Sweet maid-rite loose meat sandwiches are one of my favorite quick fix meals. I had my first maid-rite experience while living in Cedar Rapids, IA. Now that I am in Illinois, many people don’t have a clue what a maid-rite is or even what it is supposed to taste like. I explain it like this: it’s like a sloppy joe w/ out the mess and strong tomato flavor PLUS the addition of sweet carmelized brown sugar. TRUST ME, YOU WILL LOVE IT!
Here is what you need for a family of 4:
1 lb ground beef or turkey (or 2 lb depending on your family size), 1 med. onion, mustard, ketchup, worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, salt and pepper and buns.
Step 1: Chop up your medium onion. Yes, I have awesome Rachel Ray chopping skills! (okay, not really… but maybe someday!)
Step 2: Brown your hamburger and onion.
Mine looks like it’s done! On to the next step…
Step 3: Drain your meat/onion and then place back into your pan
Step 4: Begin measuring out your ingredients: 1/2 cup ketchup, 1 tbs. worcestershire sauce, 1/2 cup water, 1 tb. mustard and 2 tb brown sugar (salt and pepper to taste). I did take a picture of adding all of the ingredients in the pan, but I think I accidentaly deleted it! Sorry!
Okay, I found one other picture… Here is the worcestershire sauce (okay, everytime I type that word I seriously have to look back at my recipe to make sure I don’t spell it wrong!)
Step 5: Mix all ingredients together. This is where I let the meat sit and simmer for about 30-45 minutes to let it soak in all the goodness. You could seriously just serve it up as is if you are in a hurry. It’s also a good idea to do some taste testing. Some people prefer more brown sugar and less ketchup. It’s such an easy recipe to alter to your own tastes!
Step 6: Serve on a bun! You can eat this with a fork or just go for it!
Servings: approx. 4 sandwiches per lb of meat used
Enjoy!
There’s Maid Rite in Springfield and Bloomington. I think the one next to the Capitol is the nation’s first drive through. Looks easy enough to make at home. It never would have occured to me to do so.
Funny. This is how I make my “sloppy joes” except I don’t use worstershire or however the heck you spell it. haha I just squirt a bunch of ketchup, bbq sauce, a little mustard, and some brown sugar. I just taste it until I think it’s good. My kids will not eat anyone else’s sloppy joes now. 🙂
This is the recipe that I make in the CrockPot and double or triple it,than freeze in meal size portions.Very good!
I used to live in the Cedar Rapids area! Those maid rites are good! I actually boil my kethcup, spicey mustard, some water, and minced onion until it gets thick. Then I add my hamnurger. When you boil it, it breaks it down alot so its real fine. Then i drain the excess liquid. So yummy!