The Sloppy Joe Chronicles

Made in Havana, Claimed in America

Nobody agrees on where the Sloppy Joe comes from, which is fitting for a sandwich this unstructured and delicious.

One origin story puts it in Sioux City, Iowa, 1930, where a cook named Joe added tomato sauce to a loose meat sandwich and accidentally invented an American institution. Another plants it squarely in Key West, Florida. But the most documented story leads somewhere else.

A bar owner named José Abeal y Otero opened his place in Havana between 1917 and 1919. Ernest Hemingway loved it. When his friend Joe Russell opened a bar in Key West, Hemingway pushed him to rename it Sloppy Joe’s, after the Havana original. The Florida bar adopted the name, and eventually gave it to the sandwich.

So the dish most associated with American school cafeterias and Tuesday nights may have been born in Cuba, carried across water by a Spanish barman and a novelist who couldn’t stay out of Havana.

That tracks. American food has always traveled. The same country that tells immigrants they don’t belong keeps adopting their cooking, setting it on a bun, and calling it a classic.

This week I made Sloppy Joes for our boys.

Nobody complained.

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Sweet & Savory Sloppy Joes

Messy, savory, and worth every napkin.

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

• 0.5 white onion, diced

• 1 green bell pepper, diced

• 1 pounds lean ground beef

• 1 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 teaspoons minced garlic

• 15 ounces tomato sauce (15 oz can)

• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire or steak sauce

• 2 teaspoons yellow mustard

• 1 tablespoons brown sugar

• 0.5 teaspoons salt

• 0.3 teaspoons black pepper

• 4 hamburger buns, toasted and buttered as desired

Steps

1. Make the sauce: In a bowl, combine Worcestershire, yellow mustard, brown sugar, and tomato sauce. Set aside.

2. Brown the beef: Heat olive oil in a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef and cook about 5 minutes, breaking it up as it browns. Season with salt and black pepper.

3. Add the vegetables: Add the diced peppers and onion to the skillet. Cook another 5 minutes, until the vegetables are tender and the beef is browned.

4. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes.

5. Simmer: Pour in the sauce and bring to a light boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered for about 20 minutes or until thickened to your liking. Add a splash of water if needed for a thinner consistency.

6. Serve: Serve on buns, toasted and buttered as desired. Enjoy.