After his family-famous sweet potato pies and beloved beans and cornbread, one of the next foods I associate with my dad is fried bologna sandwiches.
My dad grew up eating fried bologna sandwiches, a dish that has been passed down through generations. I have vague memories of him making them for my brother and me as a late-night snack or perhaps packing them to take with us on a Saturday morning fishing trip.
The sandwiches are rather simple. Slices of bologna, which for us always came from the familiar yellow and red Oscar Mayer package, are fried — or, more accurately, griddled — in a skillet until browned to your liking. (Like with hot dogs, I prefer them to be a little charred.) Then grab a couple of slices of sandwich bread, add a good squiggle of yellow mustard, and you’re in for some mighty fine eating.
My brother claims there was also “sandwich spread” — which is sort of a mix of mayonnaise and relish (and something I completely forgot existed until now) — but all I can remember is the mustard.
In honor of Father’s Day, I decided to revisit this classic Southern sandwich and staple of my youth. However, I didn’t want to write a recipe that was just bread, bologna and mustard. Instead, I wanted to create a sandwich with a few extra bells and whistles that captures my palate in this phase of my life.
It all starts with the bologna.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d eaten bologna, but revisiting this sandwich might make me add it to my next grocery list. Instead of the prepackaged variety you’d find in the aisle with the rest of the refrigerated deli meats, head over to the deli counter. One of the main reasons is that you can ask the deli clerk to cut the meat into thick slices to make the sandwiches feel more substantial. The other is that the brands you can find there are often more flavorful. (I enjoyed the flavor and texture of Boar’s Head beef bologna when developing this recipe.)
Bologna slices have a tendency to curl and cup when they’re frying in a pan. The one trick that any fried bologna aficionado will tell you, regardless of what kind of meat you use, is that you need to cut slits into the slices to help them stay flat while cooking.
Further upgrades to this super sandwich include adding pimento cheese for creamy tang, potato chips for extra crunch, and an array of more standard sandwich toppings, such as lettuce, pickles, tomato and onion. But that’s just the beginning. In a question I posted to social media, people told me that they’ve also added fried eggs, coleslaw, chow-chow, different types of cheese, and, quite surprisingly, peanut butter and jelly (though never on the same sandwich). Take this as encouragement to griddle some deli meat and make the fried bologna sandwich of your dreams.
And to address the elephant in the room: Those looking to limit their sodium intake may be aghast when they look at the nutritional info for this recipe. Remember, this is not an everyday lunch sandwich. It’s a deluxe version of a nostalgic favorite, and a treat worth revisiting every now and then.
