Sloppy Joes

There are similar sandwiches from around the world, but they naturally don't use this name, which "seems" to have become common in the 1930s and 1940s in the U.S.  

Ingredients:

2 pounds ground chuck
1 1/2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil or as needed
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 cups ketchup (or more*)
2 teaspoons dried thyme leaves
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
hamburger buns

While it will be an extra skillet to clean, it is best to use two skillets. One skillet can be used to brown the ground beef with a little oil and then you can pour off the excess fat, while you can use the other skillet to saute the onions in some oil, to which you can then also add the garlic. Then, with the heat on low, the meat can be added to the skillet with the softened onions and garlic. Add the Worcestershire sauce, seasoned salt and pepper, mix well. Now add the ketchup and mix very well to coat all of the beef. Stir in the thyme leaves. The mixture should be lightly simmering for a little while, and you should give it an occasional stir it to prevent sticking. I heat the hamburger buns in the microwave oven for a few seconds (like just 8 to 10 seconds) before adding the meat mixture to each.

* You can use more ketchup, if you'd like, but if you add a great deal more, you might want to also add some more of the seasonings too. 

 

WORD HISTORY:
While-This word goes back to Indo European "khwylo," which had the notion of  "to rest, to be still, to be at peace." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "hwilo," "rest period, period of stillness;" thus also a later progression to simply, "period of time." This gave Old English "hwil" ("hwile," accusative and dative), with the same meanings, and later the "h" was dropped from the spelling for the modern form (the ending "e" of "hwile" was pronounced as "eh."). The  verb form, meaning "to spend time with no particular task," came from the noun, and remains closer to the original noun meaning, "period of rest or stillness." The other Germanic languages have: German "Weile" (noun, "while, period of time") and "weilen" (verb, "to spend time in a place"), Low German Saxon "wieldes" (conjunction, "meanwhile, while") and "wielt" ("during a period of time, while") and "Wiel" (noun, "while"), Dutch "wijl" (noun, "while, time period"), Icelandic "hvíla" (Noun, "rest, bed") and same spelling for the verb ("to rest, sleep"), Swedish "vila" (noun, "rest"), same spelling for verb form ("to rest, to lie down"), Danish and Norwegian "hvile" (noun, "rest"), same spelling for verb ("to rest, to pause"), West Frisian has "wile" (?) but also "wylst," just as English has "whilst," a surviving older form, but it is still in use at times. Old Frisian had "hwile."