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Dutch Girl’s All American Sloppy Joes
One of the foods I’ve craved ever since I first set foot on American soil are Sloppy Joes. Sure, I know they’re considered the epitome of man-food, but oh well, I’ve always been a tomboy anyway. I actually like ‘man-food’. It’s no-nonsense food, served up in no-nonsense style. Doesn’t mean it’s unhealthy, as long as you don’t throw in a stick of butter or 2 cups of heavy cream, that is.
I’ve had a pretty rough time recreating the exact Sloppy Joe as I first tasted it many years ago. Tried several different recipes and although most of them were tasty, none of them came even close to the one that got me hooked. I also tried a can of Hunt’s Manwich, but was duly unimpressed with the flavor. And that’s putting it nicely.
It wasn’t until a friend posted her Sloppy Joe version that I actually trodded back out to the kitchen. I confined myself to a cooking session that lasted until had the exact combination of flavors I was looking for. I promised her I’d post my version as well, so here it is.
Roughly 20 pound ground beef, 10 onions, 15 bell peppers and 2 dozen buns later I present to you; Dutch girl’s all-American, homemade Sloppy Joes!
Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef (seasoned to taste)
1 large onion
1 large garlic clove
1 green bell pepper
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 cup water
2 tbsp yellow mustard
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
1/2 a tsp oregano
1/2 a tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/2 a tsp sweet paprika powder
1/2 tbsp brown sugar
few drops tabasco
buns (or just eat it with a spoon)
Directions:
Start with 1 pound ground beef. Superfluous comment and photo, really, but I liked it.
A lot of people don’t season their ground beef before browning it. I’m not one of them. I season my meat with a little salt, pepper and nutmeg. The nutmeg is a recurrent thing, I’m aware of that. I doubt Betty Ford has a program for it.
Finely mince the bell pepper and onion. Sloppy Joes need green bell pepper. There’s just no other color possible, sorry.
Grate or mince the garlic.
Grab a bowl and combine 1/2 a tsp salt, 1/2 a tsp oregano, 1/4 tsp chili powder, 1/4 tsp ground cumin with 1/2 a tsp sweet paprika powder. Stir to combine.
More stuff I’ll put in there.
Brown the beef in a large skillet.
Next, add roughly 2 sticks of butter. Just kidding… drain the fat. Geez, this was supposed to be low fat ground beef. Can’t trust the Albert Heyn for anything these days.
Add the minced onion and bell pepper to the skillet. Cook until the onion becomes translucent.
Add your garlic and 2 tbsp tomato paste. Cook for an additional minute. This will sweeten the tomato paste a little.
And in with the seasoning mix.
Pour 1 cup of water in there. Add 1/2 a tbsp brown sugar, a slightly heaping 1/4 cup of Heinz ketchup, 1 or 2 tbsp yellow mustard (no French mustard, mind you), 1 tsp worcestershire sauce and a few drops Tabasco—I’m using the green jalapeños version, it has more interesting flavor and is mellower than its red buddy.
Give everything a good stir. Taste to check the seasoning, adjust when need be and simmer, over low heat, for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes the sauce will have cooked down and the meat should look like this.
Whether you call them Sloppy Joes, Wimpies, Man-Wich, Yip-Yips, Spanish hamburger, Slushburgers, Canteen sandwiches or Steamers, this all-American dish is simply wonderful. The ultimate seduction.
Er was een tijdje terug een interessante discussie op Foodlog over het gehakt van Albert Heijn, check: http://www.foodlog.nl/geknipt/bericht/gehakt_van_ah_is_goor_stinkende_troep/
@Martijn Reintjes:
Ben het er helemaal mee eens. Het is gewoon goor spul. Heel veel vet en een hele nare smaak. Ik ga bijna altijd naar de slagerij, maar zit ik eens enorm om het hand dan pak ik het wel eens mee. Krijg er altijd weer spijt van.
If you ever get a chance to try the Chipotle Tabasco, I highly recommend it. It has a wonderful earthy aroma that is wonderful in dishes like these. I keep hoping it will show up in a shop here. In the meantime, though, I’d be happy if AH started carrying cumin powder again and not just the seeds. I shall be going on a hunt this afternoon for other stores that might sell the powder, since I’m just about out and it’s one of my favorite spices.
@Alison:
Ground cumin can be bought (in bulk even) at pretty much every Chinese or Indonesian toko. They sell it at most markets as well.
Is the chipotle tabasco the black labeled one?
The ground beef/pork that they sell at the AH is indeed crap. Felix Wilbrinck of De Telegraaf is quite furious about it. I also made the mistake to use it, the smell that comes from the beef is so out of place. Not the smell you want from any kind of meat, and all the juices that flow out of it… plain nasty
@H Man:
Did you see the fat that came out of it? That was supposed to be “mager”. It’s shocking.
Yum yum Kay. I’ve recently been doubting about making a vegetarian sloppy joe recipe that I have in one of my cookbooks. I think you just made my decision for me.
@ Alison: I know I told you already that they carry Chipotle tabasco at Tjin’s in Amsterdam, but about the ground cumin. If you can’t find it in the regular spice section at the AH, have a look at the Conimex products. There it will be called “Djintan (gemalen komijnzaad)”. Conimex carries a lot of seasonings you might be looking for, but you have to read the Dutch words in parenthasis because the main name is in Indonesian or Malay.
I was planning on checking the tokos if I had no luck at any of the shops nearby; they’re my usual source of more difficult-to-find items.
Lizzy, thanks for the Conimex recommendation (and name). I’ll definitely check that section today. I’m not sure why both of the AHs near me stopped carrying the ground cumin when they changed their packaging. I need to remember to stop by Tjin’s when I’m in Amsterdam for the Thanksmas party. ;)
@Alison:
Best to check the tokos! If you buy this stuff at AH a small jar is gonna cost you just as much as a large bag at the toko.
Our AH here stops carrying lots of items constantly. It’s almost like they keeptrack of the stuff people really like, and then stop selling them out of anger for us hating their ground beef :)
My Mother used to make these for us all the time when we were little! Love your recipe :)
What tasty looking sloppy joes!
I believe you have need of 1 more ingredient, Kay-Otic. And that is sweet pickle juice. Here, in the US, Heinz makes sweet pickles and they come packed in a jar with some brine or juice. I cannot opine about the availability of Heinz on the Continent. I know England has Heinz products.
Your homemade version of sloppy joes looks delicious & I am going to try your recipe for sure. Most people here in the US shortcut it by browning ground beef & either adding a can of Manwich (which I can’t stand) or a pkg of sloppy joe seasoning, tomatoe paste, & water. I guess sloppy joes are a popular American dish because I would say that every grocery store even has their own brand of sloppy joe seasoning mix.
Nothing better than home made sloppy joes – My recipe is very similar but love your extra kick twist – will have to add that to the mix for sure!
Oh, I so hope this is FINALLY the sloppy joe recipe I like. I have heard that yellow mustard is a must, and I’ll believe you when you say one must use green pepper (as I prefer red) — I love the idea of pre-seasoning the beef too. I will try these this week with my homemade onion buns. Have you ever had a Maid-Rite? Those are famous in my part of the U.S.
@elizabethk:
The mustard just gives it a wonderful tang that really works with ketchup and the tad of sweetness the brown sugar adds. For me it was the missing ingredient sin all those others, along with the worcestershire sauce.
I had to google that, I found something about Taylor’s Maid-Rite’s, is that it?
You have made simple comfort food a thing of beauty here!
I love home made sloppy joes. I have a GREAT recipe that I worked up after many trials too. I should post it too so you could check out my version. It’s WAY yummy. I was actually thinking about making turkey sloppy joes next week with it.
What, no Lawry’s in there?!?! :-) Just kiddin’. I really like the idea of the sweet paprika and the green Tabasco. I’m going to try adding those to mine next time. Sounds like another winner!
Great recipe for sloppy joes, Kay! Like you, I’ve tried to make sloppy joes with Manwich and have found that convenience product to be particularly vile–too bland, too sweet, and too thin, without the perfect sweet-sour-tomato flavor needed. One thing I’d emphasize in making sloppy joes is not to let the ground beef brown: the meat should be cooked but not browned, otherwise the texture will be wrong. When I cook the ground beef, I usually put it over low heat, covered, stirring occasionally, so the meat will almost steam. Then I drain the accumulated grease before adding the sauce ingredients.
As to the contributor who mentioned Maid-Rites, they’re one of my favorite sandwiches, and I think of them as sloppy joes without the tomato sauce base. Here’s the recipe I use to make a reasonable facsimile:
1 lb. ground beef
1 med. onion, finely minced
1 tbsp. prepared yellow mustard (not Dijon or any other fancy mustard)
1 to 2 cups water
1 beef bouillon cube (my favorite brand is Maggi)
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
Cook ground beef and onion over low heat until onion is translucent. Do not brown. Drain accumulated grease. Add enough water to barely cover the meat mixture, then stir in other ingredients. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer until most of liquid has evaporated. (The mixture should still be “wet”, but not soupy.) Serve on buns with ketchup, mustard, and dill pickle slices, if desired. Although you can try to eat one of these sandwiches by hand, I almost always eat mine open-face with a knife and fork.
Looks much better than the canned stuff!
I always add a small amount of vinegar to give it a nice tang. The canned stuff is pretty bad once you have made your own version of it.
@Sonya:
I used to do that as well, until I found out that yellow mustard not only gives it a wonderful tang, but also tweaks the flavor in a really great way! I even add yellow mustard to my stews now :)
That sure does look like an all American dish. Sloppy Joe goes good on salad, sort like a taco salad but use the joe mix instead.
OMG when you mentioned sloppy joes, I had forgotten that in America they have them in buns. We have ours over mashed potatoes for dinner :)