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
