I’m not sure why I thought of this, or why she did, but often my mother’s home cooking recipes, which were very simple, included groups of three ingredients, or multiples of 3 ingredients. Maybe there was some speed-cooking theory at the time. Her pancakes, 3 cups flour, 3 cups milk, 3 eggs. We kids sat on the floor of the kitchen with a hand mix getting the batter to have bubbles in it. Her spaghetti sauce (probably much to the snickering of our
Italian neighbors). 1 C (or 3) of tomato paste, tomato sauce, campbell’s tomato soup. That’s it.
What does this have to do with burgers? Burgers come in many forms, and often my mom’s “spaghetti sauce” ended up with ground beef for her version of “sloppy joes.” Point is, I have a pan of sloppy joes on the stove top this morning, which I will cook today, let stew overnight in the frig, and enjoy tomorrow. Definitely not my mother’s recipe, nor does it resemble the previously discussed “loose meat sandwiches”, which are sloppy joes, too, or at least they were to my mother’s friend Mrs. Fisher, because she used a mustard-based concoction as well. “These aren’t sloppy joes,” he doth protested the first time he had them at the Fishers. But time mellows opinions and expands tastes. What’s your sloppy joe recipe? Feel free to post it!