Classic Sloppy Joe sandwiches

***RECIPE***

ground beef (a pound / 454g will make at least four big sandwiches)
fresh pepper (I like a jalapeno but most people use a bell pepper)
onion (not much, so I just use a shallot for a pound of beef)
carrot (if you want)
ketchup (a lot)
mustard
Worcestershire sauce
brown sugar or molasses
oil, salt, pepper, spices, etc (I like celery seed, garlic powder and onion powder)
burger buns

Chop up the onion, pepper and carrot (I like to cut the carrot into really big chunks, but they take a little while longer to cook). Get the vegetables frying in a little oil in a wide pan. When they seem halfway soft, push them over to one side of the pan and shift the pan a little off the burner so the vegetables don't get too hot.

Turn the heat up and drop in the ground beef, smashing it into the surface of the pan so that it's like a giant burger. Let it sit and brown on the bottom. When you scrape and you see golden brown, stir up the beef with the vegetables — a lot of water will come out of the meat and you can use it to deglaze the pan. Keep stirring and cooking until there's no pink beef left (I'm careful to not break up the meat chunks too much at this stage).

If you're using celery seeds or other whole spices, now would be a good time to throw them in so they can fry a little in the beef fat.

Squeeze in a ton of ketchup, a little mustard, a little Worcestershire, a little sugar/molasses, and your remaining seasonings. Stir and taste. Adjust any of the quantities and maybe loosen it up with some water so that you have a thick, saucy consistency. When in doubt, add more ketchup.

Lightly toast the buns before serving, to make the sandwiches less sloppy.

[TheGreektrojan]

100% agree about the browning. In fact I think you could do a whole video about how many cooks tend to take things to suboptimal extremes. Maximum browning, maximum crunch on fried foods, maximum moisture/juiciness, etc... The search for optimal has ruined many a dish by trying to amp up each ingredient/texture/component to 10 rather than a cohesive whole.

[doccolour]

Seeing Adam laughing like a giddy kid after tasting his sloppy joe concoction was priceless:)

[jordandelosreyes]

It has been 3 years since the sloppy gyros episode. I am always looking forward to your cooking videos Adam!😊

[teksapport]

a sloppy joe video really fits well with the newer, more casual style that the new videos have been providing

[lenareis]

seeing adam enjoying his own recipe with his genuine reaction, not just saying how much he likes it in the voice over is such a cute moment of the video, definitely want to see more of those here!

[tykos]

Why is Adam sounding simultaneously happy and dead inside?

[narfeyfjola]

I mean this as a huge compliment, this is a very efficiently edited video. You've honed this style change significantly compared to the first time you tried it and it reminds me a lot of traditional cooking shows. Hats off, Adam

[BubbyBoy]

Carrots make a lot of sense in a sloppy joe. Cooked carrots add in a sweetness that isn't necessarily vegetal, but definitely appreciated as a distinct texture.

[scottboettcher]

That trick of sliding the aromatics to one side of the pan, then sliding that side off the heat, while you brown the meat, made the whole video worthwhile by itself. SO many dishes I can use that trick with! Thanks Adam.

[KalebPeters]

This was great, Adam. I love how the standalone ad videos are always a bonus on top of the regularly scheduled programming

And this filming setup/video style is only getting better!

[cineblazer]

The way Adam does full-video sponsorships makes me happy that this whole YouTube thing exists. He gets paid to make a good video, his sponsor gets a fantastic advertisement that will probably bring them a significant amount of new business, and I get to learn a delicious recipe from an entertaining presenter!

[fxshlein]

Without exaggerating, I have made my own variations of the beef in your sloppy gyros video hundreds of times - since I've seen and tried it, many of my recipes use the basic formula of Beef, Flour, Ketchup and Herbs the Provence. The stuff is great for (obviously) Sloppy Joe/Gyros, but also Tacos, Nachos, Wraps, as a Pizza topping, for putting it in other (non-tomato) sauces, etc.

Thank you so much for this!

[glennvandormolen]

Made these today for my American boyfriend today (I'm Dutch myself) and was blown away at how easy this was to make/follow and how great it tasted. BF said it took him back, so mission accomplished I'd say! Thanks Adam :)

[themanwithsauce]

For all of my mom's little culinary tricks and money saving tips she passed on to "sloppy joes" were always canned and heated up in the pan with some additional brown sugar cause that's what my dad liked. It always tasted like someone poured these little tough pebbles of beef into the sauce you got out of a can of chef boyardee beefaroni, and then finished with some extra sugar. I thought I hated sloppy joes for basically my entire life until my girlfriend showed me her family recipe and I am now among the sloppy joe faithful. THis one looks great, and we eat a lot of carrots so it might be a good one to try next time we have them.

[mac_pringle]

I really enjoyed this "on the fly" commentated episode, all of your videos are meticulously edited so its nice to see your real process and what goes through your head when cooking real family meals.

[mateocortes]

This kind of laid back videos are really enjoyable!

[pxppetrot]

Absolutely loving this more relaxed format! Really just felt like i was in the kitchen with you hanging out while you tell me about this recipe and i still learned a lot! Big thumbs up.

[joe._.napolitano]

I love this format. It’s a lot more laid back, hope you do some more of this

[piratepyro]

hey adam im loving this new more casual/no voice over format. feels really authentic and cool to watch!!

[sebastianridley]

I'm liking this more casual video style that you've been doing recently. keep up the great work, Adam!