Tastee Sandwiches

If you live in Nebraska, you are probably familiar with Tastee Sandwiches. The original restaurant is gone, but the recipe lives on. I believe it was the first "drive thru" restaurant in Lincoln - The funny thing was, the drive thru window was on the passenger side of the car... It didn't matter back then, because we didn't have seat belts to unbuckle - We would just slide over on our bench seat to pay and pick up our order. Back then, you could get a sandwich, onion chips and a drink for $1.50! It was always a special day when my Mom would take us there for lunch.

Ingredients:

5 lbs. of Ground Beef (85/15)

4 oz. of ketchup

3 heaping teaspoons of prepared mustard

3 heaping teaspoons of creamy horseradish

3 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce

2 heaping teaspoons of salt (The original recipe calls for 5 teaspoons - I think this makes it too salty.)

1/2 teaspoon of black pepper

1 large ground onion

1 teaspoon of Accent seasoning

Place 5 lbs. of ground beef in a large kettle - flat bottom is best.

Prepare your spices

Add the ketchup, mustard, horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper to a 8 oz. measuring cup. This should fill the cup. If not, add more ketchup. Stir thoroughly until all ingredients are completely mixed. Pour this mixture over the ground beef. Fill the same measuring cup with warm water, stirring it around to get all the seasoning out and pour that into the ground beef as well. You want to get every ounce of goodness!

Finely ground a large onion (I use a food processor) and add it to the kettle. Add the heaping teaspoon of Accent and mix all of the ingredients thoroughly with a wooden spoon. (I'm not sure why the wooden spoon is important... they were very adamant about it in the recipe book.)

Cook the mixture on a low heat for 15 minutes - stirring constantly with the wooden spoon until the meat is broken apart finely. Increase the heat to medium and let it boil for an addition 25 minutes. stir with the wooden spoon occasionally to remove lumps and to assure it doesn't stick to the bottom of the kettle.

As you can see, this is boiled meat ends up very juicy. I usually drain half of the liquid off.

Use a slotted spoon to drain off the liquid when serving. When we ate Tastee sandwiches at their restaurant, the greasy soaked bun was "the norm"... By today's standards, this would be unacceptable - The choice is yours!

This recipe makes a TON of sandwiches. Share with a neighbor, or freeze in containers for future meals.

Now I wish I had the time and energy to make onion chips and dip!