Fried Bologna & Other Southern Sandwiches
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Southern Plate is more than just me typing and chatting away. In fact, YOU are the most important part of SouthernPlate.com. With that in mind, I hope you’ll take time to leave a comment and share your favorite sandwich from your childhood. See bottom of this post for more details! Gratefully, Christy 🙂 
When my mama was a girl they had a tradition of going out riding through the countryside on Sunday afternoons. They’d stop off at a little store to have thick slices of bologna cut off and made into bologna and cheese sandwiches. Pair that with a bottled drink and they were living high on the hog! “There just wasn’t anything like getting to ride in that car and look out the window while you ate a bologna sandwich!”.
This treat was passed down to my generation when we often sat down for lunch with a big loaf of bread and a stack of cheese slices in the middle of the table while Mama fried up bologna in a skillet. We’d each make our own sandwich and I’d make mine just like my brother did: Fried bologna, cheese, and potato chips settled in between two pieces of “loaf bread”.
Bologna sandwiches, sometimes referred to as “the poor man’s steak”, are such a part of our culture, they’re even used to gauge a person’s character. On the day we got married, my husband’s best man, Jim, had driven in a ways and was planning on staying overnight before heading back. He stayed with my Grandmother, who lived across the road from what was to be our new home. It had been quite a day with the wedding and reception and that evening Grandmama and Jim went out on her porch to relax and look out over the river.
For supper, Grandmama made the two of them bologna sandwiches.
To Grandmama, Jim and my husband represented a new generation, with a huge divide between folks her age and them. Grandmama had grown up dirt poor and picking cotton all of her life and here was this young man newly graduated from college with an engineering degree whose experience with her world had been nothing more than glancing at the cotton as the car went by. Its sometimes a little intimidating for folks who come from such humble backgrounds in situations like this, but when Jim accepted that bologna sandwich, it spoke volumes to Grandmama about the type of person he was at heart. Even now whenever he is mentioned she always chimes, in,
“That Jim is just a real good boy, he sat out there on the porch and ate a bologna sandwich with me”.
To make the sandwich from my childhood you’ll need: Bread, cheese, mayo…
and potato chips 🙂
My brother taught me the wonders of a potato chip sandwich over thirty years ago.
I think it almost made up for him cutting the entire side of my hair off a few years later.
Now we have to fry out bologna. I always cut a slit halfway through to keep it from curling up into a bowl as it fries.
I prefer Zeigler bologna because it is made in Alabama. I try to buy as close to home as I can because last thing we want is to end up relying on a company halfway across the country for our food supplies. I think it’s best to support local suppliers to ensure that you have local suppliers. Zeigler’s has been around for over seventy five years. Their main plant is in Tuscaloosa and our own highly respected Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant was once an owner of the company as well.
Reminder to all: I am not into football but Alabamians take their football very seriously.
So whatever team you are for, GO THEM!
You don’t need to spray your pan or anything, just put your bologna in it and cook it on medium, turning after it browns on one side. Some folks like there is just barely heated but I actually like a wee bit of black on mine 🙂
Note to myself: You use the word “actually” too much, stop it. Now. Seriously.
~sighs~
Oh lawd, that’s some good eatin’!
I always smoosh it a bit to crunch the chips down some 🙂
Grandmama, I’m a real good girl because I still eat bologna sandwiches!
A few posts back we got into a comment discussion on strange sandwich combinations we grew up on. It was a fascinating comment section and we all really got a hoot out of reading it. I’d like to devote this comment section to those sandwiches. What did you grow up on? What brands do you insist on and why?
Mayonaise sandwich? Mustard sandwich? PB and banana? Tell us all about it! Also, why do you think Southerners eat such strange sandwich combinations-ketchup sandwich, anyone?
I think it is due to lack of food. When food was scarce, you could put something between two slices of bread, call it a sandwich and then it suddenly seemed like a meal. What do you think?
If there is anything else you wanna talk about in the comments section, feel free to do that, too.
See someone else’s comment you wanna reply to? Go right ahead!
I consider this to be my big old porch and we’re all just a standing around visiting with each other.
Y’all keep the conversation going and I’ll keep the tea glasses filled!
We’re all family here anyways. 🙂
“The happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.”
Submitted by Rebecca Hall. To submit your quote or read more, please click here.
I just love getting new positive quotes so thank you in advance!
We had sugared butter biscuits and mustard sandwiches for after school treats…..life was good!
Mom often made fried baloney sandwiches for me and my 4 brothers & sisters. I’d say the “oddest” sandwich she’d make us was buttered bread with a heavy sprinkling of sugar. But they were considered to be more of a treat than a meal (thank God!). I was so surprised that other posters have also had sugar sandwiches…I really thought we were the only ones!! Sometimes, we’d ask Mom to make us plain mayonnaise sandwiches. Now that we’re grown up, two of my brothers and I like Miracle Whip. Mom, Dad, 2 sisters and 1 brother prefer Duke’s.
My father’s aunt from Brooklyn, NY made fried boloney sandwiches with mayo on rye bread. My father still loves stuffing sandwiches, made the day after Thanksgiving, and he also used to make baked bean sandwiches (baked beans on two pieces of buttered white bread). And salmon sandwiches, made with canned salmon and Durkee’s. My mother made cold boloney sandwiches with cream cheese and sweet pickle relish, which at the time I thought sounded terrible, and now that I’ve tried them, I think they’re pretty good. My grandfather grew his own tomatoes and made the best tomato sandwiches, ripe tomatoes on white bread with mayo (usually Hellman’s here in NJ), salt and pepper.
I am now starving for a fried bologna sandwich after reading all the comments above. I, too, grew up on bologna sandwiches with either mustard or Miracle Whip. No Mayo for me. When I married (52 years ago), I thought my new husband was crazy when he made his bologna, dill pickles, peanut butter and mayo sandwich. He’s a mayo person, so we have to keep both in the frig.
Growing up, we were poor, but I was also finicky. If I didn’t like what Mama cooked, I ate a Miracle Whip sandwich. My dad always said if I got hungry enough, I’d eat whatever Mama cooked. He was so right.
Once on a mission trip to Appalachia, the leader of the VBS at a church there took a whole loaf of bologna and a whole loaf of American cheese (gov. commodity), chopped them up finely, mixed them up and added pickles and mayonnaise to make a sandwich spread. That’s the only time I ever ate bologna that way, but it was GREAT! It made enough sandwiches to feed the whole Bible School.
The thought that keeps coming to me as I read these posts, is how very privileged we were to be raised by resourceful, creative folks who knew how to make something out of nothing. I always say I raised my crew of six on prayer and pinto beans, but there was a whole mess of bologna in there too. Thanks to all for sharing these precious memories of wonderful childhoods, and even more wonderful mamas, and daddies, and grands, and aunties…blessings to you all.
Ditto. Double ditto, Mama Jane. You said it well.
What a FUN thread!! As several have mentioned, a lot of these “odd” sandwiches were invented out of financial need. I, for one, take a lot of comfort in that since my job has been severely cut back and money is tight. If I can look back with this much joy to times that were hard, surely there is joy to be found in spite of present difficulties.
I honestly thought I was the only one making peanut butter and tomato sandwiches – and I only started that a couple of months ago when hordes of tomatoes were chasing us out of our garden. If peanut butter goes well with other fruits (like bananas or jam) why not tomato? Surprisingly good. I hadn’t added mayonnaise to them but how could it hurt?
Peanut butter and white sugar is another old, old favorite. For that matter I’ve eaten a LOT of butter and white sugar on white bread sandwiches.
Mayonnaise sandwiches were a real go-to for lunches back when I was just a girl. And a sandwich with mayo, cheese, and a fried “stirred” egg was wonderful! (You just break the yolk and stir it around a little so that the egg is two-toned.) YUM!
Fried boloney was more of a dinner meat at our house. (Heavens! Just how poor were we??) Sandwiches were typically made with cold baloney – my favorite was with mayo and lettuce, hold the cheese. I’ve never tried potato chips on there but I do love ’em on the side. The lettuce was important, though, for that crunchy texture.
My VERY FAVORITE sandwich (and I still make one whenever I can) is made with white bread: spread one slice with mayonnaise and pile on leftover mashed potatoes. Sprinkle liberally with black pepper and toast under the broiler in the oven or in a toaster oven. Spread the second slice of bread with mayo and top with a slice of American cheese. Toast this slice as well and when the bread is lightly browned, the potato warm and the cheese melty, put the sandwich together and enjoy! GREAT with a cold glass of milk!
Some people are amused (or alarmed) by my “mashed tater sammiches”. I never thought they were that strange but then an aunt of mine was always partial to green bean sandwiches! Stuffing sandwiches after Thanksgiving are heavenly – most any leftovers can be stacked on bread and enjoyed. To this day I make meatloaf primarily so I can have sandwiches for a few days.
And I guess I’ve passed on the weird sandwich gene – my son always loved a slice of baloney on his grilled hamburger!
Hi Lindakimy,
I was touched by your comments and wanted to offer my best support to you as I wish for your finances to get better. I and my family have been there where you are several times and am blessed that we are in better times. Often, Tuna Helper saved my mealtime for family of 4 because it only cost a total of $3.00. Kind and loving friends/family brought us groceries to help us through the rough times too. I am thrilled that you found encouragement in this SP post and that you will look for a positive outcome soon. Best of everything to you and yours. Good Luck!
My mother at the strangest things, but she grew up with limited resources as well, I think the strangest she ever ate was choclate cake with pinto beans!!
And that mashed potato sammy sounds good to me!
I’ve been reading all these old post. I happen to love white beans and chocolate cake.
that bologna sandwich looks like perfection to me! I love chips on my bologna… just never tried it fried… ima gonna get some bologna this week and try it!