Sloppy, Sloppy

The other night, I wanted to make Sloppy Joes for dinner. We have a 'recipe', if you want call it that, which produces a decent result: a) brown a pound of ground beef, b) add a bottle of chili sauce, c) simmer for a bit, and eat. Simple.

But when I went to make it, for some reason I didn't remember this simple recipe, and so I went to my list of meals and pulled out the much more complex recipe, below. Gee, I thought, I don't remember it taking this long the last time... but I pressed on. And you know what?

It was damn good!

Sloppy Joes
Estimated Time: 30min


2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 1/4 lb ground beef
1/2 ea Spanish onion, diced
4 fl oz ketchup
1 c water
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, to taste
1 c sauce, tomato, about 1 can
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt, to taste
1/2 tsp black pepper, to taste
4 ea kaiser rolls, extra as needed


1 Heat oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Stir in beef and onions and cook until liquid has evaporated and meat begins to brown, about 15 minutes.

2 Stir in ketchup, water, Worcestershire, mustard, cayenne, tomato sauce, vinegar, and sugar. Simmer, stirring occasionally until mixture has a thick, stew-like consistency, about 15 minutes. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

3 While the meat stews, split rolls open and toast. Serve the mixture on the toasted rolls.