for they're call Sloppy Joes for a reason.
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