Sloppy joes are a form of meat sandwich halfway between a
barbecue sandwich and a
hamburger. In
composition, sloppy joe
sauce is very similar to
spaghetti without the
pasta. According to
m-w.com, the
etymology of the name is uncertain (though it is presumably named after someone named
Joe) save that the word, and presumably the
dish, originated in
1961. However, the "
sloppy" part seems obvious, as it is nearly impossible to eat a sloppy joe without
dripping some of the sauce onto one's
plate (or, if one is not careful, one's
lap). This is one of the easiest and most
economical types of
bachelor food to prepare; the
leftovers can provide several meals, especially if stored properly in
Tupperware or
Rubbermaid containers.
Though the recipe in another writeup under this node seems like a good one, it really isn't necessary to go to that much trouble. A surprisingly good (not to mention easy and cheap) batch of sloppy joes can be made by buying a dry sloppy joe spice packet at your grocery store. Such packets typically require a pound of ground beef (use ground chuck or ground round if you can; they're not that much more expensive and they have less fat to drain), a can of tomato paste, some water, and seasoning to taste (this noder particularly recommends a dash of Sriracha hot sauce). It is also not necessary to buy a name brand (such as Manwich) of sloppy joe sauce; generic store brands taste about the same and cost less money. In this noder's experience, the canned sauce tends to produce a much runnier sauce than the dry packet; thus the extra work of mixing in the tomato paste and water brings a more desirable meal. Also, fresh store bakery kaiser rolls or onion buns make a much more satifying sandwich than pre-packaged hamburger buns.