Most of us immediately envision a sweet and spicy red tomato sauce when we think of Sloppy Joes. I often made juicy, tomato-y Sloppy Joes. Just the right amount of sweet-sour flavor and texture spilling out of a soft bun. Sloppy Joes were a quick, easy meal that both of our kids liked–as long as I left out the onions and peppers.

Everyone in the household, though, liked the familiar sweet and savory flavor that came from my own barbecue sauce recipe. I will have to post that barbecue sauce recipe when the snow starts to melt and we are all eager to eat outside on the deck.

But I always get bored when I keep making -and eating- the same thing, So, many years ago, I decided to try something different for Sloppy Joes–something without tomato flavors. Something creamy and luscious and mellow…without the piquancy of onions and peppers. Hmm…maybe mushrooms?

My husband Allen loved mushrooms, but I didn’t like the texture of cooked mushrooms. Maybe because I grew up when canned mushrooms were popular–and canned mushrooms were, well, basically slippery and slimy. Yuck! In my mother’s world, fresh mushrooms were not always available. Plus, they were just too expensive for five kids who didn’t always appreciate her cooking efforts.

After many years of marriage, I thought that using good ol” canned creamy mushroom soup could give a new, interesting slant on that traditional sloppy sandwich. And I decided I liked the flavor of mushrooms, as long as I didn’t have to feel the over cooked slipperiness of canned mushrooms in my mouth.

After cooking the ground beef and adding the soup, I needed to perk up the dish with some additional ingredients. I didn’t want it to taste just like lumpy soup. I always like the crispy crunch of celery, so I decided to stir it in. Celery adds a slight touch of bitter spicy-ness that is a good contrast with the silky smoothness of the creamy soup. You could add chopped onions, also, but I used granulated onion. You might remember from previous posts that my son has a severe response to the texture of onions. I knew that I should forgo the real thing and just add some onion flavoring without the texture of real onions. I prefer granulated onion over onion salt because the sodium count is not as high.

I don’t know about you, but I encounter the term “umami” absolutely everywhere. It is on TV shows, in recipes from books, magazines or the internet; even in restaurant descriptions of offerings. Maybe, I thought, I should really try to understand the term more. It is best to know what it is before incorporating it in my own speech and writings. You may be way ahead of me on this, but if not, here goes:

“The fifth basic taste—alongside sweet, sour, salty, and bitter—was named umami, meaning “savoriness” in Japanese.” Well, now I know, umami describes whatever it is in a dish that makes it SCRUMPTIOUS! Hence, the title of this post.

In order to enhance that luscious, creamy flavor with the necessary oomph of umami, I decided to stir in Worcestershire sauce. Worcesterhire sauce provides the savory boost that keeps the Sloppy Joes from being dull and boring. I also prefer to toast buns in order to get a crispy texture that prevents the bun from getting soggy and falling apart. It seems natural to serve Sloppy Joes with some kind of oven French fries and to round out the meal with a green vegetable.

This is such a quick and easy meal, I hope you will decide to include it in your cooking repetoire in order to enjoy a simple but still satisfying, lunch or dinner.

MUSHROOM SLOPPY JOES

1 pound ground beef

1 celery stalk, cleaned, trimmed and chopped fine

1/2 medium onion, trimmed and chopped fine or 1 teaspoon granulated onion

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1/4 cup milk

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Hamburger Buns

Saute ground beef with celery and onions. Drain off excess fat. Add soup, milk and Worcestershire sauce to pan. Stir to combine thoroughly. Simmer over medium low heat about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, to blend flavors.

Serve on toasted hamburger buns.