Recipe Scramburger

[CraigC]

Karen mentioned this as an alternative to Sloppy Joes

Ingredients
1 pound ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
1 large garlic clove, minced, or ½ teaspoon garlic powder
1/3 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish
1 tablespoon brown sugar
¼ cup water
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1) Place the ground beef in a large frying pan.
2) Add 1 cup water and cook over medium-high heat, stirring with a fork to break up clumps, until meat is no longer pink. Drain well to rinse away fat.
3) Return to pan with the onion and garlic and sauté just until the onion turns transparent.
4) Stir in the ketchup, vinegar, Worcestershire, relish and brown sugar, then add about ¼ cup water -- just enough to moisten but not make mixture soupy.
5) Add salt and pepper if desired.
6) Cook, uncovered, over medium-low heat for 10 minutes.

Serve on hamburger rolls. Makes 6 servings.

 

[GadgetGuy]

What does it look like when done?

 

[medtran49]

kind of like a sloppy joe lite, not as gloppy and thick and not as tomato-y.

 

[medtran49]

Craig can't edit his post anymore, so can't change the recipe, but we just brown the ground beef and skip the water part. We typically use a fairly lean mince for something like this, so there's never a lot of excess fat. If you use a really fatty mince, might want to drain some of the fat.

 

[flyinglentris]

Karen mentioned this as an alternative to Sloppy Joes

Ingredients
1 pound ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
1 large garlic clove, minced, or ½ teaspoon garlic powder
1/3 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish
1 tablespoon brown sugar
¼ cup water
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1) Place the ground beef in a large frying pan.
2) Add 1 cup water and cook over medium-high heat, stirring with a fork to break up clumps, until meat is no longer pink. Drain well to rinse away fat.
3) Return to pan with the onion and garlic and sauté just until the onion turns transparent.
4) Stir in the ketchup, vinegar, Worcestershire, relish and brown sugar, then add about ¼ cup water -- just enough to moisten but not make mixture soupy.
5) Add salt and pepper if desired.
6) Cook, uncovered, over medium-low heat for 10 minutes.

Serve on hamburger rolls. Makes 6 servings.

kind of like a sloppy joe lite, not as gloppy and thick and not as tomato-y.

I too, think this qualifies as a sloppy Joe.

I would not use ketchup, vinegar and probably not Worcestershire sauce, either.

 

[CraigC]

I too, think this qualifies as a sloppy Joe.

I would not use ketchup, vinegar and probably not Worcestershire sauce, either.

Then it would not taste the same nor have the same texture. What would you sub for those ingredients?

 

[flyinglentris]

Then it would not taste the same nor have the same texture. What would you sub for those ingredients?

Back in the day, I learned to make sloppy Joes using Ketchup and mustard. But that changed to using salsas, preferably, my favorite habanero salsa, spruced up with maybe some melted cheese. Always included would be onion, garlic and diced tomato.

 

[medtran49]

I would not use ketchup, vinegar and probably not Worcestershire sauce, either.

Then it's not a Scramburger, it's something else. Scramburgers were a thing at Stewart drive-ins in New Jersey back in the car hop days. The above recipe is as close a copy to the original as people have come up with. It's technically a "loose meat" sandwich.

 

[TastyReuben]

That's what we call them here, loose meat sandwiches.

I grew up about 45 minutes south of this place:

Maid-Rite

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

Then it's not a Scramburger, it's something else. Scramburgers were a thing at Stewart drive-ins in New Jersey back in the car hop days. The above recipe is as close a copy to the original as people have come up with. It's technically a "loose meat" sandwich.

And, here it is. We have a drive-in near me that's similar. Not many of these around anymore.

 

[Rita B]

Karen mentioned this as an alternative to Sloppy Joes

Ingredients
1 pound ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
1 large garlic clove, minced, or ½ teaspoon garlic powder
1/3 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish
1 tablespoon brown sugar
¼ cup water
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1) Place the ground beef in a large frying pan.
2) Add 1 cup water and cook over medium-high heat, stirring with a fork to break up clumps, until meat is no longer pink. Drain well to rinse away fat.
3) Return to pan with the onion and garlic and sauté just until the onion turns transparent.
4) Stir in the ketchup, vinegar, Worcestershire, relish and brown sugar, then add about ¼ cup water -- just enough to moisten but not make mixture soupy.
5) Add salt and pepper if desired.
6) Cook, uncovered, over medium-low heat for 10 minutes.

Serve on hamburger rolls. Makes 6 servings.

Back in the day the Scramburger was known as the Stewarts Steamyburger, it was delicious! however there was no tomato sauce, or ketchup. I made a pretty good imitation of it back in the 80's. For some reason I stopped making it because it was loose and messy I think but the amazing flavor made me try to find the recipe I forgot how I made it but I have a taste for it and will try it again. It was sweet & tart, moist but not runny and the burger mix looked as though it was steamed

 

[Rita B]

What does it look like when done?

The hamburger mixture minus the ketchup or tomato sauce looks steamed, loose, crumbly after water is cooked down.

 

[garlichead]

Very cool history, I'll try it out. Any meat on bread is good with me.

 

[medtran49]

Added a dollop of yellow mustard last night with the ketchup and other things. Added a nice piquant touch.