Weekly Cooking (and related issues) Thread

[Jamestown1630]

Last week I got to thinking about Sloppy Joe sandwiches, which I hadn't had in ages but loved when I was a kid. We decided to try making it from scratch, and settled on Chef John's recipe. It came out really good - I think I might add some jalapeno next time - but it doesn't really taste like the Sloppy Joe made from the canned sauce. I'm not sure what to do to it, to make it more like the childhood favorite (except buy a can of sauce ;-) and I'm wondering if anyone else has made it. Here's is Chef John's recipe:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/219635/chef-johns-sloppy-joes/

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I happened to be browsing archive.org for old cookbooks, and found Rufus Estes' cookbook 'Good Things to Eat, as Suggested by Rufus'. Estes, born a slave, was one of the first famous African American chefs, and the first to write and publish a cookbook. The recipes are sometimes kind of sketchy, as they are in all of these old cookbooks, but the instructions are adequate to figure out the dish. Cherry Season is coming on, and I was intrigued by his recipe for pickled cherries:

"CHERRY PICKLES

Stem, but do not pit, large ripe cherries. Put into a jar and cover with a sirup made from two cups of sugar, two cups of vinegar and a rounding teaspoon each of ground cloves and cinnamon cooked together five minutes.

Let stand two days, pour off the vinegar, reheat and pour over the cherries, then seal."

I searched for more modern recipes and was surprised that most are pretty much exactly as Rufus made them; but here is a recipe that pits the cherries, and adds lemon and star anise:

http://janesadventuresindinner.com/2014/09/celebratingtheharvest-pickled-cherries.html

You can read or download the Rufus Estes book at Archive.org (lots of great antique cookbooks there):

https://archive.org/details/goodthingstoeata00esterich

or purchase a newer edition hard copy at Amazon or Dover Publications:

http://www.amazon.com/Good-Things-Eat-Suggested-Rufus/dp/0965433315

http://store.doverpublications.com/0486437647.html

-JT

[mylife]

I use cold butter or crisco LOL

[mylife]

Happy cooking!

[Jamestown1630]

Junior League, Grange and other fund-raising cookbooks are usually full of great recipes. We find a lot of them at the thrift store.

-JT

[mylife]

Those books save the local culture, good or bad :)

[CottonBall]

Oh ya - that would be good!

[Grammy]

I make a very simple sloppy joes recipe. It is easy to multiply for a crowd.

Chop 1 onion and one green pepper per pound of ground beef.
Brown the beef then drain. Saute the veggies a bit, then add the beef back. Add one can of tomato sauce per pound of beef, and one for the pot. Add a few tablespoons of brown sugar (according to how sweet you like it) and a little salt and pepper. Simmer until the whole thing changes color. (not really brown, but no longer bright red) Adjust the salt. The flavor improves over night.

We serve it on an open faced bun and eat with a fork. It really is sloppy.

[r_barton]

Here are some Junior League Cookbooks you can read online or download individual PDF pages:

Los Angeles Junior League Cookbook - 1930
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31822035086289;view=1up;seq=1

Junior League Cookbook of Montgomery, Alabama - about 1940
https://archive.org/stream/southernrecipes00junirich#page/n5/mode/2up

[Aliska]

Thank you, those sound pretty good. The celery would boost flavor plus some fiber. I like it chopped real fine so you can hardly see it.

I don't know why burger places can't sell those. In paper wrap they use which makes things steam a little and somehow enhances the flavor.

[r_barton]

Here are some Junior League Cookbooks you can read online or download individual PDF pages:

The Gasparilla cookbook. With illus. by Lamar Sparkman.
by Junior League of Tampa.
Published 1961
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.39000003578742;view=1up;seq=1

[r_barton]

USDA Recipes for Schools
Alphabetical by Recipe Name

http://www.nfsmi.org/Templates/TemplateDefault.aspx?qs=cElEPTEwMiZpc01ncj10cnVl

USDA Recipes for Schools - Sloppy Joe on Roll
http://www.theicn.org/USDA_recipes/school_recipes/F-05.pdf

[kalee]

How apropos. I am planning sloppy joes for the weekend! I thought I would try this root beer sloppy joe recipe. I’ll be serving them with corn on the cob, pasta salad, 7 layer salad, chips with fresh guacamole, and lemon cream cheese pound cake.

http://www.foodchannel.com/recipes/recipe/crock-pot-root-beer-sloppy-joes/

[Jamestown1630]

Thanks for posting all of those! I have found some great recipes in that sort of cookbook.

-JT

[Jamestown1630]

You know, the root beer addition sounds interesting; that might add whatever mine was missing. I’m also wondering if using Worcestershire in it made it very different, and perhaps I’ll leave it out next time.

-JT

[kalee]

Yes, they are good! Aren’t they also called loose meat burgers?

[Jamestown1630]

I looked at the Sloppy Joe recipe, and I might try it - we used ketchup instead of tomato paste.

When I was looking for recipes, a lot of them mentioned that this was a school-cafeteria lunch favorite; but I don’t remember ever having them at school, just at home.

-JT

[kalee]

My grandfather gave my grandmother a box every year for Christmas and when asked why he bought those instead of more expensive chocolates he would reply that he had been giving them to her since they were first courting when they were all he could afford. Even though he could now afford others she said these are still her favorites, so he continued to get them for her. With the cherries he also gave her two dozen long stem red roses, which he said he couldn’t have given her in the early years.
I buy a box every year in her memory. :)

[kalee]

I taught myself to cook with The Joy of Cooking and Junior League Cookbooks.

[CottonBall]

I never thought of it, that you would think it would be easy for them to sell sloppy Joe’s. And it’s a nice switch from a traditional hamburger.

[CARDINALRULES]

I buy jars of dill pickle relish to use in place of slices most of the time. Get the flavor without the issues.

I also bought a big jar of spears and some of them I cut up and used the small food processor to make slightly larger pieces than the relish.

I made some of the pickle and cream cheese wrapped in ham recently but they didn’t turn out that great because the pickles were too large to make a good roll to cut. I just put in the chopper and chopped some cheddar, added some dried onion and made it as a spread.

—
Two of my secret ingredients in a lot of things I make are dry mustard or fresh grated nutmeg. Just small amounts but I can tell when I forget to add them.

[Aliska]

I have an unopened bottle fairly fresh of dill relish bought by mistake. I will have to try that. Or if I use big pickles, peel off the skin, slice and put back in the jar to be ready for my personal burgers, that would work. It's the skin I can't chew.

I like your other ideas, love those cr cheese roll ups but never made them. I do use a little nutmeg in my white sauce now and need to get some fresh dry mustard. Some spices are good for years and others get icky.

I love dill pickles but have to watch the salt; I can't pig out on those and green olives like I used to. Or the Greek ones I love. But I made hummus and rinsed them real well and omitted the salt; it was great.