Maid-Rites are a popular Midwestern loose meat sandwich, and are full of savory goodness. This is my version!
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!
Ingredients
- 1 lb 85/15 ground beef, could use 80/20 - just not super lean
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1/2 beef boullion 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.
Notes
- Serve like you would a burger - this is more akin to a burger than a sloppy joe.
Nutrition
Nutritional values are estimates only. Please read our full nutrition information disclaimer.
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!)
THE maid-rite is from Taylor’s in Marshalltown, Iowa.
My Dad worked there in the 50’s….
Our family has the recipe…I can guarantee you that there is no soy sauce or steak sauce….hello! Those sauces are sins in Iowa ;)
Am from St Joseph, MO we had 2 maidrite diners there mind sharing that recipe?
Hi! I just wanted to make a suggestion…To make a maid-rite a maid-rite you MUST wrap your sandwich in wax paper for a minute or two. It’s not a maid-rite if the bun isn’t slightly soggy. ALSO, you need to use a fattier beef to get the “real” thing. My Great-Grandpa was Fred Angell (the inventor of Maid-Rites) so I’m somewhat of an expert on Maid-Rites. Also, my Great-Grandpa is rolling over in his grave!! YOU NEVER PUT KETCHUP ON A MAID-RITE! It’s only supposed to be served with mustard, a little onion, and two dill pickles. When my Great-Grandma sold the franchise they decided to make all kinds of different variations. Your recipe is a good mock-recipe, btw. Not the real thing but it’s close and should work for the people who don’t live in IA/IL. Thanks for supporting Maid-Rites and I’m happy you all like them! I really like your blog and I can’t wait to try some of your recipes! :D
In your post “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year from November 2011 you mention your mom put the maid-rites in the crock pot. I want to make them for my WI co-workers (as they have not heard of them), but I can’t just make them fresh as I will be at work. Do you just make them as the recipe states above and then put them in the crock on warm or is there another trick if making them in the crockpot that you know of to make sure they stay moist?
Thanks!
You got it – she just put the cooked loose meat in the crock pot set on warm or low. Might want to add a splash of beef broth and worcestershire to make sure they don’t dry out.
Thanks for the great recipe! My husband was super-impressed! :)
There are a variety of things that I’ve learned are “Iowan” since moving to Detroit, MI. Here are the top ones!
*You know you’re from Iowa when:
a) your dairy products of choice are Anderson Erickson. (No good chip dips ANYWHERE out here!!!)
b) you assume every state has a State Fair.
c) the local favorite pizza is from a gas station called Casey’s.
d) you have supper at night instead of dinner. (this might apply to rural communities only)
My grandma always confused me with the dinner = lunch and supper = 6pm meal. I think though that the pizza I miss the most is Happy Joes which used to be big in Iowa & MN when I was growing up. Also, Hi-Vee’s grocery store Cottage Cheese is the best in the world.
We have a maid-rite in Ohio. Love them!! The only thing I don’t like is that they only accept cash. I didn’t know there was a maid-rite anywhere other then Ohio. Does yours also have a gum wall??
We have a maid-rite in Ohio. Love them!! The only thing I don’t like is that they only accept cash.
I saved this recipe in ziplist long before you had a ziplist button and finally tried it tonight. I’m a born and raised San Francisco Bay Area girl so had never heard of them but I was intrigued. I am IN LOVE!! Seriously!! So good!!
I can’t wait for lunch tomorrow!! LOL
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!
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.
Made these for dinner tonight and they were AMAZING!! Thanks for the recipe!!
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!
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!