Life is funny the past couple week’s I’ve been thinking of making Sloppy Joe’s or Manwich’s for lunch but I knew David wouldn’t eat them and since I wasn’t sure if Charlie would or not I decided not to make them. Then the other day my best friend Debbie mentioned having Sloppy Joes for dinner and we’ve made plans to make them for lunch one day and hang out and play board games.
I can’t wait to be able to make Sloppy Joes with Debbie because it will allow us to celebrate March 18 National Sloppy Joe Day #NationalSloppyJoeDay. I have a question for you. Do you like Sloppy Joe’s and if so would you like to have lunch with me? I can have Charlie prepare the Sloppy Joes in his Homeschool Cooking Class.
National Sloppy Joe Day, is celebrated every year on March 18, a holiday dedicated to the best Sandwich of all time, The Sandwich has been around for approximately 95 years now, playing a key role in fast-food restaurants and kitchen tables. Can you believe sandwiches have been around that long? To me that is crazy.
National Sloppy Joe Day aims to explore the wholesomeness of an extraordinary Sandwich that has transformed the way people look at Sandwiches. The sloppy Joe has garnered global appeal with its base recipe featuring Onions, Ground Beef, and Tomato Sauce, and depending on what part of the world you are in, delicious varieties are made available from infusing other local ingredients.
There have been several claims to the origin of the Sloppy Joe. One claim states the Sandwich made its debut in 1920, in Havana, Cuba. A bartender called José Abel Otero created and successfully sold a simple Sandwich based on a Cuban dish of shredded Beef, Tomato Sauce, and Spices called Ropa Vieja.
José Abel Otero also sold iced Seafood, which would often melt and get the bar floor wet and sloppy. Since José was known for the Sandwich and wet bar floors, customers linked the two and called Joe ‘Sloppy Joe.’ Ironically, the name stuck to both José Abel Otero and the Sandwich. Which I am glad it did because Sloppy Joes fits this sandwich to a T.
Some years later, Nobel prize winner and popular writer, Ernest Hemingway, who was a patron of the Havana bar, suggested a friend, Joe Russel, who had just set up a restaurant in Key West, Florida, serve the Sloppy Joe Sandwich but he had the sandwich rebranded as the ‘Havana Sandwich.’ Who cares what its called its still a Sloppy Joe.
Another origin or story dictates that the Joe may have been a variation of the very common ‘loose Meat’ sandwiches of the 1930s. At a Cafe in Sioux City, a cook named Joe added Tomato Sauce to the loose Meat, giving birth to the goodness known as the Sloppy Joe. Which story do you think is true and why?
In 1969, Hunt’s, a Ketchup maker, introduced the ‘Manwich,’ which made a more convenient way to prepare the Sloppy Joe. The Manwich was a can containing the Sloppy Joe Sauce and was promoted as more than just a Sandwich. I have a question for you. Do you think a Manwich and Sloppy Joe taste the same? If not which one do you prefer and why? I think I’m going to host a taste test with Charlie and his friends and we can try both and decide on which one we like the best. Would you like to join us for our contest?
LET”S CELEBRATE NATIONAL SLOPPY JOE DAY
- Today is the day to get sloppy by preparing Sloppy Joes in your house.
- Celebrate National Sloppy Joe Day by trying out a Sloppy Joe in a restaurant.
- Invite your friends and family over and host a Sloppy contest and throw a Sloppy Joe contest and crown the person who makes the tastiest sandwich.
FACTS ABOUT THE SLOPPY JOE
- loppy Joes have many names and can even be called yum-yum, slush burger, dynamite, Manwich, and yes, Barbecue. Which doesn’t sound right.
- I would like to introduce you to Joe’s sister, Jane which I didn’t know he had a sister but he does and they are the same thing, but the Sloppy Jane is considered the healthier version of Sloppy Joe.
WHY PEOPLE LOVE NATIONAL SLOPPY JOE DAY
- If you’ve ever had a Sloppy Joe then you know they have a unique taste which is addictive, and most of us just can’t get enough Sloppy Joe’s.
- You should try Sloppy Joes with different toppings creating a new Sandwich you may fall in love with.ers.
Recipe for Sloppy Joe’s
Ingredients
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 pound lean ground beef
12 ounces (1 1/3 cup) tomato sauce
3/4 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon paprika
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 hamburger buns, toasted Get Ingredients
Directions
- Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and peppers and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and starting to caramelize in some spots, 6 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in the beef and cook, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon or spatula, until it is browned, no longer pink in the middle and cooked through, 7 to 8 minutes.
- Stir in the tomato sauce, ketchup, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, red wine vinegar, paprika, cayenne pepper, 1 teaspoon salt and a generous amount of black pepper and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened and heated through, 5 to 6 minutes. Spoon the meat onto the toasted buns.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
