Son of Timatollah

Recently, Jeff, over at Bearcastle Blog, mentioned (here) how Sloppy Joes recipes had evolved from basic to "gussied up." Here's my Betty Crocker 1986 edition, which seems pretty basic, although the fresh celery and fresh bell pepper are probably somewhate evolved from previous incarnations (celery salt?).



I am ashamed to admit that we make Sloppy Joes here at home using a can of Manwich and two 1/2-pound packages of Boca brand fake ground beef. And serve them over cornbread made from Martha White mix (much to my oldest brother's consternation—about using cornbread mix instead of making scratch cornbread, not about using faux meat).

On the same page below that, though, is one of my favorite all time foods (even though I haven't made it in forever): Open Faced Hamburgers. My mom and/or one of her best friends Mary Bob—yes, that was her name, so deal with our redneck ways, thank you very much—used to make these, serving them on hamburger buns, not bread as called for in the recipe. The buns, having too much sugar in them, blacken up around the edges really nicely under the broiler, so you have to watch them closely. Use a 50-50 mixture of mayonnaise and mustard for dressing. Serve with handcut french fries. Eat many at one sitting. Mmmmmm.

Labels: face, faced, hamburgers, joes, mary bob, open, sloppy