Sloppy Joes. It used to be that whenever I heard those words, I imagined a hamburger bun drowning in thick tomato meat sauce. But ever since I moved to the Garden State, those visions have been replaced by this layered deli sandwich. I am so enamored with this sandwich that I wrote a short piece about it several years ago. The birthplace of the Sloppy Joe is in the next town over from me at the Town Hall Delicatessen in South Orange and is unique to northern New Jersey. This is the only sandwich I ever crave. A bag of kettle chips and a bottle of Pellegrino complete the trifecta for me. Supposedly some bigwig in Hollywood has these sandwiches shipped to him regularly. Yeah, they’re that addictive. For the full story behind the New Jersey Sloppy Joe, go to the Town Hall Deli website or here’s the short story:

During the 1930’s, the then-Mayor of Maplewood, Mayor Sweeney, visited Havana Cuba. While there, he visited Sloppy Joe’s Bar and Eatery. Ernest Hemingway and other famous figures frequented Joe’s which, at the time, was open to American tourism. Joe, the proprietor, was well-known for the disarray in the Bar- alas, the nickname “Sloppy” Joe!

While the Mayor was at Joe’s in Cuba, he had a sandwich that he loved so much that when he returned to the US, he asked Fred and Hans to duplicate the recipe. It was made with cole slaw, ham, cow tongue, swiss cheese, with lots of dressing served on thin rye bread.

I have ordered these sandwiches for parties and they are always a hit. If you are not in the northern New Jersey area, you can have them shipped to you OR you can make these at home! If you opt for the latter, I would highly recommend thinly sliced rye pullman bread. The original Sloppy Joe includes ham, beef tongue, and swiss cheese. My favorite combo is roasted turkey, pastrami, and swiss. Feel free to change up the meat and cheese, but the constant factors in this sandwich is the creamy coleslaw and Russian or Thousand Island dressing. The butter spread is optional, but I found that it helps keep the sandwich together. Do not overstuff the sandwich or it’ll become unwieldy. Watch the short video below the recipe to see how the sandwich is assembled.

Print Recipe

New Jersey Sloppy Joe #SundaySupper

Course: Main

Cuisine: American

Author: Amy Kim | kimchi MOM

Ingredients

3 slices of thinly sliced bread per sandwich
Softened butter optional
Thin slices of pastrami
Your favorite creamy coleslaw
Thousand Island dressing
Thin slices of Swiss cheese
Thin slices of roasted turkey cold cuts

Instructions

Spread a thin layer of butter on 2 slices of bread. The third slice with be buttered on both sides; this will be the center slice.
Lay 2 layers of pastrami. Make sure the surface of the bread is covered.
Spread an even layer of coleslaw.
Spread a thin layer of dressing.
Top with swiss cheese.
Lay the center slice of bread (the one that is buttered on both sides) on top of the cheese.
Lay 2 layers of the turkey.
Add coleslaw, dressing, swiss cheese, and top with the third slice of bread.

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