Recently though, I have noticed that fried bologna sandwiches are becoming en vogue. I have seen them pop up on menus around town, and Lucky Peach just did a recipe on bologna cups.
My old roommate Joe would make the occasional fried bologna sandwich, while I usually watched in a mix of disgust and awe. I wanted to get his opinion on them popping up around town. He is obviously a fried bologna sandwich expert because I have never seen anyone eat or make one before, and he has done both. I sent Joe a text inquiring about the popularity of fried bologna sandwiches, and what he wrote back blew my mind.
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| I was typing so fast from this revelation that I wasn't able to spell. |
Hold up. Bologna straight out of the package, which I hate so much, is like a hotdog out of the package? That's insane! I would NEVER eat a raw hotdog, but I love them cooked.
This revelation got me thinking that maybe I had been missing out on something delicious, so I decided I was going to make one.
First, I went to the farmer's market and found some bologna that I thought looked decent. I went with a veal bologna with a picture of some guy that looks like he may know what he's talking about on it. I also picked up some of my favorite sour pickles. My plan was to slice them ultra thin and layer them on the sandwich. I figured a mixture of sour pickles and mustard would make the bologna better if it tasted horrible. Oh yeah, and a slice of cheddar. Cheese would definitely help this sandwich. The bread is a pre-sliced brioche. I used this cause I already had it at my house.
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| It definitely looks like a raw hot dog. |
With my main ingredients in place, the sandwich pretty much put itself together after that. I fried the bologna in a skillet, and a disturbing amount of inflation and fat leakage occurred.
I then threw in the slice of cheese to melt on top--this is something I had seen Joe do, so I figured it was proper fried bologna sandwich protocol.
With everything ready, it was time to put this thing together. I had been skeptical up until this point, but, honestly, it really didn't look that bad.
I put it all together, cut it in half, took a bite, and didn't vomit. Actually, it was pretty damn good. Definitely not an all-the-time kind of thing, but it was pretty good. I even started telling people about how good it was and showing them pictures of it on my phone. Most people didn't care.
