On our next state culinary trip, we’re heading to where our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain. What Fred Angell brought the State after 80 years of becoming a state may not be the most well-known dish, or maybe it is. Because I’ve never had one nor ever been to the great state of Iowa. But here we are today, to make and enjoy the Maid-Rite Loose Meat Sandwich. Link below is to the Muscatine inspiration for today. If you’re local, leave a comment and let me know how I did
Made-Rite: The Famous Loose Meat Sandwich
The Prep Table
Big fail in the preparation photo. Had it all set up nicely, just forgot to snap the picture I guess. Oh well. It’s a loose meat sandwich, I’ll show you what you need to know. We’re gonna start with the juice. We’re going to mix in a quarter cup of beef broth with equal parts ACV and Worcestershire. Throw in some brown sugar, and sprinkle in some soy sauce.
We’re going to brown the meat with about half a yellow onion. We’re going to toss in some garlic and get the kitchen smelling nice.
I threw a sprinkle of some kosher salt and pepper and let’s get that blend working.
The Process
Reduce down the liquid until it’s all a good consistency. Now, the house had a very familiar smell. It was reminiscent of the slider joints I have here at home. It was reminiscent of the Nebraska Runza. Hell, White Castle was birthed in Wichita, Kansas. We’re at a middle America intersection of oniony beef and I’m so happy to have made this discovery. America 250. What a time to be alive.
I’m a do one traditional and one with a cheese and see where it goes. I’m thinking the cheese will be better, but I gotta do traditional out of principle. We got the onion/beefy steamed buns, now lets throw a layer of the loose meat on there. I let that cheese get melty, put the spatula under it and threw a layer on bun #2.
I don’t know if the originals have fresh onion in addition to the cooked onion, but you know I’m not shy in the allium game. Throw a couple pickles on there and eat.
The Result
These are what I’d want out of a sloppy joe. Because of my affection for the greasy sliders, these were much more welcoming than a sloppy joe – but that’s definitely a personal preference. I don’t know what the benefit of having the loose meat sandwich over a hamburger is.. or why this works on a hamburger bun instead of a hot dog bun.. but the taste made me not care all that much.
To the great state of Iowa – I thank you for bringing this to me, and I can’t wait to see what else I find next to bring to you!