Fried Bologna & Other Southern Sandwiches
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!
Posted by Christy Jordan
on Sep 22 2009. Filed under Main Course, Southern Classics.
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This is not a sandwich but…….fried bologna gravy. dice bologna, fry in small amount of oil until brown. make milk gravy with bologna. serve over hot biscuits. yum yum
My daddy used to make us fried bologna gravy when we were kids. Good memories
I can remember eating fried bologna sandwiches made by my Aunt Faye. She made them for my older cousin and I while the ‘little girls’ (our baby sisters) were taking their nap. We were the ‘big girls’ and I can remembering feeling so proud as we ate our secret fried bologna sandwiches, what a sweet memory it is!
I do have a sandwich that I ate as a child that my mother made for me and I have yet to come accross anyone who doesn’t turn their nose up at it when I mention it. She used to make me peanut butter and mayo sandwiches. YuMmY!
My daddy loves peanut butter, mayo and banana sandwiches!
AWESOME
My Mama used to eat potato salad sandwiches…yep, homemade potato salad between 2 slices of white bread…but I love peanut butter nad mayonaise sandwiches with a glass of milk..yum!!
I never knew that banana and mayonaise sandwiches were a southern thing til one of my yankee friends asked me why on earth i’d put mayonaise on a banana?!?! cuz its gud…. mmmmm
Not much mayo isn’t good on! I put mayo on my pinto beans!
Love mayo in my pintos!!! Got that from my Uncle Leo who lived in Athens Alabama. Still can’t eat cornbread in buttermilk though.
Yes, we ate alot of banana sandwiches with mayo.Mayo goes great with everything!!!!
When I was in elementary school our cafeteria use to serve bologna cups, made by frying a slice of bologna and then adding a scoop of mashed potatoes and then a slice of cheese. When we got the cheese was melted, it was yummmm! Did anybody else school cafeteria use to serve those? This was late 60′s early 70′s in southern Virginia.
We had those at Warfield Elementary in Florida, they called them Mexican hats.
Oh YUM! Mrs. Betty, the cook at my elem. school made those for us. She called them flying saucers, and they were my 2nd favorite school lunch (pintos and cornbread, with mac and cheese was #1). 39 years later, and I am still craving those flying saucers. I wonder what my hubby would do if I served them one night!
I remember that Phyllis. But in NC, they called it flying saucer.
My friend Kathie and I are quite a few years apart in age, also she was born in CA and myself in AR, but we found out we both loved the same sandwich. Peanut butter and bacon. Our co-workers could never understand how we could ever make that combination, but MAN that is good eatin. My father was one for joking around and sometimes you weren’t sure if it was a joke. He always talked about Peanut butter and mustard sandwiches. Well, one day one of my younger sisters made him his ‘favorite’ sandwich and God love him he ate a peanut butter and mustard sandwich.
My favorite growing up was a tuna melt, cooked just like a grilled cheese but with tuna stuffed in it. Lots of butter on the bread. Good stuff!
We used to have hot turkey sandwiches or hot roast beef sandwiches with gravy poured over them, so you ate the sandwich with a knife and fork.
Another favorite was cream cheese and chopped green olive on pumpernickel bread. I grew up in New England and have lived in the south for ten years. I had never heard of pimento cheese until moving here!
Oh Yum! Hot turkey sandwich sounds divine about right now!
The bologna sandwich, i love it with a egg over easy, or country fried added.
Love fried bologna! But my very favorite summer sandwich is Tomato(fresh from my daddy’s garden) and miracle whip between two slices of bread. Absolutely yummy. Not bad with crackers either.
When I was growing up the fried bologna was served with our eggs instead of bacon. The sandwich sounds good! To Phyllis’ post… We didn’t see bologna cups in our school lunch. Only thing I remember about our elementary lunches were that they were much different than the ones served today and only cost 30 cents!
When I was in school we had soup one day a week and it was always vegetable, friday was the only day of the wk we ever had hamburgers or hot dogs.We also had fish sticks for lunch also.And always milk.Those were the good days.
Best sandwich ever white bread, bologna, American singles cheese, chili “with Beans”
mayonnaise, lettuce, YUM YUM
My mother made bbq bolgna sandwiches. She’d grill the bologna and then add bbq sauce to it. I make them for my kids sometimes. I would always eat miracle whip (my mother hated mayo), bologna and dill pickle sandwiches. Always on white bread. Always. And when there was leftover bisquits it was a tomato/miraclewhip/bisquit sandwich. MMMMM. Love your website. Lots of teenage boy friendly recipes that can fill up some tummies. Thanks.
When I would spend the night with my Gramps and Granny I would get a butter and sugar sandwich as a before bed treat! Yummy!
Yum! Cream cheese sandwiches! You can eat them with only cream cheese or with jelly added.
My mom would lay a slice of American cheese on a piece of loaf bread, pour pork’n'beans over it, lay bacon on top and put them under the broiler. I don’t know that there was ever a name for them, but they were a family favorite for Saturday nights after a busy day.
When we were kids, my brother and I invented (or thought we did) the most fantastic sandwich ever. 2 slices white bread (like Wonder). Toast lightly – just starting to get golden. Immediately spread both slices with thin layer of peanut butter (we liked creamy but chunky is ok too), then top with a slice or 2 of bologna. Insanely good! We also had fried bologna for breakfast, in Philly they had Taylor Pork Roll (similar to bologna, very good).
I love fried bologna sandwiches. The middle of the bologna would rise up while frying so we used to call them “hats”. My kids now love them. Another favorite sandwich of mine is two slices of bread, fresh sliced tomatoes right out of the garden, and mayo. Good soggy bread eating.
My aunt used to eat radish sandwiches – sliced radishes between two slices of bread.
Ohh, radish sandwiches, I might have to try that!
Bolgna and Cheese – melted in the oven with that good ole hoop cheese or rat cheese they called it, of course with Dukes mayo and potato chips on the side with french onion dip! omg I could eat a plate full right now. We fixed em up fried sometimes too but usually with eggs and cheese thats how my husband likes them. We eat local bolgna too, very thick with a red ring around it so you have to pull it off with your teeth hahaha. Good memories of my grandma cooking these up with her cast iron skillet.
oh and my Grandma used to eat Pineapple sandwiches with Dukes Mayo and cheese! Now that was weird even to me…..
My step mother likes to fix grilled cheese sandwiches and adds grape jelly on them. This is what she eats everyday for a late breakfast.
This isn’t too weird but not many people think it is as good as my grandma and I do. Whenever there was leftover chicken (just plain chicken), She would take two pieces of break (or one) and coat the bread with butter. Then she would add LOTS of fine black pepper all over the butter. Put the chicken on and add more black pepper. Those are still a favorite, nothing like it!
Take 2 slices italian bread. Put a slice of provolone or mozarella cheese in between (or anything else that melts well). Dip it in combo of beaten eggs and milk (like french toast) and fry it like a grilled cheese. My nonny made these for us after school. Sometimes she would fill ‘em with cream cheese and rasberry jam instead of the the provolone. So wonderful!! I never had another like it.
I still make fried bologna. My husband eats his with chips too. Very good
My Mother made Bologna Gravy when we were growing up.
She would cut the thick sliced bologna in to chunks then fry it and make the gravy all in one skillet.
That poured over fresh “light bread” was sooo good.
Some time she would fry potatoes along side,which would feed our family of eight.She said she was stretching what we had.
Yes we had that in South Berwick Maine in elementary school in the 60s. A piece of fried bologna with a scoop of mashed potato. Yum! The lunch ladies called them Beatle Wigs in honor of the Beatles!
How funny, love that they named them and made it fun!
My grandparents never got food stamps but would go and get groceries once a month from the government, both were poor and never drove a vehicle.They had some kind of can meat in there, it was good and also the cheese was wonderful.I learned how to make corn bread with dry eggs.Great days. They were poor but you would have never know it. Alot of LOVE.
I grew up on bologna sandwiches too. I also loved cold meatloaf sandwiches with ketchup. Also coleslaw on squishy white bread sandwiches. Yum!
YUMMMM!!!
One of the sandwiches that I make, although not all that often, is peanut butter and gummi bears…the gummi bears act like a multi-flavored jelly, so to speak. I also put potato chips on my sandwiches, not to mention in my ice cream with peanut butter! YUM!
Peanut butter- ALWAYS creamy, mayo, and bacon…on toast. YUM! I also put nacho Doritos on my pb&j.
Now that is an unusual sandwich Kellie!
I don’t care for bologna, but growing up my mama and granny would always buy the zeigler brand hotdogs and then when I grew up and moved off here to SC I can’t find them anywhere! Thankfully, a trip home to Athens is coming up soon!
Always liked peanut butter and mayo. Another favorite was mashed potato with mustard on toast using the leftover mashed potatoes from the Sunday lunch.
I grew up in Brooklyn, NY but I also had fried bologna sandwiches as a kid. I still eat them today, on occassion, but I melt the cheese on the hot bologna. I use Gulden’s brown mustard on the bread. For a change of pace sometimes I fry up a slice of onion and/or a slice of tomato and I slap that on top of the melted cheese and bologna. Yum! It’s really good!
My mom used to make egg salad sandwiches. She’d fry bacon. Then scramble eggs. Then add mayo, salt & pepper to the scrambled eggs & crumble the bacon & add it. Mix it up gently. Then spread between two slices of bread (sometimes toasted) and eat. Makes a great sandwich! So much better than boiled egg salad.
Bologna – or “Kentucky Round Steak” as they say up North in Ohio. We loved “bologn-y” in our house. My mother would always make three slits around the bologna so it would fry flat. I make it the same way, and my kids when they were little called them flowers.
We would have fried bologna for breakfast in lieu of bacon or sausage. We would have it for lunch… My absolute favorite sandwich is with a sun ripened tomato fresh out of the garden, mayo, cheese, and a green onion!! Good eating!
My Mom would tell us that when she was little, that for special get togethers, my Grandmother, would fry up sliced bologna so it would cup up (or look like a hat!) and fill it with Spanish Rice – (rice, tomatoes, green peppers (mango), onions, hamburger, crispy bacon). I always thought that was inventive, and would look cute for a dinner – potluck.
In Chapel Hill/Raleigh NC we ate these sandwiches: fried bologna ‘flowers’ with mustard; sliced banana with mayo; peanut butter and sliced banana; cold chopped egg salad; potted ham with chopped pickles/ toasted; grilled american cheese; and sliced garden tomatoes, mayo, with salt and pepper– all on grocery loaf white bread. Once in a while my granny would make souse meat sandwiches. When I visited my great aunt in Burlington she would fry up her favorite liver pudding slices and serve them on white bread with mustard. I loved them all!
My mother used to give my sister and I sandwiches made from white bread, margarine and sugar.
Sugar sandwich. I never did find out why but I think it was growing up dirt poor in Dublin Ireland in the 20′s & 30′s. A slice of bread, thin spread butter, right to the edges, and white sugar. Same stuff you put in your coffee. Fold it in half and you got a sugar sandwich.
Potato chip sandwich. Bread, butter, spread to the edges real thin, and plain potato chips. As much as you can pile on cause you deserve it. Place the top slice of bread on and squish it down flat then cut into four and place on a napkin. Good luck. lol I like to have mine with dill pickles and pop.
Mom used to put them in our lunch for school as a treat, she didn’t put a lot of chips on and they were soggy but oh boy where they good!
Peanut butter and dill pickles. Don’t laugh, we have turned a lot of our friends onto these over the yrs and they laughed till their sides hurt when we told them about them.
Fried balogna.. oh my the memories your pictures invoke. It is something I will just have to buy so I can have one now. Remember when balogna came in one big solid piece covered in wax. That was the best frying balogna ever.
I often had fried “baloney” for breakfast when I was in high school… another favorite of my mom’s (and mine) was liver sausage (braunschweiger), also good on saltines… I guess the strangest sandwich, that I LOVED to make myself as a kid, was leftover cold spaghetti on white bread!
Everyone, thanks for the memories of great southern food. Favorite sandwich growing up was tomato and Miracle Whip (mayo was not allowed in the house). I craved it when I was pregnant with both my boys.
I’ve had the peanut butter and bacon sandwich. I was on orders with the Navy and one of the Chiefs was making it for “mid-rats”. Oh, it was soooo good, especially since we had the night watch and cook was fast asleep.
How about butter and onion sandwiches.
Also, Bostonians turned me on to Peanut Butter and Marshmallow Fluff onf White Bread.
There is nothing like an open faced Roast Beef or Turkey Sandwich!
Thats all I can think of at the moment!
Banana with cinnamon-sugar sprinkled on it! YUMMO!
I grew up eating fried bologna sandwiches. It wasn’t until I was older that I learned to cut the bologna half-way to prevent it from curling up. Love that trick! I have to chuckle when I look at it though, as it reminds me of Pac-Man!
I also like potato chips on sandwiches. There’s something fun about the crunch! Sour cream and onion chips on a sammie are my favorite! Yum!!!
I grew up eating peanut butter & dill pickle (hamburger slices) sandwiches. My mother was pregnant a lot & maybe it was a pregnancy craving, but I ate them with her & enjoyed them with a glass of milk as an after school snack!
When I was pregnant, I ate peanut butter, mayo & sweet pickle sandwiches. Now, 46 years later, that’s still my favorite sandwich! Also, anything with mayo & ketchup;(or, just mayo & catsup!); BLT’s with ketchup; onion & tomato with mayo and all on white bread!
I grew up eating the same sandwich but using mustard instead of mayo. Probably because my mom doesn’t like mayo : ) I also gave my sons these sandwiches as they were growing up. As we moved around from state to state with the Air Force, we couldn’t always find it, but I always looked for Zieglers bologna and cut a slit in it so it wouldn’t curl up.
Chips are also good on peanut butter sandwiches. Something about peanuts and the salty chips just work. Isn’t it a small world?
I think I’m the only person in my family that never could tolerate bologna. I grew up loving peanut butter and banana sandwiches, toasted cheese sandwiches, and, being from Kentucky, can’t forget those hot browns.
My mother frequently made fried bologna when I was growing up. Although bologna was my very favorite sandwich, I didn’t care for it fried. She would almost burn hers on top though, so I guess she likes it crispy a little. I hardly know anyone who eats bologna anymore but in my opinion it’s still the best sandwich you can make. Really fresh white bread (not as nutritional as wheat, but still think it tastes a whole lot better for bologna!), Miracle Whip (my mother didn’t buy mayo), and bologna: YUM! To this day when we travel on vacation this is what I pack for our “pull over & find a rest stop lunch”.
LOVE me some fried bologna! Especially fried garlic bologna! Mmm mmmm, now im gonna gave to get me some garlic bologna! I ate these so often growing up. Thanks for bringing back those sweet memories Christy! Hugs
Eatwell bologna, Heiner’s bread, Snyder’s potato chips.All local and all good.I lived in Florida for 3 years and craved it like crazy.Big slice of Beefsteak tomato fresh from the garden in the summer piled on top of it, nothing better, except maybe a sliced cucumber from the garden and some green onions with a bowl of pinto beans cooked with a hamhock.
Lordy, I made myself hungry.
Loretta Lynn grew up across the river and up a holler from from me and she said in her bio Coal Miner’s Daughter that she has traveled all over the world and eaten in the finest restaurants, but her very favorite thing to eat is a fried bologna sandwich.
Wow, talk about great minds thinking alike. My mom used to love peanut butter and sweet pickle sandwiches, and when I was a (constantly starving) teenager, I would sometimes have cold spaghetti on white bread after football practice. My mom routinely put pineapple and cheese sandwiches in my Scooby Doo lunch box as a little kid. But I think my favorite weird sandwich is ham and pimento cheese.