Getting Sloppy in the Kitchen

First there was the lowly steam burger, nutritious but the blandest thing on god's green earth. It was a staple in South Dakota dished out of large hot Nesco Roasters, though I never saw its like in the WI of my childhood -- we had the “Sloppy Joe.” I grew to hate that thing, right up there with the Wednesday meatloaf with Special K cereal as filler. Not so much the dish itself as the constant repetition. Basically both dishes are another way to feed feed lots of people quickly, not exactly fishes and loaves, but a miracle in and of themselves.

Leaving mythological events behind, the Sloppy J became kind of a convenience food of it's time. A combination of ground beef, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, salt, and perhaps a dash of hot sauce it was the 1,2,3, you're done dish of it's day. Now they have a box of crap with a goofy puppet hand on it you can add to your meat, but trust nothing that has spent most of its life in a box. They have made a stab at canning the Sloppy J as well, but with little success. Really there's no point as the dish can be made up ahead of time, or even spur of the moment it doesn't take but a few minutes. Brown the meat, pour off the grease, add the crap, stir until incorporated and and cooked through, then plop on a bun and voila, you're done. Not something I'd serve day in and day out, but good enough when in an occasional bind.

As my wife loves Sloppy Joes I make them primarily for her, though I will eat them however begrudgingly. I did upgrade mine a bit using a poppy seed hard roll, but kept fairly traditional beyond that.

1lbs       ground beef

1/3cup   ketchup

1tsp       brown sugar

1/2 tsp  Worcestershire

1/4tsp    hot sauce

salt and pepper to taste