Sloppy Joes

April 25, 2005 11:00 AM

I'm sure there will be some who disagree (and that's good), but I think it's safe to say that when it comes to sloppy joes, the Manwich Sloppy Joe has clearly been the benchmark for this food-favorite for a couple of decades. I've tried a bunch of alternatives over the years, from home-made to store-bought, but they always seem to be lacking something. So which one of you is hiding the best sloppy joe recipe?
posted by Witty to food & drink (8 comments total)

Really straightforward:

* 2 lb chop meat
* 1 cup ketchup
* 2 tablespoons mustard
* 2 tablespoons vinegar
* 2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce (liquid)
* 1 teaspoon brown sugar
* 1 teaspoon salt

Brown the meat. Dump everything in a big pot, mix it together, and let simmer on low until it's hot. Serve with pierogies.

(The pierogies part is REALLY important.)
posted by schustafa at 11:34 AM on April 25, 2005

personally I like substituting the brown sugar with molasses, otherwise yeah, I'm with schustafa.
posted by PurplePorpoise at 11:53 AM on April 25, 2005

I look foward to delicious results.

Also, substitute salt with steak/beef seasoning salt.
posted by Jairus at 12:23 PM on April 25, 2005

Here is a recipe from Rachel Ray of the Food Network. It looks easy enough. I've not tried it myself, though:

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
1 1/4 pounds ground beef sirloin
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon steak seasoning blend, such as McCormick brand Montreal Seasoning
1 medium onion, chopped
1 small red bell pepper, chopped
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 cups tomato sauce
2 tablespoons tomato paste
4 crusty rolls, split, toasted and buttered

Instructions:

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add oil and meat to the pan. Spread the meat around the pan and begin to break it up. Combine brown sugar and steak seasoning. Add sugar and spice mixture to the skillet and combine. When the meat has browned, add onion and red peppers to the skillet. Reduce heat to medium and cook onions, peppers, red wine vinegar and Worcestershire sauce with meat for 5 minutes. Add tomato sauce and paste to pan. Stir to combine. Reduce heat to simmer and cook Sloppy Joe mixture 5 minutes longer. Using a large spoon or ice cream scoop, pile sloppy meat onto toasted, buttered bun bottoms and cover with bun top
posted by bh at 12:49 PM on April 25, 2005

No ketchup. Ick. Even my kids won't eat sloppy joes with ketchup, and they *like* ketchup. I don't like ketchup, so I don't cook with it.

Baroni's (in Calumet) used to make really good canned sloppy joe sauce (much better than Manwich). But they stopped making it about 10 years ago. So this is what I use instead:

1 pound ground meat
1 15 oz can tomato puree
1 small onion, chopped fine
I small bell pepper, green or red, chopped fine
1T Worcestershire sauce
1t garlic powder
1/2 t pepper
2T molasses
1T cider vinegar
dash of salt
dash of dry mustard
dash of cayenne *or* paprika (not both!)

Brown the meat. When it's about half done, add the dry spices. When it's all browned, add the onion and the bell pepper. Toss for a bit, then add liquids (molasses, Worcestershire, vinegar). Simmer for a couple of minutes, then add the tomato puree. Simmer for about 10 minutes, until the sauce has thickened nicely.

I often leave out the bell pepper, since my oldest kid is sensitive to them. I also don't actually, like, measure anything, so this is an approximation.
posted by jlkr at 3:53 PM on April 25, 2005

Manwich?? You're kidding. You have to try the Schilling/McCormick ones (envelope, red border with a blue background on the picture).
posted by whatzit at 6:21 PM on April 25, 2005

Instead of ground beef, try 'pulled beef'. Bake a rump roast @ 450 for 15-20 minutes then put into crock pot (on high). After an hour or two, use fork to pull meat into 'strings'. Cook for another 30 minutes or so. (Add a little water to keep moist, if necessary)

Make one of the above sauce recipes in the crock pot with the meat. Serve on quality *roll* of your choice. Roll, not bun. White mush hamburger buns are an affront to Jeebus.
posted by unixrat at 8:05 AM on April 26, 2005

Thanks folks. I'm going to give all of these recipes a whirl. And unixrat, I like that idea well... may provide for a slightly "fancier" finished sandwich.
posted by Witty at 10:15 AM on April 26, 2005