THE CHEF FROM HELL

A Sloppy Joe is a sandwich usually composed of seasoned ground meat that is mixed with tomato sauce and served between two sides of a round roll.  There are differing accounts of how this wonderful sandwich came into existence.

Some folks claim that the Sloppy Joe sandwich was first created in a cafe in Sioux City, Iowa in 1930 by a cook named Joe.  At that time it was called a "loose meat sandwich".  Other accounts suggest that the Sloppy Joe sandwich was created in Cuba and that it was named after  "Sloppy Joe's Bar" in Havana.  The earliest versions of this sandwich consisted of spiced ground meat and nothing more.  Later on, cooks began to add other ingredients such as tomato paste.  Today, in northeastern Pennsylvania, this sandwich is known as a "wimpie" and in parts of southwestern Illinois it's referred to as a "yip yip" sandwich.  In New Jersey, a Sloppy Joe sandwich is unlike all others as it contains sliced deli meats such as turkey or ham, coleslaw, some sort of sliced cheese, Russian dressing and is served on sliced rye bread. 

My recipe is a perverted version of the Sloppy Joe sandwich.  In fact, any minute now, I expect the Food Police to come busting through my front door to arrest me for corrupting an American classic  but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do!  An interesting variation on this recipe is to leave out the ground beef and substitute crabmeat instead.  Uh oh, here comes the Food Police...

Ingredients:

4 strips Bacon, diced fine

1/2 lb ground Beef

1/2 lb ground Pork

1 Spanish Onion, chopped coarse

2 stalks Celery, diced fine

1/2 cup Sweet Pickle Relish

1 TBS Dark Brown Sugar

6 oz Tomato Paste

2 cups V-8 Juice

1/4 cup Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce

1/4 cup Frank's Red Hot Sauce

1 TBS Apple Cider Vinegar

4 fresh Kaiser Rolls

Dry Spice Mix:

1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper

1/2 tsp ground Black Pepper

1 tsp Thyme

1 tsp Basil

1/4 tsp ground Nutmeg

1 tsp Celery Salt

1 TBS Chili Powder

Cooking Procedure:  In a small bowl, assemble your spice mix and set this aside.  In a large pot, sautee the bacon over high heat.  Cook until bacon begins to brown slightly.  Reduce heat to medium and add the beef, pork, onion, celery, pickle relish and brown sugar.  As this cooks down, use a spoon to break up any clumps of meat in the pot.  When the onions begin to turn clear and the meat has browned, use a ladle to skim off most of the fat from the surface of the pot mixture.  Leave about a 1/4 cup of fat in the pot for flavor and discard the rest.  Add the spice mix.  Stir well and cook for 5 minutes.  Add the tomato paste, V-8 juice, worcestershire sauce, hot sauce and vinegar.  Stir well.  Reduce heat to low and let this simmer for 1 hour.  Make sure you stir and scrape the bottom of the pot to prevent scorching.  To serve:  spoon a good amount of meat into the bottom half of the kaiser rolls and place the top half of the rolls on top of the meat.