It’s time for another edition of You Know You’re From the Midwest When… (check out editions one and two!) You know you’re from the Midwest when you don’t say “Maid who??” when I tell you Maid-Rites were on the menu tonight!
Maid-Rite, a popular Midwestern restaurant, specializes in “loose meat” sandwiches, aka seasoned ground beef on a warm bun. I know. Sounds… crazy?! It is, a little, I suppose – but we totally dig them. And NO they’re not sloppy joe’s!
I had to laugh when Ben told me a story about a co-worker who was visiting from the east coast last month and was asking people where she should eat while in town. Someone suggested Maid-Rite and was trying to explain the sandwiches to her…
“So it’s a sloppy joe then…”
“No, there’s no sauce.”
“So it’s just meat?”
“Yeah, but it’s seasoned.”
“But it’s still just ground beef…”
“Right, but it’s really good. Just trust me!”
HA! I can totally hear this conversation in my brain… Anyway, my Mom has a super recipe for Maid-Rites (oh also, you can just call them “maid-rites” and everyone will know what you’re talking about) so I cooked some up for dinner!
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Maid-Rites
Description
Maid-Rites are a popular Midwestern loose meat sandwich, and they're full of savory goodness. This is my version!
Ingredients
- 1lb 85/15 ground beef (could use 80/20 - just not super lean)
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1/2 beef bullion cube
- 1/2 cup water
- pepper
- 1-1/2 Tablespoons soy sauce
- 1-1/2 Tablespoons steak sauce
- Buns
Directions
- Sauté beef and onions until cooked then drain and return to pan. Add the rest of the ingredients then simmer for 30 minutes and scoop onto buns.
This recipe is courtesy of Iowa Girl Eats, http://iowagirleats.com.
SO easy, right?! I always get my maid-rites with a squeeze of cold ketchup and salty pickles. Perfection I tell you. Totally a crowd pleaser too – everyone will love these.
Bring a taste of the Midwest to your home, won’t you?
~~~~~
Fill in the blank “You know you’re from (fill in your city/state here) when…”
Alternatively, do you have any unique local or regional dishes?
Iowa, of course, is know for their corn and pigs. NOT POTATOES – that’s Idaho (I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten that!)
Laura C 09.23.2012
I may be way late on this entry, but thank you so much for having a Maid-Rite recipe posted! I have been living outside of Iowa for 22 years now, and have seriously missed Maid-Rites. I am going to give this a spin and see how the fiance likes them (any man worth his salt will love them, naturally).
Thanks again!
A classic born in Iowa: loose meat sandwich | The Everybody Eats! Gourmet 07.21.2012
[…] Iowa Girl Eats. Â Her mother’s recipe. […]
CandyOhhh 04.25.2012
You know you’re from the Quad Cities (Iowa) when the mention of Maid-rite, Harris Pizza, Frank’s Pizza, Pepe Taco, a “Happy Joe’s Special” or The Plantation’s house salad dressing, slaps you in the face with a food memory. I can still remember all those tastes even though I moved from Iowa in ’86.
My local Maid-rite was on Locust St. in Davenport. Although I have never seen this mentioned on any other maid-rite blog or recipe, rumor in our town was that they used coffee in the recipe. I’m sure this is because as you sat eating at the counter you could see them tending to the maid-rite meat and they would add a dark liquid from a coffee pot. Now with all I’ve read online, I’m sure this was really the “vinegar” referred to on several blogs. The “vinegar” is the mixture of the liquids used in the recipe. And the meat simmered for a long time, (a couple of hours).
I live in Florida now and a few years ago I happened into a Mom & Pop fast food joint that had just opened and it advertised authentic Iowan maid-rites. I almost died right there out of pure excitement. The girl in the drive-thru assured me they were the real deal because the owner’s wife was from Iowa and they purchased the seasoning from the company. After my first bite I almost died again from disappointment. It was not a maid-rite and was really spicy. If the wife was from Iowa, she never had obviously never had a maid-rite cause this wasn’t one. The shop was only about a mile from the local Naval base and I’m sure that at least a few customers were from the mid-west and knew what a maid-rite was supposed to taste like. The shop closed after less than one year.
Brittany 04.18.2012
Made these for dinner tonight and they were AMAZING!! Thanks for the recipe!!
Haley B 01.15.2012
OK – I am late to the party – but that won’t stop me from adding my 2 cents! ;-) I hail from Middle Tennessee, Cincinnati and now Cleveland. As many have already pointed out Cincinnati is known for Skyline Chili, Graeter’s Ice Cream, LaRosa Pizza and Goetta. However just up the road in Greenville Ohio they have the Maid Rite Sandwich shop!! I have made the trek up a couple of times and really liked them. Now I don’t know if the Ohio version lives up the Iowa version – but to me they were pretty darn good!
Kary Miller 01.02.2012
I was born and raised in North central Iowa (Mason City to be exact). Maid-rite is one of the “have to” eats when I go back to visit my parents. I’m excited to try this recipe this week!
Katie 12.31.2011
Can’t wait to make these! Thanks for the recipe!
Chris 12.02.2011
Sorta tired of sloppy joes & wanted something different. I “googled” Maid-Rite recipe & up popped a link to IGE! Imagine my delight :-) Can’t wait to give “Mom’s Maid-Rite Recipe” a try. We used to live in a small town in S.E. Iowa & my husband would walk to Maid-Rite for lunch at least twice a week! Can’t wait to surprise him with this recipe!
Houston Foodlovers 11.17.2011
Oh, Maid Rites are so good! I grew up in Kansas City, MO, (I had forgotten about Maid Rites and Pork Tenderloin sandwiches that are pounded thin and breaded. Want one right now!) and we would get them from a Maid Rite there in the 60’s & 70’s. When I first made these for my Texas family, they didn’t know what to think, expecting them to be like sloppy joe’s. Then they added lots of pickles, and now they love them. I make mine with chicken bouillon, but otherwise the same.
Remember when Roseanne bought a restaurant serving loose-meat sandwiches on her popular sit com? That was the last time I heard of them.
You know you are in Houston when, while eating at your fave Chicken Fried Steak place, they refill your Mason jar of iced tea, and it is so sweet you feel lightheaded. Plain tea is called unsweet. And they offer to heat up your strawberry-rhubarb pie for dessert.
Jennifer 11.14.2011
LOVE Maid-Rites!!!! I seriously cant get enough of them when I visit family back in Iowa. I actually found a Maid-Rite restaurant outside of the state, which was incredible and a relief when I was in college.
When my mom makes them at home, we cook the beef then drain it, then add a can of diet coke…it has to be diet and it has to be coke. Then we let it boil off until the meat is dry. I dont know why but it tastes almost the same.
Susan 11.11.2011
OMG, I will be in Des Moines and then on up to Marshalltown to visit relatives and we are going to Taylor’s Maidrite in Marshalltown. To die for! Thanks for the reminder!! Your recipe sounds delicious though!
Julia 08.05.2011
You know you’re from Annapolis, MD when you put malt vinegar and Old Bay seasonings on your thick-cut, boardwalk fries. DELICIOUS!
A Milestone Dinner | The Smorgasbord 07.21.2011
[…] Eat a Maid-Rite. CHECK! Thanks to tonight’s […]
Heather 03.27.2011
awww, maid rites! I’m from Minnesota and my dad used to make homemade maid rites (or we’d just run off to the restaurant if he had to work late).
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[…] Thankfully I hadn’t mixed it with the ground turkey before I tasted it, so I still had a full pound of 99% lean ground turkey breast on hand to make dinner with. I visited my recipe arsenal for inspiration and decided to make Turkey Maid-Rites! […]
Kathy 03.01.2011
I just stumbled onto your blog. Moved to Florida from SE Iowa 25 years ago. I think we go back once a year just to get our Maid Rite, Pork tenderloin sandwich and don’t forget the Broasted Chicken!!
Can’t wait to try your Mom’s Maid Rite recipe, have tried to duplicate it many times and have failed. Hoping this is the one!
Thanks!!
Kath 02.05.2011
I cannot wait to make this meal!!!!!! My hubs will love it!!!
chellie 02.03.2011
Northwest Iowa calls sloppy joes ‘Taverns’ after the VFW taverns that served them. I now leave in eastern Iowa and realize the maidrite is NOT a tavern. BTW in SW Minnesota they call it a barbecue.
Randy - Randy Earles Fine Art 12.27.2010
A long time ago a Maid-Rite owner told my dad one of his secrets to making the hamburger tender and less greasy is to cook it in Bubble Up. I dont think they make that pop (yes I am from Iowa, its NOT soda ha) so I usually use another citrus type pop. As long as its not too sugary like Mountain Dew or something like that. Sprite works ok. All of the grease and bad stuff floats to the top which you can skim off and the citrus in the pop tenderizes the meat. Sounds weird but it works great!
Keri 11.13.2010
Eating these sweet potato fries at I type this!! Delicious!! Thanks for sharing the idea!