After searching far and wide for a tasty recipe for Sloppy Joe's I finally found it, right under my nose the whole time at Cook's Country. On Pinterest I had repinned a plethora of pinned recipes relating to Sloppy Joe's and read all of them but cooked 5 of them over a few months. They were not good. Even the ones that boasted THE BEST SLOPPY JOE'S YOU WILL EVER EAT - THE BEST SLOPPY JOE RECIPE! - THE ABSOLUTE BEST SLOPPY JOE RECIPE YOUR FAMILY WILL LOVE! Nope, they were not good. Not good at all.
I realize taste is subjective and we like what we know, what we grew up with, what is familiar when it comes to food. But there does come a time when our tastes change and we want something that actually has good flavor. That's where I'm at these days. I don't know if it's my age, my food-snobbery rearing it's head, or what, but I couldn't stand the recipes I was making for Sloppy Joe's. Fully of sugar, salt, butter (?!) apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and on and on, it was all too much. Way too many ingredients for a single pound of chopped meat. And would we taste the meat? No. We would taste salt and sugar and vinegar and more salt. It was crazy.
To be fair, I did not grow up on Sloppy Joe's. I grew up on Boar's Head deli meats on the best freshly made Italian bread bought at Moltisanti's bakery across the street from our apartment building. Or, a hero bought in one of the neighborhood delis. There was no Manwich in our apartment, nor in my house once I married until my husband (from a small PA town) asked me to make Sloppy Joe's one day. I bought a can of Manwich and made them. They were meh... I would rather take my meat sauce and ladle it over crusty Italian bread, or better yet, make a meatball hero. So much better!
Anyway, I began searching for a recipe in old cookbooks, really old cookbooks, and read about the origins of the Sloppy Joe. Of course, there's controversy - The Heinz Co. says the Sloppy Joe originated in Sioux City, Iowa when a cook named Joe added tomato sauce to his loose meat sandwich back in the 1930s. Other's say the Sloppy Joe sandwich originated in Cuba. Then there's the NJ Sloppy Joe which is a triple-decker deli sandwich always made on rye bread, with either roast beef, corned beef, or pastrami, with Swiss cheese, coleslaw and Russian dressing. Oh, that sandwich is delicious! Memories of The Market Basket in Franklin Lakes, NJ..... they made the best!
The ground beef Sloppy Joe may have conflicting sources for it's birth, but it is a good sandwich and perfect for this time of year. It's cozy. It's warm. It's comfort food. It's fun to eat because it squirts out the sides and lands on your Trader Joe's Corn Dipping Chips and it's tasty on those little golden scoops as well!
So, I made the pinned Sloppy Joe recipes a few times and the last time I made them the King & Princess said, "Ewwww...this has too much vinegar!" and I thought, that's it, no more with these ridiculously overdone recipes. Time to pare down the ingredients and overwhelming flavors and unpin those pins!
Time went by and I thought, "Duh! Check if Cook's Country or America's Test Kitchen or Cook's Illustrated has a recipe!" I did and they do. I made it last week and it was clearly a nice, flavorful, clean recipe with minimal ingredients and delicious flavor. The meat was tender and juicy as well, not dried up little granules of ground beef drowned in tomato sauce. The sauce the recipe made was tasty and thick. Just thick enough to stay on the bun but if you 'just happen' to overfill the bun then some will invariably drop onto your TJ's corn dippers, and that would be just fine!
Sloppy Joe's Recipe adapted from Cook's Country:
Tips: Cook the ground beef until just pink - not browned - before adding the sauce ensures the meat stays tender. Combining tomato puree and ketchup gives a sufficiently sweet, rich tomato base to build a nice complementary flavor with chili powder, hot pepper sauce and garlic.
Ingredients:
- 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped fine
- 1/2 teaspoon table salt
- 2 cloves of garlic - minced
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 pound 85% lean ground beef
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- 1 cup tomato puree
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
- Ground black pepper
- 4 hamburger buns
Instructions:
- Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add onion and salt and stir, coating with oil. Reduce heat to medium, cover and cook for about 10 minutes.
- Add garlic and chili powder and cook until fragrant.
- Add ground beef, breaking up with wooden spoon, stirring until just pink.
- Add ground black pepper, brown sugar, tomato puree, ketchup, water and hot sauce, and simmer until sauce thickens, about 8-10 minutes.
- Spoon onto buns and serve with your favorite pickles or sides.
And don't forget those Trader Joe's Corn Dippers!
By the way, this recipe is much tastier the next day, if you happen to have any leftovers.
