Well, its time to have a little food fun boys and girls of AR world. Recently in another post I jokingly mentioned that ubiquitous cafeteria lunchroom favorite, the Sloppy Joe. I mean what is there not to like? Ground meat and a sweet tomato sauce (aka ketchup) heated up and served on a bun. It’s basic and quite frankly back in the day, I gobbled them down with glee.
Since we, the top chefs of AR land, are more sophisticated than that
, let’s see if we can amp up the old Sloppy Joe and make it something we’d be proud to raise our pinkies to and perhaps find something surprisingly delicious.
Let’s begin with the meat portion. Typically, any old grocery store ground beef was always the base for the SJ back in the day. Instead, I decided to find some meat in my freezer that would up the ante as it were, so I pulled out a small brisket point and a small bone-in pork butt, both weighing about 4 pounds each.
I did a traditional 24-hour dry brine of both then seasoned them with Holy Cow (brisket) and The BBQ Rub (pork). I also added extra 18 mesh black pepper to help with bark formation. Both were smoked in a Weber kettle with mesquite wood chunks until they peaked well over 200*F. I rested them for a few hours while preparing my sauce.
For the sauce I wanted to replicate those traditional flavors of those found in a can of Manwich. If you read the label ingredients it’s primarily tomato puree and high fructose corn syrup along with some dried peppers and miscellaneous spices. Not hard to replicate but again, let’s see if we can improve upon it.
Instead let’s add some fresh ingredients like a small onion chopped along with a poblano pepper seeded and chopped.
I also chose a variety of other ingredients to really give my sauce a pungent savory punch, while retaining that sweet back note. So, I chose the following;
I first sweated the onions and peppers in some olive oil until tender then added the garlic and cooked until fragrant. Next, I added all the remaining ingredients and cooked down the sauce until I got it to a thicker sort of sticky consistency. I wanted it to hold up when combined with the meat and not be too runny.
Once the meat had rested, I pulled each out of the warming oven and chopped or pulled each into a coarse consistency then combined the two into a large bowl. To that I poured in the sauce and gave it a good stir. I now had my “sophisticated” version of the old SJ. Served them up on some large Kaiser rolls with some sliced avocado and a side of tots.
Now something this amped up surely has to have a special name. So, ladies and germs out there in AR land, I give you Troutman’s Barbecue Joseph! Remember pinkies up, with plenty of napkins!
You may now return to your regularly scheduled shenanigans !! Trout is out !!!
Since we, the top chefs of AR land, are more sophisticated than that
, let’s see if we can amp up the old Sloppy Joe and make it something we’d be proud to raise our pinkies to and perhaps find something surprisingly delicious.Let’s begin with the meat portion. Typically, any old grocery store ground beef was always the base for the SJ back in the day. Instead, I decided to find some meat in my freezer that would up the ante as it were, so I pulled out a small brisket point and a small bone-in pork butt, both weighing about 4 pounds each.
I did a traditional 24-hour dry brine of both then seasoned them with Holy Cow (brisket) and The BBQ Rub (pork). I also added extra 18 mesh black pepper to help with bark formation. Both were smoked in a Weber kettle with mesquite wood chunks until they peaked well over 200*F. I rested them for a few hours while preparing my sauce.
For the sauce I wanted to replicate those traditional flavors of those found in a can of Manwich. If you read the label ingredients it’s primarily tomato puree and high fructose corn syrup along with some dried peppers and miscellaneous spices. Not hard to replicate but again, let’s see if we can improve upon it.
Instead let’s add some fresh ingredients like a small onion chopped along with a poblano pepper seeded and chopped.
I also chose a variety of other ingredients to really give my sauce a pungent savory punch, while retaining that sweet back note. So, I chose the following;
1 cup barbecue sauce
2-3 garlic cloves chopped
2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Juice of one lime
The chopped onion/pepper mix
2-3 garlic cloves chopped
2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Juice of one lime
The chopped onion/pepper mix
I first sweated the onions and peppers in some olive oil until tender then added the garlic and cooked until fragrant. Next, I added all the remaining ingredients and cooked down the sauce until I got it to a thicker sort of sticky consistency. I wanted it to hold up when combined with the meat and not be too runny.
Once the meat had rested, I pulled each out of the warming oven and chopped or pulled each into a coarse consistency then combined the two into a large bowl. To that I poured in the sauce and gave it a good stir. I now had my “sophisticated” version of the old SJ. Served them up on some large Kaiser rolls with some sliced avocado and a side of tots.
Now something this amped up surely has to have a special name. So, ladies and germs out there in AR land, I give you Troutman’s Barbecue Joseph! Remember pinkies up, with plenty of napkins!
You may now return to your regularly scheduled shenanigans !! Trout is out !!!
. However, for me I don’t think a Sloppy Joe has crossed my plate in over 50 years.
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