Scramburger copycat, AKA Sloppy Joe lite

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medtran49

Master Chef
Joined
Feb 20, 2011
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Location
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This is not as gloppy, heavy and tomato-y as a traditional Sloppy Joe. A Scramburger was a big thing in the New Jersey area at Stewart's back in the car hop days. It's a "loose meat" sandwich. We sometimes add a slice of cheese.

Since we generally use ground round or sirloin, we don't have much grease, so I skip the 1 cup water step and just brown the ground meat when using a lean cut.

Can't believe we never posted this recipe as we've been making it since Roseanne was still making episodes where they owned the loose meat sandwich place.

Ingredients
1 pound ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
1 large garlic clove, minced, or ½ teaspoon garlic powder
1/3 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1-¼ cup water, divided
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1) Place the ground beef in a large frying pan.
2) Add 1 cup water and cook over medium-high heat, stirring with a fork to break up clumps, until meat is no longer pink. Drain well to rinse away fat.
3) Return to pan with the onion and garlic and sauté just until the onion turns transparent.
4) Stir in the ketchup, vinegar, Worcestershire, relish and brown sugar, then add about ¼ cup water -- just enough to moisten but not make mixture soupy.
5) Add salt and pepper if desired.
6) Cook, uncovered, over medium-low heat for 10 minutes.

Serve on hamburger rolls. Makes 6 servings.
 
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Reminds me of the pizza burgers the School Lunch Ladies used to make.

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They were one of our most popular lunches! 🐷🐷🐷
 
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I'm sorry to tell you this, but that recipe is nothing like the real recipe. My father owned the Stewart's in Rockaway. I made Scramburgers every day I worked there from 1979 to 2000. None of the ingredients are correct except the ground beef and salt.
I do not recommend this at all as a replication of the Stewart's recipe.
 
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I'm sorry to tell you this, but that recipe is nothing like the real recipe. My father owned the Stewart's in Rockaway. I made Scramburgers every day I worked there from 1979 to 2000. None of the ingredients are correct except the ground beef and salt.
I do not recommend this at all! Not the Stewart's recipe.
It would be helpful if you could elaborate on the differences.

I’ve seen several ‘original’ recipes that are quite different, some don’t use tomato products.

The one thing that the above recipe and all of the other ‘original’ recipes do have in common is that they are all tasty and relatively inexpensive.
 
Sounds really good medtran! My kids really liked Sloppy Joe's. I myself was not a big fan.

Aha - it seems we have a descendant of said Scramburger.
Perhaps you could post your version.
 
I'm sorry to tell you this, but that recipe is nothing like the real recipe. My father owned the Stewart's in Rockaway. I made Scramburgers every day I worked there from 1979 to 2000. None of the ingredients are correct except the ground beef and salt.
I do not recommend this at all as a replication of the Stewart's recipe.
Not going to argue about this because it's been done elsewhere probably by you since the wording of your post was almost exact. I will say though that someone that ate at a Stewart's disagreed on another forum. So, we'll have to agree to disagree.
 
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It does sound tasty, but....since we have an expert!

I'm sorry to tell you this, but that recipe is nothing like the real recipe. My father owned the Stewart's in Rockaway. I made Scramburgers every day I worked there from 1979 to 2000. None of the ingredients are correct except the ground beef and salt.
I do not recommend this at all as a replication of the Stewart's recipe.

@SuzyBeth, welcome to the forum! And please share how it is made!
 
A self proclaimed expert, who just popped in to make her pronouncement, and hasn't been back so far. Troll??
She's not a troll. I am a troll. I know these things!

She's just an annoying person who thinks she knows everything. People who think they know everything are terribly annoying to those of us who actually do.

I, myself, make Sloppy Joes with loose Italian sausage and my grandma's Sunday sauce instead of barbecue sauce. I call them Sloppy Giuseppes. My older son, Hey Foo, just loved them.

I just thought of something. I have this big bottle of Korean barbecue sauce my neighbor gave me because he didn't like the flavor. Maybe I will use it to make Slofi Jo! Why not? There are food trucks out there selling bulgogi (Korean barbecue beef) tacos.

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