Friday, May 21, 2010

Mom's Sloppy Joes

Sometimes when you get a craving, you just have to give in. And it has to be "just like Mom made it" or it just won't do! So I last night I took a pound of ground beef out of the freezer and emailed my mom for her sloppy joe recipe. These are delicious, and I think perfect for summer. Even if it's only May.

I don't ever remember Mom measuring the ketchup or mustard, so I didn't either. Just taste it to make sure it's neither too ketchupy nor too mustardy (or I suppose you could measure if you must). My beef was still frozen solid, despite spending all night "thawing" in the fridge, so I started that first, then added the onions and celery, then read the part about the butter and threw that in there too. As Number One says, "you can't really mess up sloppy joes."

Oh, and I didn't drain mine at all either. Our beef is pretty lean, and it didn't make sense to me to waste all that butter.

I don't know where she got the recipe, and I don't know how many it makes. All I know is, this is perfection. Try it and see how many you get, and I'll try to keep count tonight. I'm going to eat two sloppy joes, maybe even three, and maybe with pickles. Where'd you get the recipe anyway, Mom?



UPDATE:  As you can see if you read the comments, my mom got this recipe from my grandma, her mother-in-law.  As for the butter, I've taken to making a double batch of these, but just using one stick. 
You can make them however you'd like, but this is the way my family likes them!!



Enjoy.

Mom's Sloppy Joes

1 stick butter (or 1/2 stick, your choice)
1 medium onion, diced
2 stalks celery, sliced or diced, - if I have it

1 pound ground beef
1 (10-3/4 ounce) can Campbell's Chicken Gumbo soup
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup mustard
hamburger buns
pickles (optional, but good)
Saute onion & celery in 1 stick butter. Add ground beef. When beef is cooked, drain & add soup, catsup & mustard. Simmer for 20 minutes. Serve on hamburger buns, with pickles if desired.

5 comments:

Chris said...

Mom always knows best, doesn't she? Sloppy joes are exceptional comfort food!

Cheryl said...

The recipe came from Grandma Humphrey. I don't know where she got it. I usually don't drain mine either & of course we have dill pickles on them!Once a long, long time ago Pam & I made a huge batch for the guys - when they were coming in from camp - but they didn't show until the next day. The 2 of us & Grandma ate all of it!!! Can't tell you how many we ate just know we can't eat that many any more!

cdb said...

A stick of Butter to a lb of ground beef??? I love sloppy Joe's but why on earth is butter (and so much of it) necessary? I cook all the time,& a stick of butter may make it into a very rare desert, but otherwise I use olive oil and add butter for flavor. I enjoy the blog, but recipes like this just astound me!

Min said...

cdb, this recipe is one my grandma gave to my mom, it's just the way it's always been. I'm sure cutting down the butter wouldn't harm anything, but it sounds like you'd still be opposed to half a stick? Make it as you will, but I'd keep at least half a stick of butter or it won't be "just like mom's or grandma's."

As far as why it's necessary, you use it to saute the onions and celery, before you add the ground beef. Unfortunately I can't tell you why my grandma used "so much" butter, she's been dead for over 30 years.

I treasure these recipes.

Angie's Recipes said...

Gotta try the recipe...looks so delicious and I am sure my husband will love this!

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