Sloppy Joe’s are a sandwich which originated in Sioux City, Iowa in the nineteen fifties by a cook named Joe, who added barbeque sauce to his loose meat sandwich. It is a strictly American food, with which some of my dear readers may not be familiar. My loving grandfather, the one who grew up in an orphanage, used to call them “Dirty Mike’s.” I have know idea as to why, but would guess he came up with the name as his creative alternative to sloppy Joe’s. Why should Joe have all the fun?
For dinner tonight, I decided to make sloppy Joe’s. We haven’t had them in a while, and it sounded good. Here is my standard recipe. You may enlarge it if you need to feed more than 3 – 4 people. It was just children #’s 2 and 3 with me tonight, so 1 pound of beef was plenty.
You will need:
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 Tbsp. dried onion flakes
3 cups of water
1/2 cup of your favorite barbeque sauce (I used Sweet Baby Ray’s)
1/2 cup tomato sauce
3 – 4 gluten-free buns (I like Udi’s multi-grain hamburger buns)
In a medium saucepan break up ground beef into small bits. Add onion flakes and water. Cook over medium heat until the beef is no longer pink, stirring occasionally. Drain water. Add barbeque sauce and tomato sauce. Stir in and heat through. Serve as sandwiches, or as open face sandwiches, as we did. You get more meat and it’s neater because you eat it with a fork and a knife! Grandpa would be so proud!!!
GF Recipes and Writings 