Cleaning up the Sloppy Joe

It's back to school time. Only for lots of youngsters this year there's no going back. They're still at home trying to learn remotely.

Consequently there's been plenty of debate about what students are missing when they aren't together in a classroom. But there's no denying that students who have to stay at home instead of going to school miss out on what is one of the greatest school traditions: the school lunch. Just think: Remote learners may not ever know the amusement of trying to figure out what's in mystery meat. (I never did figure it out, and maybe that's just as well.)

Clearly, we weren't served gourmet meals in the school lunchroom in my day, and even though school lunches are better than ever, American schools still have a long way to go before they catch up to the bill of fare at the typical French school cafeteria, actually called a "restaurant scolaire" or school restaurant. Sounding more like what you'd find at a bistro, a French school lunch might offer cream of carrot soup, sole meuniere, chicken Cordon Bleu, paella, camembert, and crepes.

Still there are iconic dishes we remember fondly, like the ethereal glazed donuts made by the lunch ladies at Franklin School in Cape Girardeau every year for Play Day, or the mouthwatering pizza served once a week at Cape Girardeau Central Junior High.

Perhaps the most legendary culinary memory of school days is the unfortunately named Sloppy Joe. Variously called slush burgers, yum yums, wimpies, and in these parts juicy burgers, everyone who ever went to school knows what they are, yet it's difficult to determine their origin.

One theory posits that the Sloppy Joe was born in Iowa, Sioux City, to be exact. There a place called Ye Olde Tavern, which opened in 1924, served "tavern burgers" which were sandwiches made of loose ground beef. These were not much different than the "loose meat" sandwiches sold at Maid-Rite, a restaurant which opened in Iowa around the same time as the Tavern. But the Tavern's version, unlike the others, added tomato sauce to the meat, thanks to their namesake cook, Joe, which made them more like what we think of today as a Sloppy Joe.

Another explanation contends that the Sloppy Joe was merely named after the bar at which it was served, either in Key West, Florida or Havana, Cuba. Supposedly the owner of the Sloppy Joe Bar in Key West got the name from his friend Ernest Hemingway, who frequented a bar with the same name in Havana. The Sloppy Joe Bar in Cuba had a cook named Jose, who was called sloppy Joe because the place was always such a mess. He lent his name to the sandwich.

Whatever the case, the Sloppy Joe, which has endeared itself to school children for generations, is, in fact, pretty neat.

Gourmet Sloppy Joes

This may be the definitive Sloppy Joe recipe, adapted from one which celebrity chef Bobby Flay used to win a Sloppy Joe Throwdown on the Food Network.

• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 2 pounds ground chuck
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup diced onion
• 1/2 cup diced celery
• 1/2 cup diced roasted red bell pepper
• 1/2 cup diced roasted yellow bell pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 plus 1/4cups barbecue sauce (preferably Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill brand)
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon molasses
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• Hamburger buns

Cook beef in oil over high heat, seasoning to taste with salt and pepper, until browned. Remove from pan, draining all but one tablespoon of fat, and add onion and celery. Cook until soft, add bell peppers and garlic and cook one minute. Add chili powder and cook thirty seconds. Add barbecue sauce, water, and ketchup and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally until slightly thick. Reduce heat to medium-low, stir in mustard, Worcestershire, honey, brown sugar, and molasses.

Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Add browned beef and cook uncovered for ten minutes until slightly thick. Add vinegar and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve on buns.