I rarely skipped school when I was a kid. That’s because I always hated to miss lunch. After all, one of the greatest school traditions is the school lunch. Kids who bring their own may may not ever know the amusement of trying to figure out what’s in mystery meat.
We weren’t served gourmet meals in the school lunchroom in my day, and even though school lunches are better than ever, American schools still have a long way to go before they catch up to the bill of fare at the typical French school cafeteria, where the menu sounds more like what you’d find at a French bistro.
Still there are iconic dishes we remember fondly, and perhaps the most legendary culinary memory of school days is the unfortunately named Sloppy Joe. Everyone knows what they are, yet it’s difficult to determine their origin.
One theory posits that the Sloppy Joe was actually born in Sioux City, Iowa. There a place called Ye Olde Tavern, which opened in 1924, served “tavern burgers” which were sandwiches made of loose ground beef. Other places did too, but the Tavern’s version added tomato sauce to the meat, thanks to their cook, Joe, which made them pretty much like what we think of today as a Sloppy Joe.
Another explanation contends that the Sloppy Joe was merely named after the bar at which it was served, either in Key West, Florida or Havana, Cuba. Supposedly the owner of the Sloppy Joe Bar in Key West got the name from his friend Ernest Hemingway, who frequented a bar with the same name in Havana. The Sloppy Joe Bar in Cuba had a cook named José, who was called sloppy Joe because the place was always such a mess. He lent his name to the sandwich.
Whatever the case, the Sloppy Joe has endeared itself to school children for generations. Despite the fact that it carries the name sloppy, it is in fact, pretty neat.
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Gourmet Sloppy Joes
This may be the definitive Sloppy Joe recipe, adapted from one which celebrity chef Bobby Flay used to win a Sloppy Joe Throwdown on the Food Network.
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 pounds ground chuck
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup diced onion
½ cup diced celery
½ cup diced roasted red bell pepper
½ cup diced roasted yellow bell pepper
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon chili powder
1+¼ cups barbecue sauce (preferably Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill brand)
¼ cup water
¼ cup ketchup
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon molasses
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Hamburger buns
Cook beef in oil over high heat, seasoning to taste with salt and pepper, until browned. Remove from pan, draining all but one tablespoon of fat, and add onion and celery. Cook until soft, add bell peppers and garlic and cook one minute. Add chili powder and cook thirty seconds. Add barbecue sauce, water, and ketchup and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally until slightly thick. Reduce heat to medium-low, stir in mustard, Worcestershire, honey, brown sugar, and molasses. Cover and simmer for fifteen minutes. Add browned beef and cook uncovered for ten minutes until slightly thick. Add vinegar and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve on buns.
