The Butcher Shop Origins Of Iowa's Loose Meat Sandwich

If you're visiting Iowa, chances are you're going to come across the loose meat sandwich — one of the Hawkeye State's most famous foods. How famous? It even made its way onto the sitcom "Roseanne." In one plot line, the characters open a restaurant serving this messy creation, which Roseanne describes as a "sloppy Joe, but without the slop." That's a decent definition.

At its most basic, it consists of lightly seasoned, crumbly ground beef on a soft bun with classic fixings — ketchup, mustard, onion, pickle. Unfussy and satisfying, the loose meat sandwich (aka the Maid-Rite sandwich) has become an iconic Midwestern restaurant dish.

Though we don't know what exactly inspired the dish, we know who invented the loose meat sandwich — and where and when. The story goes that, in 1926, a Muscatine butcher shop owner named Fred Angell was looking for new ways to cook ground beef. Rather than shape it into a patty and fry it, Angell cooked it loose in a pan. He offered a sample on a bun to a satisfied customer, who said the sandwich was "made right." That compliment gave Angell the encouragement to keep going, as well as a name for the restaurant he soon opened. Maid-Rite has since grown into a franchise with more than two dozen locations across Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and Ohio. With Midwestern restaurant chains taking over the U.S., could Maid-Rite be far behind? Still, it's far from the only Iowa business serving this popular sandwich. 

For the canonical Maid-Rite, ground beef is cooked on a stove with seasonings including salt, sugar, and onion powder before the grease is drained off and the meat is held in a steamer before serving. But plenty of variations have emerged.

The most basic modification is to add American cheese. If you're ordering this at a Maid-Rite outlet, ask for a Cheese-Rite — or a Bacon Cheese-Rite, or a Chili Cheese-Rite ... you get the idea. In the past, the chain has also offered a funky blue-cheese version known as the Blue-Rite. (If the loose meat resembles a certain other sloppy sandwich, that might be because they're related: According to one maybe apocryphal story of the Sloppy Joe's origin, it was invented by a Sioux City cook named Joe as a spin on the loose meat.)

Across the state, other restaurants also serve loose meat sandwiches — though they might not use that name. They're called canteen sandwiches at the nearly century-old Ottumwa eatery Canteen Lunch in the Alley, which inspired the diner on "Roseanne." At the time, star Roseanne Barr was married to Ottumwa native Tom Arnold. In Sioux City, the loose meat goes by the name "tavern sandwich" — unless you're at the historic Miles Inn, where it's called the Charlie Boy, and the seasonings are an old family secret. Sorting out the names is the easy part, though. Wait till you try eating one of these crumbly creations.