SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine — Turkey clubs, turkey jerky, turkey with cranberry relish and stuffing sandwiches. The favorite deli meat gets extra mileage this month as the runup to Thanksgiving approaches. Just when you thought all the inventive ways to make turkey tasty had been taken, along comes sloppy Tom.
(Cue “ Lunch Lady Land” remix.)
Not to be confused with a turkey burger, sloppy Tom is sloppy Joe’s seasonal sidekick.
“As we move into fall there is more opportunity to create hot sandwiches and fare,” Aaron Rose, savory eats manager at Scratch Baking Co. in South Portland, said. He dreams up ways to complement the wholesome varieties of artisanal bread baked daily.
This time of year, the annual turkey harvest presents him with a fresh culinary canvas.
“I have this great product,” he said. “I thought a play on a sloppy Joe would be fun.”
Starting with a potato loaf and hormone-free, pasture-raised turkey from The Turkey Farm in New Sharon, Rose creates a comforting, hefty sandwich that’s a little gloppy. Dainty eaters, grab a fork.
Available Fridays throughout the winter, Sloppy Tom is a tangy tango of hot, smoky satisfaction. Like the cuban melt and meatloaf sandwiches crafted there, it’s “refined comfort food, for a cold fall day to warm people up.”
To start, Rose simmers ground turkey in ketchup, tomato paste, barbecue sauce, garlic and Worcestershire sauce — among other ingredients. For depth, he sprinkles Pineland Farms smoked cheddar on top and toasts the bread and meat in the oven open faced.
Next comes a layer of Sriracha-laced mayonnaise. Because turkey is a much leaner protein than beef, the mayo adds “needed fat,” according to Rose, who worked at Portland’s Five Fifty Five and started out as a baker at Scratch. “Sweet and salty, tangy and fat — everything on your palate has to balance.”
But sloppy Tom would be nothing without its platform: a custom, large, wheat bun flecked with leeks, made with potatoes from Aroostook County or Bowdoinham and baked with brown butter.
Like all menu items at Scratch, Rose starts with rustic loaves first and goes free form.
“Everything I do here is bread first,” Rose said. “It’s always about the bread.”
Sloppy Tom, the lunch that can double as dinner, is available at this Willard Square destination all winter long.
“I thought we could execute it once a week. People don’t want me to take it off the menu,” Rose said. “It’s about diversifying the product. I am always trying to do something fun.”
Sloppy Tom is $7.95 and available Fridays only.
Sloppy Tom
Serves 6
Recipe by Aaron Rose, Scratch Bakery
2½ pounds of ground turkey
1 medium yellow onion, small diced
1 green bell pepper, small diced
1 red pepper, small diced
6 tablespoons crushed tomato
1 cup ketchup
1 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons barbecue sauce
1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
½ teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon tamari or soy sauce
½ teaspoon celery seed
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
salt and pepper, to taste
Sweat onion, peppers and garlic in a large sauce pan set over medium heat until onions become translucent.
Add the ground turkey to the pan and brown for 10 minutes.
Add remaining ingredients, stir and bring to a simmer. Stir occasionally for 30 to 40 minutes, until red and thickened.
Serve as you see fit. At Scratch, we serve this on a potato roll with sriracha mayo.
