Veganomicon: Snobby Joes
January 27th, 2011 | Posted by in Cookbook ClubI have been working my way through the recipes in Veganomicon for the Cookbook Club. Last night I tried the Snobby Joes, a play on the traditional Sloppy Joes.
I was a little confused with this recipe because it calls for lentils; just lentils. It doesn’t specify whether they should be red, green, brown or French; this complicates the recipe because cooking time for red lentils versus green/brown/French is dramatically different. I decided that I would try it with the red lentils because when I think of sloppy joes the first thing I think of is the rich red tomato sauce.
I served the Snobby Joes over brown rice because I didn’t have any bread. The recipe was just okay; the red lentils got really soft and turned into a pile of mush. I also thought that the maple syrup in the recipe was really unnecessary and made the dish too sweet. I would have tried a little molasses instead to add more depth of flavor and a just a tiny bit of sweetness.
Did I like this recipe? Well it was edible but not great. Would I make it again? No. I also wouldn’t recommend it to anyone, however if you do try this recipe go with a green, brown or French lentil.
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Wow, good to know. Did they ever run a second (edited) edition of the book? A big pile of mush, indeed – and to think these are usually served on a roll.
I know i couldn’t imagine if I had served them on a roll. I was wondering the same thing about the book because I have come across a number of spots where directions are vague or parts left out. I received my copy shortly after the release but maybe there is an updated version with corrections made.
I contacted Da Capo and they said that there have been some corrections have been made in subsequent editions.
I have noticed that now, Isa recommends not using red lentils in her recipes now because the cooking time is much shorter and the red lentils get super mushy. I’ve eyed this recipe before, but I’m not a *huge* lentil fan and it just seemed like there was no freaking way those would stay in a bun.
OOOh- Where did you see that she recommends not to? I didn’t see it in the recipe for the snobby joes and it just said lentils so I was a little confused on what to use.
I looked at this recipe because it featured lentils, which I love, but even when I was a meat eater, I never liked sloppy joes so was hesitant to try this. Now I definitely won’t!
I’ve tried this Vcon recipe before, and I must admit I quite enjoyed it. But I served it on “buttered” and toasted bread, which changes things a lot.
I do like this recipe a lot. I’ve always made it with brown lentils, you should give that a try!
It was this recipe, posted by Borders when they chose Veganomicon as their cookbook of the week, that turned me into a vegan (http://bordersblog.com/kitchen/2011/01/03/cookbook-of-the-week-veganomicon/). In the Post-Punk Kitchen version of this recipe, green lentils are specified (http://www.theppk.com/2009/11/snobby-joes/). I love this recipe, though I did try it with 1/2 the syrup and 1/2 the olive oil last time. I’ve always made the joes with green lentils and not cooked the lentils past al dente. I serve them on a bun, open-faced, as the cookbook suggests. They are sweet, but at least some syrup is needed to offset the 3 T. of chili powder, I think.
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I made these a couple weeks ago (and used french lentils) and they came out fantastic. Highly recommended.
http://books.google.com/books?id=BMdjgQUXPu8C&pg=PA214&lpg=PA214&dq=skinny+bitch+sloppy+joes&source=bl&ots=ReBFctBq9Z&sig=3b0F2HLQNY-Irco2EPs6R6CoVq0&hl=en&ei=QARgTaSRLcP-8Aac7eitDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CDAQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false