Sloppy Joe Redux (recipe: Two-Meat Sloppy Joes)
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If any of you out there have never heard of a Sloppy Joe sandwich, please raise your hand. I would like to meet you. Sloppy Joes are about as American as apple pie and hamburgers. The history of the origin is debated. Some credit Sloppy Joe’s bar in Key West, FL while others believe the creator was a cook named Joe in Iowa who made the first Sloppy Joe as a variation of a loose meat sandwich. In any case, you can bet your bottom dollar that somebody somewhere in the United States of America created this sandwich. And a mighty good creation is was. People all across the country love it.
The original Sloppy Joe was simply browned ground beef, onions and a tomato/BBQ type sauce served on a hamburger bun. I came up with a more “Southernized” version taking some inspiration from one my favorite dishes, next to fried okra, that Granny would make for me. In addition to the ground beef, I added some ground pork sausage. You start adding pork and we are talking about some genuine Southerness. Instead of a hamburger bun, I serve it on what’s known in the South as “light” bread which is sliced white bread.
The combination of the lean ground beef and the premium ground pork sausage was just as good in this recipe as in the Smothered Hamburger and Sausage Patties that Granny used to make. The sausage isn’t overpowering and brings such a nice familiar flavor to this dish. I could fall in love with it. Maybe I already have.
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Two-Meat Sloppy Joes
Quick, easy and made with kitchen and pantry staples. This dish is perfect for a busy weeknight meal. Serve with dill pickles, Sweet Potato Oven Fries and Sweet Coleslaw.
2 medium sweet onions, diced
2 medium sweet peppers, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil (or enough to cover the bottom of your pan)
1/2 teaspoon 4-1-1 seasoning
1 pound lean ground beef (93/7 ratio)
1 pound premium ground pork sausage (I used Jimmy Dean original)
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup BBQ sauce (commercially prepared or your favorite homemade)
1/2 cup chili sauce
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon honey
Onions, peppers and garlic. Reporting for duty.
Heat a pan to medium high. Add olive oil, onions, peppers and garlic. Cook for 10 minutes or until vegetables are soft, not browned. Add ground beef and sausage and stir to break up. Cook until the meats are brown and no longer pink. Drain.
This is a live cooking shot. Steamy.
Mix together the remaining ingredients to make the sauce. Pour over meat and stir. Cover, reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 10 minutes. Uncover, stir and serve on bread.
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Jackie I wish you could see my husband gobbling down homemade sloppy joes – might as well be a ribeye steak – he loves them!
Mary,
I can see that picture in my mind’s eye.
For the sauce, I usually clean out all the condiments from my refrigerator and just keep adding and adjusting until I get it like I want it. So, it’s different every time. I made this recipe up using standard ingredients that would be happy for most folks to replicate.
Never had sloppy joe with sausage – I’ll give it a try. Thanks!!!
Mary,
I hope you give it a try! Let me know what you think.
Now that looks like a good sloppy joe! Sausage huh? I put Jimmy Dean sausage in my cornbread dressing. I figure its good for anything but hadn’t thought of this. I have heard the term loose meat on Roseann’s show on tv. Never heard it before or since till you. Explain! Please?
Jean,
I don’t know a thing about loose meat except what I’ve read and seen on Roseann’s show! Loose meat is popular in the midwest. From what I’ve read, loose meat doesn’t have the tomatoey/BBQ sauce like it’s cousin the Sloppy Joe.
Sausage is so good in this. You can’t pick out the sausage flavor but it blends so nicely. I lub it!
JACKIE I GOT A NEW STAINLESS STEEL SINK TODAY and these sloppy joes are my first meal since! They have a true sloppy joe flavor and I didn’t even have to go to the grocery store to make them. That would have taken away from me staring at my new sink. It has a soap dispenser!!
Sandra,
YEA for your new sink!! I’m so happy for you. I know just how you feel. Something like that just brightens up your whole world.
Are you getting notifications of new posts via email. Hotmail is really catching a lot of my stuff as spam and sending it back.
Glad you liked the Sloppy Joes!
Thanks Jackie
No I’m not getting notifications by email. Which address should be in my contacts in order to get them? They aren’t being sent to my ‘junk emails’ either. No offense!
Sandra,
The problem is with Hotmail. I have a large number of email subscribers now (YEA!) and lot of them have Hotmail email addresses. When Hotmail sees a lot of emails coming from the same IP address, they block them as spam. As many as 25% of my email notifications are going out. I don’t know if Hotmail will let you create a white list or not. In the meantime, I’ve set up a special account to send notifications from my jackie@syrupandbiscuits.com account and not have it go out across the server. I’ll add you to that account. If for some reason Hotmail resolves this issue and you start getting the new post notification twice, please let me know.
Oh how I miss good ole southern food!! Living on the west coast sure makes me long for home down southern cookin, I mention a dish from the south and people look at me like I have lost my ever live’n love’n mind..lol drool
Annie,
I’m so glad you found us tucked away in our little corner of the world. The folks on the west coast just don’t know what they’re missing!
Welcome home!
They sure don’t, however, hindsight, I get to show them some home food they have never tasted and I become a hit at most dinner parties ( cheeky grin) hehehe
Annie
Annie,
You just keep on keepin’ on, Southern sistah!