Grandma’s Sloppy Joes

A few months ago, I had a hankering for some sloppy joes. I called up my sister to ask if she knew how my grandma made them when we were younger. She did, because she has a way better memory than I do and I think they were a more favored dish of hers. She also told me a couple of things that she does differently than my grandma. This recipe is a combination of my sister’s additions and the way my grandma always makes it. If you feel ambivalent about sloppy joes, but you have some ground beef in the freezer, and you are wondering what’s for dinner, give this a try!

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:3]

Now for some interesting facts about sloppy joes for your dinner conversation:

• You may already know a few aliases for sloppy joes like beef barbecue and steamers, but I never heard of these names: dynamites, gulash (I think of ground beef, tomatoes, and noodles, right? And spelled goulash? Anyone?), sloppy janes, slushburgers, wimpies, yum-yums, yip yips, hot tamales, taverns, and spoonburgers.
• The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink can’t pinpoint the exact birth of the sloppy joe, but traces it to about 1935.
• Apparently there is an unrelated sandwich also called Sloppy Joe running around northern New Jersey that consists of deli meat with cole slaw, Russian dressing, and Swiss cheese on three slices of rye bread.
• In the 1940’s inexpensive eateries and lunch counters were commonly called sloppy joes.

Who knew? (Well someone knew, I found this information on the world wide web, after all.)