In most of the United States, the sloppy Joe sandwich is a lunchtime staple. It is made with ground beef cooked in a skillet, spicy tomato sauce or tomato paste, bread or a bun, and a spicy tomato sauce or tomato paste. The sloppy Joe has been served in school cafeterias for years. It is sometimes greasy and too sweet. Certainly, this is what comes to mind when you think about the commercial versions of the sandwich. For example, the manwich is seasoned beef and sauce in a can, ready to be heated up.
In most of the United States, the sloppy Joe sandwich is a lunchtime staple. It is made with ground beef cooked in a skillet, spicy tomato sauce or tomato paste, bread or a bun, and a spicy tomato sauce or tomato paste. The sloppy Joe has been served in school cafeterias for years. It is sometimes greasy and too sweet. Certainly, this is what comes to mind when you think about the commercial versions of the sandwich, like the manwich, which is seasoned beef and sauce in a can that is ready to be heated and poured over bread.
But the meat in a sloppy Joe should be both sweet and spicy. At the same time, the sauce is thickened by a lot of sautéing. This is a far cry from the cold, greasy mess that kids are served at school. It has become an experiment in some trendy delis to bring people back to their childhood with combinations that go beyond tomato paste and beef. Pork in tomato sauce with ginger, garlic, and chilli sauce is one example of a possible choice. With cheddar cheese and fresh spices on a freshly baked Kaiser roll, it is very different from something served on a hamburger roll by a woman wearing a hairnet.
But in New Jersey, a "sloppy Joe" means something totally different. Instead of ground beef, it has deli meats like turkey, ham, roast beef, or even sliced cow tongue. It is usually served on "double-" or "triple-decker" rye bread. Like a reuben sandwich, the sandwich has Swiss cheese, cole slaw, and Russian dressing on it.
One idea about where the sandwich came from is that it came from Sloppy Joe's Bar in Havanna. The New Jersey version, on the other hand, was first offered in 1936 at the Town Hall Deli in South Orange, NJ. The original sloppy Joe is still a triple-decker sandwich with layers of ham, tongue, and Swiss cheese, served on long, thin slices of buttered rye and cut into quarters. In another version, smoked salmon, creamed cheese, and egg salad are added, and in still others, corned beef is added.
One more thing that shows the Cuban connection is a sandwich served in New York City's West Village.
It's basically a Cuban ropa vieja sandwich, which is a pulled skirt steak that has been marinated and then stewed in a mixture of tomato sauce, garlic, cumin, tomatoes, peppers, and chilies. Then, this version is put on a bun that has been cooked in a steam oven.
Legend has it that a mayor of Maplewood, NJ, brought back the New Jersey version of the sandwich in 1934 or 1935. Since there are so many ways to make a sandwich, there are, of course, many ways to explain how it was made and how it got its name. Some people say that it started in Cuba at Sloppy Joe's bar. Others say it came from Sloppy Joe's in Key West, which was Earnest Hemmingway's favourite place to hang out and where the name first showed up in print. Still another person says that the ground-meat version of the sandwich started in an Iowa diner or that during the Great Depression, people made almost everything out of hamburger.
No matter where it came from, the sloppy Joe is a staple of school cafeterias and New Jersey delis, and people of all ages love it. There are many different ways to make it, but they are all delicious.
