Loosen Up

My mom's coming to visit this weekend, and since she can't get an official Made-Rite sandwich in South Dakota, we usually stop by the restaurant for a quick fix.

I really like Maid-Rites, but they're not the only loose meat sandwiches in town. Right now, in church basements all across Iowa, slow cookers are full of ground beef leisurely simmering in a blend of ingredients from a recipe that's been handed down for generations. These loose meat concoctions are going to feed the thousands of people attending fundraisers, family fun nights, and funerals this weekend. I'd wager everyone of those sandwiches is going to be good. I've never had a bad one. 

They're not just for church, either. Last night during parent teacher conferences, the staff at my high school were served a dinner provided by parents. What did they make us? Loose meat sandwiches. Were they good? I wolfed down two, and then sat there and envied everyone else's.

When I want to make loose meat sandwiches at home, here's my go-to recipe. 

I don't remember what magazine I clipped this recipe from, but the beer and the mustard are the key ingredients. I've used a light beer when that was all I had, but I think a dark brew imparts a deeper flavor. Root around in the back of the fridge and see what you can find. Any mustard will do, but the whole grain variety gives this mix a robust flavor.

If you want to read the recipe in a more traditional style, you can click here.

Iowa connection #1: The Don Short that's quoted on the "Sandwich Secrete" plate is now the owner of West End Architectural Salvage, an awesome downtown Des Moines store that is the basis for a current reality show on HGTV.

Iowa connection #2: If you google loose meat sandwich recipes, it doesn't take long to find references to the TV sitcom Roseanne.  "In later seasons of Roseanne, Roseanne Connor (Roseanne Barr) co-owns a restaurant called the "Lanford Lunch Box" in the fictional town of Lanford, Illinois, which specializes in loose meat sandwiches. The inspiration for Lunch Box was a real-life restaurant called Canteen Lunch in the Alley in Ottumwa, Iowa." wikipedia