Main Dishes
Maid-Rite Sandwiches
One of several loose-meat recipes we tried. This one is supposed to be a Maid-Rite copycat. Makes about 10–12 sandwiches.
Cooks Note: Don’t brown and drain the beef as you would for an ordinary ground-beef recipe. Cooking the beef in the chicken broth while continually breaking it apart helps produce the exceptionally fine texture of a Maid-Rite sandwich.
Ingredients
- 3 lbs 85% lean ground beef
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 2 yellow onions, finely diced
- 3 Tbsp Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce
- 3 Tbsp Kikkoman regular soy sauce
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 6 oz Coca-Cola (1/2 of a 12-oz can)
- 1/2 tsp sweet paprika
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- Reserve some chopped yellow onion for topping
- Dill pickle slices
- Hamburger buns
- Yellow mustard and optional ketchup
Directions
- Place the ground beef and chicken broth in a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat. As the mixture heats, use a potato masher or sturdy spoon to continually break up the beef. Keep mashing and stirring to form very fine, even crumbles rather than larger browned chunks.
- Continue cooking and breaking up the meat until it is completely cooked through and no pink remains.
- Do not drain. Transfer the beef mixture and cooking juices to a slow cooker.
- Add the diced onions, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, Coca-Cola, paprika, salt, and black pepper. Stir thoroughly.
- Cover and cook on LOW 6–8 hours, until the beef is moist and most of the liquid is gone — not soupy. If the lid does not vent, crack it a little, especially the last hour or two. No need to stir.
- Stir, then scoop with a slotted spoon so extra liquid drains before it hits the bun.
- Top with finely chopped raw onion, yellow mustard, and dill pickle slices. Add ketchup if desired.