New Jersey's iconic sloppy joe is made with Russian dressing and cold cuts

• New Jersey sloppy joes are made with two types of cold cuts, Swiss cheese, coleslaw, and Russian dressing, served between thin double-decker Pullman rye bread.
• The sandwich is a staple at delis in certain areas of the state, particularly northern New Jersey.
• Town Hall Deli claims to be the first place to serve this version of the sloppy joe in 1935.

Following is a full transcript of the video.

- Taryn Varricchio: Three thin slices of Pullman rye bread, about a quarter-inch thick. The first slice topped with juicy turkey breast, another with roast beef, covered with handfuls of dry coleslaw, no mayo, brined for three days. Secret creamy Russian dressing lathered generously on top. Finished with three slices of Swiss cheese before they're stacked and cut into eight perfect squares. It's this not-so-typical combo that made the New Jersey sloppy joe a legend.

In most parts of the country, a sloppy joe means ground beef or some mystery meat with tomato sauce or ketchup, served on a hamburger bun.

Alyssa: Oh, yes! Of course! The big, gooey, messy burger!

Diane: Also known as a sloppy joe.

Alyssa: Sloppy joe, right.

Taryn: But in northern New Jersey, it's something else entirely.

Are people ever going to order a sloppy joe and are confused?

Matt Wonski: Yeah, they think they're getting chopped meat on a bun. For sure, they have no clue.

Taryn: Do you tell them?

Matt: So, you can kind of tell right away who knows and who doesn't know. The people that don't know, they'll say, you know, "Make sure it's not too hot," and then you'll know right away. It's a cold sandwich.

Customer: What do you mean? Sloppy joes are part of our DNA. What do you mean? It's New Jersey. This is what a real sloppy joe is.

Taryn: Behind the counter, it starts with Pullman rye bread, which is rye bread made in a white bread mold, making it square instead of round.

Matt: We slice it horizontally, so we get a long slice, as opposed to a short, little round slice, and it comes out just like that.

Taryn: Oh, my gosh. Yeah.

Matt: So, we use three slices of this rye bread.

Taryn: It's so thin.

Matt: Paper thin.

Taryn: Is there a reason that you don't cut, and you choose to slice it on this?

Matt: The only way to get it perfectly straight is to use a slicer.

Taryn: OK.

Whereas most bakeries just use rye flavoring, Town Hall Deli gets bread from a bakery that uses actual caraway seeds in the dough mixture, giving it a more authentic and natural flavor.

Matt: If you look at it, you can tell that this bread's a little more gray than other breads, and that's from the actual pieces of caraway seeds in it.

Taryn: So that's how you know it's real.

Matt: Yeah. And that's how you know it's the good stuff.

Taryn: Really cool.

The original recipe was made with sliced cow tongue, which you can still order today, but the most popular combo at Town Hall Deli now is called The Favorite, made with roast beef and turkey. They slice a third of a pound of each meat before they're placed onto slices of rye bread.

Matt: So, next layer's our dry coleslaw.

Taryn: Dry?

Also known as coleslaw minus the mayo. After they cut the cabbage, they brine it for three days, then drain it three times to make sure all of the liquid is squeezed out and won't make the sandwich soggy. The most beloved ingredient is, by far, the deli's signature Russian dressing.

Matt: It's very secret, and we make it in house, and that's all I'm gonna tell you.

Taryn: That's all you can say. This has mayo, though.

Matt: That's all I can say. This is mayonnaise-based, and we make this mayo in house.

Taryn: The Russian dressing is a combination of mayo, ketchup, and vinegar, based on traditional recipes.

Matt: Then our three pieces of Swiss.

Taryn: And finally, a light spread of butter across the third slice, because...

Matt: One, it gives it a little flavor, 'cause who doesn't like butter? The second, it helps it stick to this piece of cheese, so when we cut it, it won't move back and forth. And it also creates a barrier between the bread and the cheese and the Russian dressing to make sure that the bread doesn't get soggy.

Taryn: Wow. All right, let's just go for it. There is no tongue on this sandwich, either, not like the original. A little sloppy. It is a little sloppy. The Russian dressing stands out above everything. That is incredibly creamy. Incredibly creamy. It's really, really, really, really good. It's got a sweet tanginess to it. And the butter! That was an interesting thing that we learned, that they put the butter on the top so it doesn't get as soggy. And I wouldn't say it got soggy at all, honestly. And like I said, it's kinda like a club because it's stacked in the way that it is, but there's no bacon or anything greasy or heavy like that. It's fresh, and it's light, so it is very opposite of what other people may think of when they think of a sloppy joe.

Customer: It's very complex. It has a number of different flavors. You have the savory aspect, the sweet aspect to it, it's crunchy, it's soft, it has everything that you really would want in a sandwich.

Customer: Personally, I'm kind of, you know, insulted when people say sloppy joes are the mystery-meat sandwiches. I mean, my mom's from New York City, so when she met my dad, and my grandmother was gonna have sloppy joes at a dinner one night, when she showed up for the first time, and it was this, she fell in love. With him and the sandwich.

Taryn: Town Hall Deli says it was the first place to serve the sandwich in New Jersey in 1935, but it doesn't take credit for creating it.

Matt: There's a bar in Havana called Sloppy Joe's Bar and Grill.

Taryn: And it's still there? Matt: It's still there. It's opened and closed a few times. They don't make this sandwich anymore, but at the time, in the '30s, the mayor of Maplewood ate this sandwich, or a sandwich similar to this, and he loved it, so he came back, and he asked the guys here to recreate it, and they did.

Taryn: Some even say it's the best sandwich you'll find in the Garden State.

Customer: I have had sloppy joes from other, around New Jersey, and this is the best in town.

Customer: There's delis all over the place that do "sloppy joes," but it ain't Town Hall.