A sloppy joe is a sandwich consisting of ground meat (typically

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). Beef can be prepared in various ways; Cut of beef, cuts are often used for steak, which can be cooked to varying degrees of doneness, while trimmings are often Ground beef, grou ...

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' , from Latin ), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classifie ...

tomato sauce Tomato sauce (; ; ) can refer to many different sauces made primarily from tomatoes. In some countries the term refers to a sauce to be served as part of a dish, in others it is a condiment. Tomatoes have a rich flavor, high water content, s ...

or ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and other seasonings served on a hamburger bun. There are several theories about the sandwich's origin.

History

Early and mid-20th century American cookbooks offer plenty of sloppy joe-type recipes, though they go by different names: Toasted Deviled Hamburgers, Chopped Meat Sandwiches, Spanish Hamburgers, Hamburg a la Creole, Beef Mironton, and Minced Beef Spanish Style. One theory of the sandwich's origin is that in 1917,

Havana, Cuba Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. This was possibly his interpretation of ropa vieja or picadillo. His bar was reportedly frequented by

Americans Americans are the Citizenship of the United States, citizens and United States nationality law, nationals of the United States, United States of America.; ; Law of the United States, U.S. federal law does not equate nationality with Race (hu ...

and Britons, including

Errol Flynn Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn (20 June 1909 – 14 October 1959) was an Australian and American actor who achieved worldwide fame during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles, frequent partnerships with Oliv ...

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...

, and Graham Greene. Circa 1937, Hemingway convinced Joe Russell, a bar owner in

Key West Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida, at the southern end of the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it con ...

, Florida, to rename his Silver Slipper bar Sloppy Joe's. Town Hall Deli in New Jersey claims that this same Cuban bar also served a messy sliced ham and turkey sandwich with Russian dressing that Town Hall copied and also named "Sloppy Joe" after the bar, creating much confusion. Marilyn Brown, director of the consumer test kitchen at H.J. Heinz in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, says their research at the Carnegie Library suggests that the sloppy joe's origins lie with the " loose meat sandwiches" sold in Sioux City, Iowa, in the 1930s and were the creation of a cook named Joe. A 1940 advertisement illustrates another use for the term "Sloppy Joe": a women's cardigan sweater, described as "ever popular." References to sloppy joes as sandwiches begin by the 1940s. One example from Ohio is a 1944 '' Coshocton Tribune'' ad under the heading Good Things to Eat' says 'Sloppy Joes' – 10c – Originated in Cuba – You'll ask for more – The Hamburg Shop" and elsewhere on the same page, "Hap is introducing that new sandwich at The Hamburg Shop – Sloppy Joes – 10c". Food companies began producing packaged sloppy joe, in cans with meat, or just the sauce, such as Manwich, by the 1960s. A 1975 '' Dictionary of American Slang'' defines ''sloppy joe'' as any cheap restaurant or lunch counter serving cheap food quickly.

Variations

Several variations of the sloppy joe exist in North America. In

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, sandwiches of stewed ground beef such as ''pain à la viande'' and ''pain fourré gumbo'' are usually served on hot dog buns. A similar sandwich, the "dynamite", exists in the area around

Woonsocket, Rhode Island Woonsocket ( ), is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 43,240 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, making it the sixth largest city in the state. Being Rhode Island's northernmost city, Woonsoc ...

, and is distinguished by the use of onions,

bell pepper The bell pepper (also known as sweet pepper, paprika, pepper, capsicum or, in some parts of the US midwest, mango) is the fruit of plants in the Grossum Group of the species ''Capsicum annuum''. Cultivars of the plant produce fruits in diff ...

s, and sometimes

celery Celery (''Apium graveolens'' Dulce Group or ''Apium graveolens'' var. ''dulce'') is a cultivated plant belonging to the species ''Apium graveolens'' in the family Apiaceae that has been used as a vegetable since ancient times. The original wild ...

. Keema pav of Indian cuisine uses a ''pav'' (from , the Portuguese word for bread) bread roll filled with keema, a minced, stewed, curried meat. In Brazil, a sandwich is prepared with ground beef in a bread roll.

New Jersey

In some stores in northern New Jersey, an unrelated sandwich made with a combination of lunch meats, such as turkey, roast beef, or especially pastrami, with coleslaw, Russian dressing, and Swiss cheese on three slices of rye bread is also known as a sloppy joe.

History

Variations

New Jersey

See also

References

Further reading