Maid Rite? I think it was

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washman

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Took a fling at the recipe from Cooks. Not having sampled one during my many travels to and thru Iowa, I am at best guessing if it was authentic.

I added a tad more mustard than they called for, I used French's yellow. Also used a basic yellow onion. They key to this is, based on lots of reading up, not to let the beef go too brown, if at all. Also I put the skillet on a low secondary burner to allow the onion to soften, not cook or brown whilst I prepped the buns, poured water and soaked the Wustoff knife.

The faux pas was the pickles themselves. I paid not one whit of attention and grabbed the barely edible Valutime brand from my local grocer. I had intended to get Vlasic but this was right next to it and let me tell you these do NOT taste like pickles. Not sure what they are, really. When they put HFCS in pickles, one must wonder what they were thinking.

Pickles aside, I liked it. Very messy as I read but quite tasty and a spin on the ubiquitous sloppy joe we're all too familiar with.

Pardon the plating; I was pretty famished when I started this so I was not at all concerned about neatness!

washman-2014090716161801361_1.jpg
 
Close!

Below is a photo of a gen-yoo-wine Maid-Rite. You can see that the beef is a bit (but only just a bit) browner than in your photo, but that the presentation is pretty much the same. This is not a neat sandwich, no matter how you stack it, pack it or otherwise try to tame it.

danemodsandy++9-7-2014-17-22-1.jpg
 
Watch out, Ben; they're addictive!  As they say, "No one can eat just one."

 

The prepared loose meat freezes well.  I make 2 pounds of it at a time, parcel it out in small plastic Ziploc containers and reheat in microwave.

frigilux-2014090805313408408_1.jpg
 
This is the recipe Ben used, and it's excellent. The one I used for years was similar, but added 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce. I've since adopted this one and like it better. You'll find some Loose Meat / Maid Rite recipes with a packet of Lipton Onion Soup mix. No, no, no!

These seem too simple to be worthy of raves...but try them a couple of times and you'll probably be a Loose Meat convert.

frigilux++9-8-2014-11-41-14.jpg
 
So this is what Roseanne was making at the Lanford Lunchbox! I did not know what loose meat was. I had sort of thought it was like chips and small chunks of meat that go into barbeque sauce.

An easy way to cook onions is in the microwave; chopped with a little oil drizzled over them and cooked covered. They will do all of the steaming & sweating without browning. The inside of the oven will be dripping with condensate so it gives a good opportunity to wipe it out.
 
Have at it

Eat up, bon appetit, down the hatch, and please pass the creamed corn.

 

Now that I've seen one, I'm just not getting it.   Literally.  Rest assured that if there ever were a battle for the last loose meat sandwich on the planet, I'd gladly step aside. 

 

Yawn.  I guess growing up on Italian food (thankfully) ruined me for this sort of fare.
 
Ralph:

A loose-meat sandwich is a thing of delight - down-home delight, to be sure, but delight.

It is savory, with a bare hint of sweetness, and it is most satisfying with fries or onion rings.

Please don't judge food by its appearance in a photo or a description - remember what oysters look like. Remember what a description of cioppino sounds like. Remember what bacon and eggs really are - avian embryos with slices of belly fat * from a pig.

Loose meat rules!

* Yes, I know other countries like Britain and Canada use other cuts for bacon. I'm Amurkin, so belly fat it is.
 
Durn You! DUUUUURN YOOOOOOU!

This thread triggered a Maid-Rite craving, which was attended to by picking up a couple of them on the way home.

I am so full! :)

P.S.: If anyone else here doesn't "get" loose meat sandwiches, here is the biggest appeal for me: It is nearly all beef, without the myriad indifferent toppings most fast-food chains use to disguise the fact that you could read a newspaper through their patties.

Since a loose meat sandwich usually just has a pickle slice on it, you're getting pure beefy goodness. Maid-Rite makes them with cheese, but I've never actually seen anyone order one. And Iowa's a state that loves some cheese.
 
Yum!

I'm no stranger to Maid-Rite, but it's not something I've ever had at home. We cooked these up the other night and man were they good. Plus leftovers for the next day.
 
Cory:

Like you, I've never had loose meat in anyone else's house, but my next-door neighbor (also my landlady) has been known to make up ginormous Lanford Lunchbox batches of it to take to church suppers. The one supper I attended had, I think it was, thirty pounds of loose meat.

Dunno why it's not a staple of mom-cooks - it's a Hell of a lot less trouble than even Sloppy Joes.
 
I may have mentioned this in the other thread, but these were a staple growing up. Both at my parents house, family members, and Taylor's in Marshalltown. It's a pretty cheap meal that can feed a lot of hungry kids.

I may have to stop by Maid Rite later this week! You guys have made me hungry.

Ben
 
Sandy, you hit the nail on the head. The simplicity of the lightly augmented beefy flavor is a Loose Meat's calling card.

Ralph--- My mom (from Italy) made a very simple dish for lunch that I love to this day: Extra-wide noodles with butter and freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano. As simple--and delicious--as a Maid-Rite.
 
We have those in Wichita

Nu-Way, opened July 4, 1930.
The original store is about four blocks from my house.
Somewhere I read that loose meat was a Mid-West thing. Alls I know is they are soooo good. And the homemade onion rings and Root beer!!!!
Just don't want to have a steady diet of Nu-Ways cause they are a bit on the greasy side.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nu_Way_Cafe
 
Buttered Egg Noodles

We used to have those for lunch when I was growing up in Chicago, minus the cheese topping. Salt and well peppered they are good on a cold day. People down here in Houston have never heard it it. But someone from the upper midwest will always know what buttered egg noodles are.
 
My mom used to make something like this at one time, but don't remember her putting mustard in it; just ground beef, onions, salt and pepper. It was OK, but nothing spectacular. Would likely have been better with mustard.
 
I'm from Houston, and I know what buttered egg noodles are.  All on my own. 

[this post was last edited: 9/9/2014-19:58]
 
I liked it so much I bought the company

well no but I will whip up another batch tomorrow.

I used 85 per cent lean ground beef and I did not find the meat mixture to be greasy.

This time I will pay attention to the pickles!
 
Bob:

If you'll look at the loose meat recipe above, you will see that you are not taking the meat to the point that it begins to render fat. You're just cooking it till the pink is gone.

This makes it imperative to use lean, good-quality meat.
 
My niece used to work for Nu-Way.  The secret is to use the 85% lean and then add the water.  This way the meat more or less steams rather than brown.  

 

Bob: No you don't drain the juice, that's where the flavor is.  

 

Nu-Way will sell frozen Nu-ways for people taking them when they visit.  I have a friend when she visits her mother in CA, she will say "pack a suitcase full of Nu-Ways.  Nan will go and get 25 frozen Nu-ways and fly them to San Diego when she visits. 
 
Yes! 85% ground beef is the way to go. I've made loose meat with leaner meat---90% and 93%---and found both flavor and mouth-feel suffered. Use a slotted spoon to move the meat from pan to bun. You'll retain a bit of juice for flavor, but not enough to soak through the bun.

Fat is a great means of melding and transferring flavor. Just ask a piece of bacon, LOL!
 

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