Comments on: Sloppy Joe Conundrum

By: donna

donna — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 12:37:29 +0000

always a sandwich…………..so yummy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By: Katharine

Katharine — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 00:28:40 +0000

I may be in the minority, but I prefer it open-faced with a knife and fork. More tasty filling to balance out the bread that way!

By: Ry

Ry — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 17:40:42 +0000

Open Faced! I just got done eating two of them! I like piling the meat on the bread and forking it. Buns are probably more common, but too much bread usually. And I actually stumbled here looking for the origination of the name “sloppy joes”.

By: Kat

Kat — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 05:16:03 +0000

Dude, it’s gotta be a sandwich. It’s not a sandwich if it’s not closed. Anyway, why do they call it a Manwich? Girls can eat them too! I think it’s just ridiculous to eat them with silverware. Doesn’t a tired mom deserve a break on washing some silverware? So, in my opinion, I’ve never heard of a sloppy joe with a fork.

By: kari

kari — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 15:43:03 +0000

Jim: the minority voted for GWBush in 2000. statistics statistics statistics!

By: Jim

Jim — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 15:16:21 +0000

Yes, the majority is voting for closed sandwich, but the majority also voted for Nixon in 1972.

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 05:52:07 +0000

Yikes, looks like the open-face crowd is getting crushed ;). As previously stated, there is nothing “sloppy” if a fork and knife is used. Doing that defeats the purpose of the name.

Vote: Sandwich

By: Steff Z

Steff Z — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 18:22:34 +0000

I’ve never had them as a closed, pick-it-up-and-eat-it sandwich. I’ve never even seen them served that way. I can’t imagine eating it that way, since if you have enough of the “joe” component, (a) the bread component is totally soaked and falls apart, and (b) 80% of the filling would squish out and fall onto your plate. Which means you’re using a fork anyway. I had them at places like girl scout camp or school lunch, too, and no-one else ever suggested they were supposed to be closed sandwiches, IIRC.

I don’t remember eating sloppy joes since childhood. But in my experience, sloppy Joes come with at least 1/2 to 2/3 cup of filling on each half, and they are much soupier than the (yummy-looking) stuff in the photo. A closed sandwich just wouldn’t work. I think I’d feel kindof shortchanged if someone served me one that would work as a closed sandwich: I mean, where’s the beef? This is all bread! (In the photo, the foreground joe looks like it has almost enough filling; the background sloppy joe looks a little thin.)

I wonder if this is a regional thing, or an age thing (maybe sloppy Joes evolved in the ’80s or ’90s)?

By: Otto Schmidlap

Otto Schmidlap — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 03:28:03 +0000

I’ve alway had them as a sandwich, with the contents stuffed between two buns, then ladled sloppily and generously over the entire thing. Then eaten with knife and fork, because the whole sandwich is too soaked with chili to handle.

By: Andi

Andi — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 22:11:15 +0000

Mostly had my sloppy joes in elementary school… Thus, sandwich. But I did have a venison sloppy joe at a party when I was in vet school that was really good (and the only time I actually enjoyed a game meat) and it was served SANDWICH style…