Oh, I haven't had that in ages! Fried baloney, or salami, sandwiches. You're making me want deli now.

Elmer, as you can tell from the comments, fried bologna isn’t particularly regional….or Southern, if that’s what you are thinking. My father used to make them for us; he was from the Midwest. I haven’t had one since I was a kid though it is pretty commonly on breakfast and lunch menus around here.

I haven't had one since I was a child, raised in Washington state so not regional to Glenda ;) We didn't have them often but I know I've eaten them fried. I don't remember especially liking them. I just asked DH and he said his mother never fried it - but she had 10 children and I'm sure it was faster to take it from the package and put between bread with mustard or whatever.

We did occasionally have something called minute steaks. They were some kind of thin beef product (pressed I think) not quite hamburger-like that literally fried in a minute, then went in between bread slices, sometime toast.

In grammar school, it was served fried (which made a sort of bow) filled with mashed potatoes, cheddar grated over the top. It was a treat!

Bologna on white will always be jail food to me, an artifact of younger, crazier days. I do enjoy it once in a blue moon when I'm feeling nostalgic, though nowadays I'll take it with some mustard and a big glass of water, luxuries that keep it from packing up around my teeth. I've never had it fried; might give that a go the next time I get a wild hair.

https://amp.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/article175679761.html

(Picture/article added only because I thought it was funny)

I'll use that scoring trick next time I make a pork roll, egg and cheese sandwich. Always fighting the cupping!

I have never had fried baloney?! That's no bologna. I have had it, many times, with mustard. How long ago? I always made a smiley face with the mustard. I also love tube baloney (how is it spelled?), known to most as a hot dog. I bet those too are regional ;) as I don't recall it being on many Asian menus

Rob, offhand I don't think I've ever seen the lunch meat branded as baloney. Baloney is nonsense.

Oh yes, I remember as a kid and still will have one every so often. Good ole comfort food. Now I just might get some today!!

I remember fried bologna as a kid. A couple friends houses did them. It was usually thick sliced stuff you had to peel the red ring off. We didn't usually have bologna in the house, usually other lunchmeats. Mom would sometimes do fried spam sandwiches.

Heh, I haven't looked at bologna in so long I don't know if it still comes thick sliced with the red ring anymore.

@beesneeds You just triggered another memory. One of my earlier days working at a deli someone ordered a bologna sandwich. I needed to open a new one so I removed the packaging and sliced away. A while later someone else ordered bologna with another clerk. I saw him cut a clear plastic wrap and peel it back. Oops! To this day I still get a chuckle thinking of the poor guy with his plastic sandwich. I never did hear about a complaint.

I have never had a fried bologna sandwich in my life. It was something my mother never bought but I knew plenty of kids who ate them. They were the cool kids!

My husband says he ate them quite often as a child and loved them.

Then there is bologna's cousin, olive loaf. That's my favorite, but I can only find it at a deli that sells Boar's Head brand. My olive loaf doesn't have the same first name as my bologna.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRKTXCRqRXQ

Speaking of my bologna....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hxLaFJf9Jk

I've eaten bologna all my life, German bologna, old-fashioned bologna, garlic bologna and regular bologna. My favorite was/is bologna salad. It is marketed as meat salad now, I believe. I still buy bologna once in awhile, but the flavor is not the same.

Eileen - I love olive loaf! I indulge about twice a year, and only buy 2-3 slices at a time. Boar's Head is the brand my supermarket sells. I like it sliced kind of thick, on white bread with mayo.

We had forgot about it. On the menu this week, as soon as I get to the grocery store. Yes, some still have the red covering and some do not. You can also buy the big "log". The two of us will not need that much, lol.

Thanks, Glenda

Besides olive loaf our grocery stores sell another cousin, pickle loaf and Mac & cheese loaf.

rhizo, I don't live in a cave but it's okay with me for you to be surprised about my comment.

I don't think I've heard of this item (used in simple sandwich form for little kids) since I was in elementary school. That's a few years back.

Seen on breakfast or lunch menus in casual restaurants or sandwich places? No, not ever.

Fried? No, not ever.

I think sausage products are more common in other parts of the country, especially the Midwest, than here. I remember once seeing a football pregame show and a guy being interviewed at a tailgate party in the parking lot said they would be eating brats. I had to look it up, didn't know what he was talking about. Hot dogs are known, of course, a rare but practiced indulgence for some.

Is bologna sold in my area? I don't know, I've never looked for it. I can't imagine it being a topic of conversation though - I suspect many have attitudes like gardengal described.

Life is about choices, we all make them, not always the same ones others make.

"I don't live in a cave..."

I'll forgive the fried bologna but

"...said they would be eating brats. I had to look it up..."

are you sure about that cave? 🙂

I'd respond but I'm feeling around for the light switch and can't find it. Oh, there it is.

Yup, you read it here.

Elmer, I was not inferring that I was surprised by your earlier comment but am deeply gratified that it would have been okay with you. Sheesh.

Knowing nothing more than the comments others have made, I still think it's regional. Maybe it's everywhere else and simply uncommon where I am. Many descriptions of things new to me. Different loafs, logs, fried spam, meat salad? Nope and nope.

Olive loaf and pickle loaf... wow, I haven't had either of those in ages either. Cocktail pumpernickel with a smear of cream cheese, a slice of raw onion, and a slice of olive or pickle loaf. Not fried.

rhizo, saying "it's okay with me" is not approval, but a bit of the opposite. Another way of saying "I don't care if.." But hey, it's only bologna.

California is well known for it's sausage products. During my early years in San Francisco we had every type of deli/butcher shop imaginable. Same here in the south Bay Area. Linguica, Brats, Italian sausage, you name it. Locally Neto, Silva meats and Steven's produced some great sausage. Some of our local producers have shut their doors. A lot of the real delis/small restaurants have been replaced by Asian and South American places. At one time you had grills going with brats in the malls. (Hickory Farms).

But sausage is still a big industry in California. When I am going to be driving in the central valley I always take a small cooler with me. The pic represents only about 1/4 of the counter.

When I was in high school in Orange County, CA, I was at a friend's house one weekend afternoon and she asked me if I wanted a fried bologna sandwich. I'd never heard of it, but she said it was good, so I said ok. I thought it was great, and made them for myself many times after that. Haven't had one in many years now.

What kind of rye bread is that in your photo, Glenda?

foodonastump The cave is in Neverland.

Thanks Glenda....now you have me hungry for a fried balogna sandwich. It has been ages since I had one. I always put mustard on mine and occasionally a slice of cheese.

Bologna is very popular among the PA Dutch and Amish. As I said I never ate it or bought it since I was a kid but I remember seeing Taylor Pork Roll on the boardwalk at the Jersey Shore where we went every summer. I remember the smell but never had it. Brings back memories of my father who I think was the only one who ate it. Mother didn't.

I'm not sure how to properly thank those who, in seemingly more frequent instances than in the past, are anxious to doubt and then correct my experiences, recollections, opinions, and other such things simply because they differ from their own.

Should any form of memory loss or dementia come upon me in the coming years, I know there are a good number here who, despite knowing nothing about me, will be ready to pitch in to fill in gaps of my recollection.

Just had another memory. When I was small (1950s) when we shopped, the butcher would often give children a hotdog, at the deli they would give a child a slice of bologna and the bakery would always give a child a cookie.

In the Polish coommunity i was raised in (upstate NY) i i think a lot of people ate bologna sandwiches fried or not. my mother said frying removed some of the fat and would make the sandwiches with fried green peppers snd mustard. Yum. i havent had one in years

foodonastump, I've heard of baloney sandwiches being served in jail to overnight guests, and it makes me wonder what you were in for. Friends of mine spent the night in jail in San Francisco in 1974 for loitering in front of a bar after it closed at 2 AM. I never stayed around after a bar closed, but a lot of people were not through socializing and did stay. In Austin TX I met a guy who had spent a night in jail for "dog at large," which I thought was reasonable. Also in Texas, if you are driving and do not have proof of insurance on you (doesn't matter if you have insurance), you also spend the night in jail. At least that's how it was when I was there 1985-88.

I've heard of fried baloney, but I've never seen it, and I've only heard of it on forums like this. For this reason, like Elmer, I do think it is somewhat regional, although regular baloney might be universal national jail food.

The closest thing to baloney that I buy is Mortadella, and I like this a lot, but I've never fried it, and I've always had it sliced rather thinly. I also like olive loaf, and my mother did buy this when I was a child (but not baloney), and it was also sliced thinly. My mother also bought Bratwurst and canned Vienna sausages (which I would not eat).

From the photo Glenda posted, it was appears that fried baloney is made from thickly sliced baloney, and I've never seen that in person.

I will fry a whole sandwich (such as a Reuben) but not the meat that goes inside, but I could see myself doing this with corned beef. I've made sandwiches with eggplant that I fried.

I thought Taylor pork roll was different than bologna? Its got more chunk to it, more like luncheon loaf or spam. Not as smooth as bologna or hot dog filling.

I remember "ham" slices a kid. I don't think it was Taylor brand. But it was the slices of meat stuff like that. Came in a can and had pieces of paper between the slices. You were supposed to fry them, but my older siblings would put them in the toaster. They would put pizza-burgers from Schwans in the toaster too.

Taylor pork roll, which I assume is the Taylor's ham my NJ mother bought regularly, was only fried at our house. I don't remember it being chunky. Now that you mention luncheon loaf, I remember having that too. I can't remember how it's different than bologna except that it was rectangular.

Wow bees - surprised they didn't start a fire! Or was it a toaster oven?

And FWIW, it appears to me that some folks continue to operate under a fallacy of composition 😃

Also FWIW, I don't think that's Glenda's photo - maybe from the internet?

Eileen and beesneeds, Taylor's ham or pork roll is the same thing; I think there may be a NJ north/south divide on this. I do remember having that as a kid, and it is not the same thing as bologna. The texture is different, and I remember it being salty. The last time I saw it was in a Publix in Florida; it must have followed the retirees. I have seen Scrapple in Los Angeles, though. I was never fond of lunch meats, with the exception of Lebanon bologna.

There is a tavern about 30 miles north of my house (in Waldo, please don't ask me where Waldo is! LOL!) that has the reputation of the "world famous fried bologna sandwich". Although I've driven past the small village, I've never stopped to try it.

I think I had one once, as a child, but not really sure! I did eat cold bologna sandwiches often though, always with mustard, mayo, and pickles. I liked them - but haven't had one in years and years.

Lars, I certainly opened the door to that question but I'll plead the 5th. 🙂 They were just overnights. Youngish and stupid.

I wouldn't liken taylor ham/pork roll to bologna. For one thing it would never be served without heating.

I never liked it, and I guess for the same reason i do not like ham very much. Too salty and not a good mouth feel for me.

Wildchild, there used to be a little shop in San Pedro that made authentic Croatian cevapcici sausages. Now closed.

So good my BIL would call and order them sent overnight express on ice to Washington for parties occasionally. Silly expensive of course. The good ones have some ground lamb in the mix but we've found we can make an acceptable alternative with just the beef and pork and an envelope of the appropriate seasonings. (to get ground lamb in this small community we really have to place an order well in advance). Rectangular flat sausages, always grilled, served in between pieces of bread or a roll.

Hubs is from New Jersey and Taylor ham on a hard roll was the queen of breakfast! Then, the hard rolls lost some of the quality and they bemoaned about that and tended to make a face and emote when it was brought up in discussion. They are Jersey Italians and that is what they do.

I live on the east coast and Taylor ham is available here.

I have been craving something salty and fatty like that and just might buy some. I havent done that is about 20 years, or more. We dont eat much of that kind of thing, but once in a while..............I still remember the smell of that frying at MILs house. It has a distinctive smell to it, almost acrid.

I cant get hard rolls and the ones that are sold as Kaiser rolls in the grocery stores are just soft bread. And, there are no bread bakeries. I might be able to get some decent enough bagels, though.

Maybe I will surprise him with some Taylor ham. He is going through some tough times right now.

Elmer, lucky you! We got your back should you ever lose your way! I enjoy your perspective, but dont always agree. You have a way with words and I respect that.

They don't have hard rolls on the west coast, just those doughy buns. I'm sad to hear that NJ hard rolls are a thing of the past. We bought them every Sunday morning from the bakery where I grew up in the Hudson Valley but I never knew about adding Taylor's ham to them.

I hope you can still get crumb buns. I had to learn how to bake with yeast to make my own crumb buns, but I still haven't perfected them.

I grew up eating non fried bologna sandwiches, white bread, Miracle Whip, sometimes mustard too, crunchy lettuce and American cheese. I crave those sandwiches sometimes and will buy a pack of it along with a head of iceburg lettuce. I didn't have fried bologna until I married a Kentuckian. He ate it with his eggs in the morning.

Speaking of bad for you food, I bought a can of corned beef hash yesterday on my shopping trip to Aldis. I just had some with a scrambled egg. I froze about half the can since it was huge. Will eat it when I have to go on a low residual diet in a couple weeks. Having a colonoscopy, so no fruit, most veggies (can have cooked potatoes with no skin) or whole grain. It'll be a sad few days for me.

@glenda_al, A more popular thread than your one on "Brownie Brittle"! I saw a package of Souse when walking by the meat counter today. Don't believe anyone's mentioned that.

The hard rolls I'm thinking of are essentially Kaiser rolls with a crispier crust. Just put it in the oven for a moment and you're pretty much there, no?

Well, it's been forty years since I've had one but I remember a more open and lighter crumb than packaged Kaiser rolls. And yes, crispy crust. And poppy seeds, but not loaded with them.

It's kind of like the difference between a boiled bagel from a bagel place and a non-boiled bagel in a package at the grocery store.

I never liked bologna nor its evil cousin, ring bologna. But the worst--or should I say wurst--of all is bratwurst. That texture, those little white fatty flecks of who knows what! Thanks, I'll pass.

Love fried bologna sandwiches on white bread with mustard. I also like bologna sandwiches with cheese, lettuce, and mustard on white bread, but I don't eat either one very often now. Once in a while I get a craving though.