Monday, September 27, 2010

Taverns, Made Rites and Sloppy Joes

 

So my sisters are at home for a few days visiting our parents in Northwest Iowa and the question has arisen as to the difference between the three types of sandwiches named above.  

I have done a little research and will share my findings with you.  I know, you can hardly contain your excitement.

 

1.  Tavern.  The tavern recipe I have comes from my childhood friend Erin.   I have know Erin since grade school and we spent a fair amount of our Junior High years  working on our 4-H record books, baking cream puffs at her grandma’s house, riding 4 wheelers around her farm, practicing crazy skits, working on our Share the Fun for the State Fair, and making super cool cards on  the computer(like when computers were first invented)!  Ah the good ‘ole days.

Back to the taverns.  Here is the official recipe. 

Simmer for 10 minutes-

2 cups water

1 cup catsup

3 teaspoons dry onion

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 cup brown sugar

Add to that, 2 lb cooked ground beef and 1 teaspoon dry mustard.

Simmer 40 minutes. 

There were a few recipes to be found for taverns on cooks.com and the ingredient list was similar.  I like Erin’s recipe.

 

2.  Made Rites.  Another Iowa original. 

In 1926, Fred Angell, a respected butcher in Muscatine, Iowa, combined a special blend and grind of the finest Midwestern ground beef with a selected recipe of secret spices and created the one and only Maid-Rite sandwich.

As legend goes, Mr. Angell asked a delivery man, at his restaurant, to taste his newest sandwich creation. After a few bites, the taster exclaimed, “You know, Fred, this sandwich is just made right.” Thus our signature sandwiches name was born.

Thanks to my mom, I have a recipe for Made Rites as well. 

Bob’s Drive-In Made Rites

2 1/2 to 3 lb ground round

14oz chicken broth

1 small onion

salt and pepper

Brown beef in 1 tablespoon oil, crumbling with a fork over medium heat.  Add chicken broth and simmer uncovered until liquid is absorbed.  ( You may use 3 tablespoons dried chopped onion)

I love Made Rites too.  We have Carl’s Canteen here in Loveland where you can get a sandwich for lunch and the owners are from Iowa even! 

3.  Sloppy Joes.  The most commonly known of the sandwich names.

Sloppy joe
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A sloppy joe is an American dish of ground beef, onions, sweetened tomato sauce or ketchup and other seasonings, served on a hamburger bun. Commercially made sauces are also available. Contradictory lore suggests that the Original Sloppy Joe Sandwich was invented at Sloppy Joe's Bar in Key West, Florida or by a cook named Joe at a cafe in Sioux City, Iowa as a variation of the popular "loose meat" sandwich (which does not contain tomato sauce).

Sloppy joes are also referred to as:

  • Yip Yips in Southern Illinois near St Louis.
  • Yum Yums in parts of the Midwest USA, particularly in Nebraska
  • Wimpies in parts of the Northeast USA, especially Northeastern Pennsylvania
  • Slushburgers in parts of the Upper Midwest, particularly in Eastern Montana and Western North Dakota
  • Barbecues in other areas of the Upper Midwest, and also in some parts of Southeastern Pennsylvania.
  • Hot Tamales in parts of southeastern Wisconsin, particularly in the Sheboygan area despite the fact that tamales are a completely different food item.
  • Taverns in parts of northwest Iowa and Minnesota.
  • Sloppy Janes in parts of central Minnesota.
  • Steamers in parts of Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland.
  • Gulash (not to be confused with Goulash) in parts of the Upper Midwest, especially in areas where people of Scandinavian heritage, boasting Viking roots, are prominent.
  • Dynamites in northern Rhode Island.

 

So, if it is  a sloppy joe you seek, I would refer you back to item #1.  The best Tavern recipe ever. 

And that settles that.

11 comments:

Adriane said...

Yip yips? St. Louis people are WEIRD.

Taverns it is and always will be!

Julie McArthur said...

Interesting, Kellee.....but I gotta say, you have WAY too much time on your hands! LOL

ilovemymom said...

i have a problem with the tavern recipe....i do not own "catsup"...what is "catsup" ?

;)

Susie Buetow said...

Sorry friend! We live in Southern IL and I've never ever heard reference to Yip Yips. People here call them maid-rites and bring them to events. To me, they are very plain. The majority would call them Maid-Rites vs. Sloppy Joes. I bring "Sloppy Janes" to events. My homemade version of a sloppy joe.

I'll ask around but I've never heard of it nor seen recipes of folks making them.

Susan

Anonymous said...

When we ate sloppy joes in a hot dog bun (because we ran out of hamburger buns) My mom called them "Streamliners".

confessionalcook said...

All I know is that there are some cute girls surrounding the chief taste tester in that picture.

(and the word verification was candi--
of course.)

Anonymous said...

Northeast, Wimpies??? OK, I'm from South Dakota. In the area west of the Missouri River they are Wimpies. In the northern Black Hills they are called Steam Burgers, in southeastern SD they are Taverns, and the rest of the state calls them Bar-B-Q's

Anonymous said...

I'm from southern Illinois and thought mine was the only family that called them yip yips! There must be others out there.

Now who else puts cake in a bowl and pours milk on it?

Later. Gonna go eat some yip yips and have a bowl of cake for desert.

hpcc19 said...

"Taverns" per se were invented in Sioux City. They date from the early 20's. Many take credit; Miles Inn and Tastee still serve good ones. Ye Old Tavern has changed names and ownership but still serves the original. You can find recipes on-line for The Blue Mill version.
Taverns do not have tomato sauce. They are similar to Maid-Rites.
Legend has it that the secret ingredient in Maid-Rites is coke syrup base. I tend to agree and use it in my version.
I think "Taverns" got their name because they were cheap bar food served in taverns that had no kitchen. They were stewed in a large pot on a hot plate and could be kept simmering all day. The meat is not browned; it is poached in water/broth and the water is eventually cooked off and the grease/flavor remains integral to the very finely grained meat mix and makes it kind of sticky. Traditional condiment are mustard and chopped raw onion, but American cheese and ketchup are OK, too.
One of the first Maid-Rite purveyors took his trade to Wichita where his family still sells Nu-Ways.

http://www.nuwayburgers.com/

Matthew said...

I grew up in Illinois just NE of st louis, and my family called them yip yips. They were usually sweeter than any of the sloppy Joes I've had.

RICH KF9F said...

YIP YIP RECIPE
1/4 C. GREEN PEPPER
1/3 C. CHOPPED ONION
2 TBSP BROWN SUGAR
1 TBSP VINEGAR
1 TSP PREPARED MUSTARD
1 TSP SALT
3/4 C. KETCHUP
2 LBS. HAMBURGER

SAUTE ONION & HAMBURGER. ADD REMAING INGREDIENTS & STIR UNTIL THOROUGHLY MIXED. SIMMER UNTIL DONE.
MULTIPLY QUANTITIES BY LBS. OF MEAT / 2 (ABOVE RECIPE IS FOR 2 LBS. OF HAMBURGER) TO GET LARGER YIELDS.
EG. FOR 20 LB. OF SLOPPY JOE MIX - USE:
20LBS / 2 = 10LBS THEREFORE USE 10 X EACH OF THE OTHER INGREDIENTS ETC.

20 LBS. HAMBURGER
1/4 C. GREEN PEPPER 10 X 1/4 = 2-1/2 C.
1/3 C. CHOPPED ONION 10 X 1/3 =3-1/3 C.
2 TBSP BROWN SUGAR X 10 = 1-1/4 C.
1 TBSP VINEGAR X 10 = 10 TBSP = 5/8 C. OR 5 OZ.
1 TSP PREPARED MUSTARD X 10 = 10 TBSP = 5/8 C. OR 5 OZ.
1 TSP SALT X 10 = 10 TSP = 3-1/2 TBSP
3/4 C. KETCHUP X 10 = 7-1/2 C.

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