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!
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Posted by Christy Jordan
on Sep 22 2009. Filed under Main Course, Southern Classics.
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I have a friend who loves to make a dressing sandwich with leftover dressing from Thanksgiving or Christmas. You put mayo, chicken or turkey dressing, turkey and cranberry sauce. One day before Christmas, someone on the TV program “The Chew” on ABC, one of the chef’s made a form of this sandwich but he added lettuce. or actually a salad with raisins, pine nuts with a special kind of salad dressing. I love pineapple sandwiches myself.
Thick fried bologna on soft white bread with mustard and fried onions….to die for.
YUM!
YUM!
I grew up in Birmingham, so of course we had “Southern Sandwiches” all my life. Only problem for me was and is, I don’t like mayo! So picture all those good ol’ sandwiches without mayo! But they were wonderful-white bread of course. Pineapple sandwiches, untoasted cheese, pb and banana , tomato sandwiches, BLT’s and tuna fish. I always substituted mustard for the mayo, (except for pineapple). Even as an adult when my mother and grandmother made tuna fish sandwiches (that was usually a Saturday treat)-they would put the mustard jar beside my plate especially for me! That was when a can of tuna made more than 2 sandwiches! And lest I forget, I always wanted my bologna nearly burned, it tasted good with the mustard!
I have not had a pineapple sandwich in years. Brings back my childhood. I may just have to have one this weekend.
My dad used to eat yellow mustard and sugar on white bread when he was a kid. I remember trying it once when I was little. I don’t remember if I liked it or not. It does not sound appetizing to me now.
I also love fried bologna(a little burnt) with onion,cheese, and mayo.But one of my favorite sandwiches is peanut butter with bacon…YUMMY!!!
I loved fried bologna sandwiches. Some more from my childhood:
-tomato and mayonnaise
-potted meat mixed with mayo
-pimento cheese
-”Vi-enny” sausages cut in half and laid out over mayo
I always liked to put Fritos on my sandwiches…still do.
I hadn’t had it for years but yesterday I had a potted meat and miracle whip sandwhich. Yummy.
PB and banana is my all-time favorite and I often have it for breakfast. And we can’t forget PB and FLUFF!! We lived in NY state for 4 years and our friends didn’t even know what Fluff was…what a sad, sad childhood they must have had! If I weren’t in the airport right now I’d be makin’ a fluffernutter for sure.
I like the picture, especially the DUKES Mayo~ ;^) THE ONLY GOOD MAYO as far as I am concerned, not sweet like the rest of the mayo’s, In my house, bologna (I often-ed wondered why they spelled it b-o-l-o-g-n-a when you say “ba=lo-ny”) anyway, In my house if we run out of bologna, my daughter absolutely goes into “def-con” mode and pesters me til I go to the store, preferably (putting on my singing shoes) ….(mememe) ” my bologna has a first name it’s O-S-C-A-R My bologna has a second name it’s M-A-Y-E-R . Anyway back to the DUKES–goes with EVERYTHING that is between 2 slices of “white” bread! Mayo sandwich, peanut-butter/jelly, pineapple, onion/ tomato, banana/peanutbutter, plain onion, plain tomato, and plain ‘ole dukes mayo and crackers!
I loved mayonnaise sandwiches! I went to town with Mama on Saturdays and sometimes we would get to eat at a restaurant .. When I was about 5, we went to the restaurant and I ordered a cheese sandwich without the cheese! I wanted a mayonnaise sandwich! Mama is gone now, but we had so many laughs over that as I was growing up!
I loved Miracle Whip sandwiches when I was little.
Fried egg with mustard sandwiches were always my favorite. Love fried bologna with cheese and mayo sandwiches, also banana with peanut butter and mayo. Lots of people eat pineapple with mayo sandwiches. I love pineapple but never could eat that ! As kids we ate mayo on saltines and made mustard and ketchup sandwiches ! My very favorite now is a fat BLT made with a home grown tomato fresh from the garden !
The sandwich I always ate as a kid is the Buddig thin sliced beef (that comes in the little packs) and cheese. That’s all I ever took to school when I brought my lunchbox.
I’m from the north (PA) and we had fried bologna sandwiches too except we just put bologna between 2 slices of white bread (usually Wonder Bread), spread butter on the outside, and grilled them in a cast iron skillet. No condiment of any kind, but 50 some years later just thinking about it takes me back to my childhood.
We ate lettuce sandwiches with mayonnaise. Also we ate fried livermush sandwiches. In the summer, my Daddy had a garden, and we would eat homegrown tomato sandwiches with salt, pepper, and mayo.
Mother made what she called Olive and Cheese. Chopped up green olives, cream cheese and Kraft Mayo. Also, her pimento cheese was different than most peoples. It is Kraft Deluxe American Cheese, Dill Pickles, Pimentos and Kraft mayonnaise. A friend of ours was allergic to Cheddar and could eat Mother’s pimento cheese. I loved mustard on white bread sandwiches! We had a skinny friend who we tried to fatten up with mayonnaise sandwiches! Loved Mother’s ham salad too. She used the end of the ham, dill pickles and Kraft mayonnaise. It wasn’t sweet like store bought ham salad. My ex loved it so much a month or 2 after our divorce, he called and asked if I would make him some if he brought the ingredients. HA!
Good now to but it seems especially when you are a kid potato chips in a tuna or bologna taste so fantastic. Another of my favorites was sandwich ham on soft white bread with catsup. There was a magic about the taste that isn’t the same for me now. As a single mom with not much money, I made homemade wheat bread and the kids and I loved it with tomatoes out of our garden, salt & pepper, mayo on one side & peanut butter on the other. We also loved homemade wheat bread with pickles and peanut butter. As a teen, it was sliced and fried hotdogs on a sandwich with sliced onions and mustard & mayo.
fried bologna and mustard and potato chips is good…bologna and mayo with fresh garden tomatoes is great.peanut butter and banana is awesome..I also love sandwich spread for a sandwich.. fried egg ,tomato and mayo is good.
but I cannot eat peanut butter and pickles ,but my daughter would come home every day from school and make her a PB sandwich with dill pickles and still likes it .enjoyed this topic.
My Aunt used to make us “mater sameches”. She took two slices of light bread and spread mayonnaise on them and put salt and pepper on and that was our tomato sandwiches. My daughter likes mayonnaise sandwiches. I like Peanut butter and marshmallow creme. I love 2 ham slices with a slice of cheddar cheese and topped with pepperoni, fried on a plate with paper towels, in the microwave, on mayo and bread. Now, That’s out of this world.
What I miss most is Oil Sausage. Do you remember those? Prairie Belt sausage. Mother used to buy those in a number 10 can. We used to always take a can with us when we went fishing. Open them and put the can over a fire. OMG were those things good. Prairie Belt still makes them, but they’re not the same as the ones we used to buy in oil. I thought about taking the ones they have now and try frying them in oil, just to see if they taste like they used to. AND the tuna in fish oil. I used to make a salad without dressing and empty a can of tuna, oil and all in the salad. Boy, do I miss that. Let’s face it. Food isn’t as good as it was before they started taking all the oil out and substituting everything that was good with chicken.
I love mayonnaise sandwiches and my daughter loves dried beef on white bread. She has always loved that and took it to school for her lunch.,
You sparked a fond memory I hadn’t thought about in a long while. I just shared your post on my FB site, and then just posted a comment of my own on my wall. I attached a pic of one of my little brothers back about ’64 holding a great big heavy tube of that bologna. It’s not a “thing” up here in Iowa.
I have made and eaten many of these in my lifetime – not sure why it is so good but it really is !
PS: You are SO right about Alabamians and their football. I spent about 6 week in Dothan – right before the IRON BOWL and found out how serious people are in Alabama about their football. When I met someone, the first question was “where are you from”, the second question was “Do you like Auburn or Bama?” – I am NOT kidding !!
Disneypal
You’re SO right about football in our state of Alabama 
Come back to see us soon 
And , ROLL TIDE ROLL 
I forgot to tell you that I’m from Dothan
I too am a Southerner and I grew up on Miracle Whip and banana sandwiches!! To die for.. I want one now!
Pickled Beet Sandwiches! White bread, mayo, little sprinkle of onion powder and pepper, and sliced pickled beets! Yum. BTW, just found this blog today and love it!
Welcome to the Southern Plate Family Kathy!!! We are so glad to have you!!!
Thanks!
I, too, grew up on fried bologna sandwiches as we ALWAYS had bologna & white bread. Would eat it for breakfast, lunch or dinner! Sometimes, that’s pretty much all we had left in the house for a day or two until Momma’s or Daddy’s payday.
Now talking about weird sandwiches (not that I had this as a child but I was with child when I came up with this one): Hot dog & peanut butter on a hot dog bun. That was some good eating when I had my cravings!
i love fried bologna sandwiches 2 slices of soft white bread with miracle whip because i dont like mayo lol fried bologna extra crispy with red onions and chili cheese fritos my 8 yr old daughter named dallas loves mayo and lettuce sandwiches and if no lettuce she love just mayo im proud to be a southern belle living in louisiana
From Ozark, Alabama,,,,grilled peanut butter and jelly, fried green tomatoes, banana and mayo, bacon,bacon, bacon,,, fried bolony and tomato.we do not eat Bologna in Alabama,LOL! But the best was sugar and butter sandwiches !
I loved banana and mayo sandwiches on white bread. Growing up we also ate the staple tomato sandwiches, BLT, Fried egg or hotdog sandwich with lettuce and tomatoe where the hotdogs where sliced in half lengthwise and placed on white bread.
Growing up, we always had homemade biscuits for breakfast with some leftover. I had a sister who would eat leftover biscuits and sugar sandwiches..
My husband likes peanut butter, miracle whip, sliced onion, sweet pickles, and hot sauce…all of this on one sandwich. He makes sandwiches with just about everything…loves bean and onion sandwiches.
My 5 yr, old granddaughter loves ketchup sandwiches…I do too!
Speaking of fried baloney sandwiches we had fried wiener sandwiches. Mama would fry the wieners in the morning and put them on white bread. By lunchtime the grease would have soaked into the bread and Oh! it was so good. The next best was a fried sausage sandwich. Just sausage and white bread. We southeners have the best food, the best way to fix food, and I truly feel sorry for people who aren’t southern because they haven’t a clue what they have missed. I am a GRITS (and I love to eat them too) GIRL RAISED IN THE SOUTH!
I’m not southern….NJ living in PA now. Hated bologna growing up but I’d eat it fried. Like it on a hard roll with mayo …sometimes with scrambled egg. Potato chips are a plus. In fact just had that for dinner! My daughter just had a nice hot ham and cheese and my son (who doesn’t like hot sandwiches) had cold bologna with mayo. My hubby is a weirdo who doesn’t like sandwiches! For me sandwich night is the best night of the week!
When I was a child we used to visit family in Alabama and I loved it! Everyone there were people who were farmers and lived off the land. Old time farmers not fancified farmers of today. The food was always delicious and country. One aunt in particular had nine children, so when we came to visit I ate what they ate. One of my favorite things (still to this day) was banana and mayonaise sandwiches. Spread the mayonaise on white bread, slice the bananas on top and squash it all together. We would always have a big glass of milk with it.Those were such good days!
We too ate fried bologna sandwiches! When we packed a picnic to go to the river swimming, no home swimming pools back then, Mother would always fry chicken and make sliced pineapple sandwiches with Blue Plate mayo. Also pimento cheese sandwiches. Good old days!
I grew up eating fried bologna (little burnt) on white bread with miracle whip, mustard and potato chips. Yum yum.
Tomato and mayo sammich! With fresh tomato from the garden so its still warm from the sun. Also fried egg with mustard on toast
In Maryland we put fried garlic bologna on our kosher hot dogs! Yum!
My daddy has spent his whole life in Huntsville and my mama grew up in Cullman. I have spent the majority of my 22 years in Harvest, AL (give or take 3 or 4 years down in Auburn). My daddy taught me that there’s not too many “sammiches” better than a peanut butter, mayonnaise, and tater chip sammich.
Mayo sandwiches on white bread if we were out of tuna salad. Does anyone remember a brand of tuna named Eatwell? It was the BEST tasting tuna – I cannot find it anywhere now. It tasted fresh and was different from other canned tunas. Sure miss it!
I have been hunting a recipe from West Virginia not sure where it originated from but it was called hot bologna sauce. They soak big thick slices of bologna in it a the make a sandwich. It is delicious. Would love the recipe if anyone has it or something close.
Gee, where do I start? We always ate sandwiches for lunch when I was a kid. Especially in the summer – way too hot to cook. :0)
White bread & Dukes mayo. was the given at our house- that’s just the way it was, and is…lol
-A tomato sandwich made with a juicy tomato just picked from the garden (mayo, salt & pepper) has got to be the KING of sandwiches & biscuits!
-Cheese & Doritos sandwich with a little mayo, slightly smooshing chips into the cheese (They are best with pork & beans when you’re at lake).
-Meatloaf & ketchup sand. (made with leftover meatloaf)
-Potted meat & mayo sand.
-Deviled ham & mayo
-Pimento cheese
-Peanut Butter & Banana sandwiches
-Pineapple & mayo (My dad loved ‘em)
I was talking with my grandmother the other day and this post came to mind. She chuckled and said that reminded her of her mama. She also told me that her favorite growing up came from the fact that they were dirt poor living in the country in Jenny Lind, Arkansas. My great grandparents worked the fields and my great grandmother raised 5 children. She would give them mustard and sugar sandwiches on white loaf bread for dessert and my grandmother said she loved them.
Forget way back when! Bologna sandwiches are my current “until there’s money in the till again!!” meal of choice. You can eat a whole week for $2 or $3 if you plan it right. Bologna is currently $1 for 11 slices and a loaf of bread is .88 cents at Kroger!
Favorites growing up and now…
-mayo only,
-potato chip with mayo,
-tomato/mayo,
-bbq potato chips on any of the above, yum.
-potted meat/mayo
-In college a friend would put banana slices and sugar on dry toast. (banana pudding substitute).
I say “actually” way too much as well. Wonder what’s that about?
Southern girl as well…raised in La, but live near Atl now.
I love fried bologna for breakfast with some Golden Eagle syrup poured on top…..yummm…dark fried bologna on soft white bread with mayo, lettuce and fresh tomato if available.
Strange thing to eat…..chocolate ice cream with plain potato chips crushed up in it….like the sweet and salty thang!!!
I do not really have a strange sandwich combination but my family can not eat Thomas Pit BBQ potato salad without plain lays potato chips to dip it with, and it has to be Lays nothing else will do, I once went and picked up some BBQ and forgot the chips, you would have thought I shot someone the way my family acted, needless to say a quick trip to the store and all was well in the family again.
My Grandaddy used to eat onion “sammiches” when he felt a cold coming on. We ued to eat “heel sandwiches” made with the heel (both ends) of the loaf bread….the heels, salt, pepper, and mustard and that was it.
Yes!! Fried bologna sandwich with yellow mustard & a pickle…or with Miracle Whip on it! And chips. YUM!!
Another favorite my mom used to make was “ham & pickle” sandwiches…she’d take bologna, grind it up by hand in the old meat grinder (sometimes she’d let me do it), then grind up dill pickles in the same grinder. Mix that together with Miracle Whip, and voila! Ham & pickle sandwiches. I always preferred it when bologna was used. You could probably make it with ham, too.
I haven’t had one of these sandwiches in YEARS. RIP Mom.
I loved fried bologna!!…..but I’m surprised I haven’t seen one mention of Spam sandwiches. Any time we traveled, we always had Spam sandwiches. Dad didn’t believe in stopping except for gas and “potty” breaks…..so Mom always had to fix spam sandwiches in the car and hand them to us. I even remember one Christmas (after I was married & had a baby) we all went to visit my brother who worked in a small town….nothing open…and we had spam sandwiches for breakfast, in the motel room…along with some pickles. The family was together, that’s the important thing.
My mom made the same sandwich for me every day until I left high school: Skippy creamy peanut butter and American cheese on Jewish rye, sliced in thirds. Of course, every sandwich made in our house began with bread, then margarine. Then came whatever else was going in that sandwich.
Oh, and I’ll take my tea unsweet, please.
YUM! I made fried bologna & scrambled egg sandwiches for lunch today! See you at the Blue Plate in Huntsville Neighbor!!!
I introduced my 6 yr old Grandson to bologna sandwiches. He loved them. The beat goes on.
Daddy always considered bologna and salami RAW, so it had to be fried. I like lettuce and tomato on mine. I may have mention another favorite, Peanut Butter and Pineapple. My mother made the best roast beef sandwiches. Bread, Miracle Whip, roast, sliced onion and lettuce. YUM! This isn’t a sandwich, but a Ritz cracker with Hershey’s chocolate syrup is close to chocolate pie.
p.s Did you know they have changed the formula for Miracle Whip? First ingredient listed is water and it sure does make your potato salad weep. I use Hellman’s for potato salad and macaroni salad. I am SO hungry my tummy thinks my throat’s been cut.