DOTD For Wednesday, March 18, 2026
A Sharp Salute To A Sloppy American Favorite
Today’s DOTD - Drink Of The Day - is a Sloppy Joe Cocktail/Mocktail inspired by National Sloppy Joe Day!
In case you’re unfamiliar with them, a sloppy joe is a sandwich consisting of ground meat (typically beef), onions, tomato sauce or ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and other seasonings, served on a hamburger bun.
The History of Sloppy Joes
Who created them - & where were Sloppy Joes created?
Like many popular recipes, there are several theories for the origins of this one.
One theory is that in 1917, Havana, Cuba bar owner José “Sloppy Joe” Abeal y Otero created “a simple sandwich filled with ground beef stewed in tomatoes.” This was possibly his interpretation of Cuban dishes ropa vieja or picadillo, which are similar to sloppy joes. His bar was reportedly frequented by famous figures including actor Errol Flynn, and writer Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway reportedly liked the sandwich so much, he got the recipe, gave it to a bar owner in Key West, Florida, and convinced the bar owner to change the name of his bar to “Sloppy Joe’s.” The original Havana Sloppy Joe’s bar closed down in 1959 after the Cuban Revolution, and reopened in 2013.
There’s also a camp that believes the sloppy joe sandwich evolved from loose meat sandwiches introduced by Floyd Angell, the founder of the Maid-Rite Restaurant chain in Iowa, in 1926. Though a traditional loose meat sandwich does not have a tomato-based sauce, some credit a cook named Joe at a Maid-Rite location in Sioux City, Iowa with taking the traditional loose meat sandwich to the next level and creating a sandwich named after himself. Marilyn Brown, director of the consumer test kitchen at H.J. Heinz in Pittsburgh, says their research at the Carnegie Library suggests that the real origins of the sloppy joe came from Sioux City.
Journalist & food writer Lohn Mariani in The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink says that the origins of the sloppy joe sandwich are truly unknown, but that the first mention in print was in 1940 for an Ohio restaurant.
What’s not up for debate by most people is that sloppy joes, when made well, are a bit messy and are definitely tasty.
What ingredients are in Sloppy Joes?
The sloppy joe at its most basic is browned ground beef in a seasoned tomato sauce served on a hamburger bun. The typical recipe for the sauce, which you can find even today, consists of mixing ketchup (or tomato sauce), barbecue sauce, and brown sugar with chili powder. Often the beef is browned with chopped onions, bell peppers, and garlic, with Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and hot sauce sometimes added. A trendy mid-century addition was diced celery added to the ground beef mixture as well as using chili sauce instead of barbecue sauce. Also popular in the 50s and 60s was to spoon the beef mixture onto the bun and either sprinkle with some shredded cheddar or a thin slice of cheese and place them on a baking sheet to bake for twenty minutes at 350F degrees.
When did Sloppy Joes first become popular?
According to Andrew F. Smith in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America the sandwich was “firmly established in America’s sandwich culture” by 1948. Since then, the sandwich has been a popular dish in many American homes and school cafeterias.
In a 1952 newspaper article, it was declared a teenage favorite and that “when the teenage gang descends on your home for eats, let it be ‘Sloppy Joes’ and plenty of them”.
By the 1950s, food manufacturers had gotten into the sloppy joe game. Americans could find in supermarkets ‘Libby’s Barbecue Sauce and Beef Sloppy Joe’ which was a premade canned sloppy joe that all you had to do was heat and spoon onto toasted hamburger buns.
In 1957, a Canadian newspaper published an article about the popularity of sloppy joes in American school cafeterias. Mary Moore, the author of the article, got to see this first hand when she visited a West Palm Beach high school during lunch and saw how much the students enjoyed the sloppy joes on the menu. She then realized how perfect it was it serve this at other events for teens instead of the usual hot dogs and cokes. Mary Moore went on to write about the messy sandwich at least two more times with one article in which she attempts to “tidy up” this cheap meal for a dinner party where she offers the suggestion of serving them on a silver platter.
A title for a 1960s article proclaimed that sloppy joes were popular with all ages. The same article offered up some toppings to elevate sloppy joes, especially the canned versions. They range from normal such as shredded cheese, sliced tomatoes, or sliced onions to slightly stranger such as chopped peanuts. Around this time McCormick Spices introduced Sloppy Joe Seasoning to the market in which you added the spice packet with tomato paste and water to browned ground beef.
Manwich, introduced by Hunt’s in 1969, is a seasoned tomato-based sauce, and all you need to add is browned ground meat and place the mixture on a bun for an easy meal. Later in 1977, due to its popularity, Manwich added a family-sized can of its sauce to the markets. The same year, they also announced their first Black-oriented ad campaign, not only to be launched in Ebony Magazine, but also in Ladies Home Journal, Family Circle, McCall’s, and Redbook.
Even James Beard, the famous culinary personality of the mid-century and all-around gourmet, begrudgingly added the recipe to his 1972 James Beard’s American Cookery. In it, he calls the sloppy joe a “product of the modern age, and though it is not a palate-tingling delight it has a large following”.
In 2007, an article called the sloppy joes a perfect family meal. The reason why? “Kids like sloppy joes because they’re a tasty and messy version of hamburgers, and adults like them because they’re quick and easy to prepare.” Of course, this article goes on to give a recipe for a leaner version of the recipe as that was an increasing concern starting in the 1990s.
Any other fun facts about Sloppy Joes?
Sloppy Joes were also the name of a very popular style of sweater for teen girls in the 1940s, especially during wartime. They were an oversized “boyfriend” style sweater that came in either a pullover or a cardigan style, usually worn with a knee-length skirt and penny loafer shoes.
The trend was gleefully proclaimed over in a 1952 teen fashion article, declaring “the sloppy joe fashion is out” and is being “replaced by well-fitting skirts, sweaters, and blouses”.
Of course, Americans of a certain age may also remember a song by Adam Sandler & Chris Farley, on Sept 25, 1993, “Lunch Lady Land” where Kevin Nealon, as a giant sloppy joe sandwich saves the day
As for the sandwich? Sloppy joes are still considered a big hit with much of America with variations these days including Impossible sloppy joes, and even vegan sloppy joes.
So let’s salute this versatile sandwich with our Drink Of The Day, a Sloppy Joe Cocktail or Mocktail, which you could even make to go with your own sloppy joe.
Ingredients
Here’s what you’re going to need for this drink:
