OK everyone, best grab an apron. This could get messy. You’re probably not aware, but today is National Sloppy Joe Day, a good time to dish up facts on how this modest meal came to be.
Sloppy joes became popular during the lean times of the Great Depression and Second World War.
During that period, ground beef and less expensive cuts of beef were more frequently used because they were budget-friendly and became even more so when stretched out with fillers.
In the case of a sloppy joe, that meant cooking and simmering the meat with such things as processed tomato products, such as ketchup, tomato sauce and/or tomato paste, onions and flavourings.
According to the food-history website foodtimeline.org, early 20th-century American cookbooks offered plenty of sloppy-joe-type recipes.
But, depending on the ingredients used, they were tagged with different names, such as toasted deviled hamburgers, hamburg à la creole, and minced beef Spanish-style.
Despite this effort to make the sandwich sound a little more glamourous, sloppy joe was the name that was most often used and that’s still true today.
So who was this fellow named Joe who invented this dish? Was his name actually Joe? Did he even exist?
The answers to those questions seem, well, a bit sloppy.
According to the Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, there probably is no Joe.
Instead, the book suggests, a sloppy joe likely got its name because of its messy, drippy appearance.
The term “Joe” is a reference to an average guy trying to make ends meet, to which this sandwich would appeal.
The American Century Cookbook has another story, citing research done at the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh, a city that’s also home to H.J. Heinz Company, producer of the ketchup used in some sloppy joe recipes.
The cookbook suggests the sloppy joe was created in the 1920s, in a café in Sioux City, Iowa.
Other sources say that café was Ye Olde Tavern Inn, a place that served a sloppy-looking loosemeat sandwich that, apparently, was created by a line cook named Joe.
The last story on who served up the first sloppy joe takes us all the way to Cuba, to Joe’s Bar in Havana, which has recently opened again after been closed for more than 50 years.
When it first opened in the 1930s, the bar owner’s name was José, a Spanish form of the given name Joseph.
He also sold iced seafood at the bar and the floor was always wet. That caused the bar’s patrons, which included American actors and other celebrities, such as Ernest Hemingway, to taunt José for how sloppy he kept his establishment.
The place became known as Sloppy Joe’s Bar and they served a sandwich there that was made of ropa vieja. Ropa vieja in Spanish means “old clothes,” a good way to describe the shredded beef used in the sandwich, surrounded with a tomatoey sauce.
Legend suggests the sandwich took on the name of the bar and became known as a sloppy joe. And sloppy joes were actually mentioned in movies in the 1930s, such as Citizen Kane and It’s a Wonderful life, which made me wonder if the filmmakers had been to Sloppy Joe’s Bar.
Another Sloppy Joe’s Bar opened in Key West, Florida, in 1933, the day after Prohibition was repealed.
The owner, who had no connection with the original bar, had planned to call it something else, but word has it that Ernest Hemingway encouraged him to name it after Sloppy Joe’s in Havana.
The owner did, it’s still open and yes, they do sell sloppy joe sandwiches — about 50,000 a year, according to some sources.
I don’t know if I would ever order a sloppy joe in a restaurant, since they are so easy to make at home. Cook the meat, simmer in a sauce, spoon on a bun and serve.
In fact, with supervision, sloppy joes are something your kids could help make during spring break.
They could measure the ingredients, stir the mixture as it cooks and help spoon it onto the buns.
Serve the sloppy joes with a simple green salad or raw vegetable sticks and some lemonade and you’ll create a satisfying family meal.
Tex-Mex-style Sloppy Joes
Two types of chili powder, avocado, melting cheese and fresh cilantro gives this version of a sloppy joe a Tex-Mex-style taste.
Preparation time:
25 minutes
Cooking time: About 25 minutes
Makes: 4 generous servings
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 cup finely chopped onion (about one small onion)
1 (14 oz.) can tomato sauce
1/3 cup regular barbecue sauce
1/3 cup beef stock
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp ancho chili powder (see Note)
1/4 to 1/2 tsp chipotle chili powder (see Note)
• salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
4 large hamburger or kaiser buns, split and warmed
1/2 cup grated jalapeño or regular Monterey Jack cheese
1 medium ripe avocado, quartered lengthwise, peeled and cut into 12 to 16 slices
• coarsely chopped cilantro, to taste
Place the beef and onion in a medium pot and set over medium to medium-high heat. Cook and stir the beef until cooked through, about five minutes.
Drain the excess liquid/fat from the pot. Set the pot back on the stove and mix in the tomato sauce, barbecue sauce, stock, tomato paste, cumin, oregano and chili powders.
Bring the meat mixture to a gentle simmer, and adjust the heat so it maintains that gentle simmer. Simmer, uncovered, for 15 to 20 minutes. (If the meat mixture is still thin, simmer a few minutes longer. If it has become too thick, thin with a bit more stock).
Taste the sloppy-joe mixture and season with salt and pepper, if needed. Set a bottom bun on each of four plates.
Divide and top the bottom buns with the sloppy-joe mixture.
Set some cheese, three to four slices of avocado and chopped cilantro, to taste, on top of the meat on each bun. Set on the top buns and serve.
Note: Ancho and chipotle powders are sold in most supermarkets in the bottled herb and spice aisle.
Chipotle chili powder is made from ground, smoked and dried jalapeño peppers. The more you add, the spicier the sloppy-joe mixture will become.
If you can’t find these chili powders or don’t wish to use them, replace both with more mild tasting regular chili powder.
Eric’s Options: If you don’t care for cilantro, top the sloppy joes with sliced green onion. Instead of Monterey Jack cheese, try grated cheddar or mozzarella. Instead of ground beef, make the sloppy-joe mixture with ground bison, or ground turkey.
Eric Akis’s new cookbook, The Great Rotisserie Chicken Cookbook (Appetite by Random House), comes out March 31. Eric’s columns appear Wednesday and Sunday.