The Southern Way To Elevate Your Bologna Sandwich

Fried bologna is a delicacy of Southern cuisine that ranks somewhere between shrimp grits and fried okra in terms of its cultural and culinary importance in that region of the country. Frying up bologna preserves everything you love about the uncooked version of the deli meat — the taste and convenience — and tosses out what you don't like about it — the slimy texture.

People everywhere count bologna sandwiches as an important lunchtime staple food. However, in the South, it's an anytime food, including breakfast — once it's fried, that is. To turn bologna into your morning meal, just grab a slab of the deli round, toss it on the griddle or in the frying pan, and serve it up hot on two pieces of mayo-covered white bread. That's the basic recipe that many griddle bologna fans follow; it's plain, simple, and delicious.

However, some bologna fans get rebellious and add all kinds of treats to their fried bologna sammy. For some, lettuce, tomato, pickles, and mustard take the fried deli meat to the next level. Adding a slice or two of American cheese gives the taste buds a double treat. It combines the savory flavor of the deli meat with the comforting goodness of a grilled cheese sandwich, particularly if the cheese is melted onto the bread before the meat is added.

If it seems odd to fry up some bologna, consider that the make-up of bologna and hot dogs are very similar. The only difference is that hot dogs are basically tube steaks, care of Oscar Mayer, and bologna is, well, shaped like a pancake (which is maybe another argument for eating it for breakfast). More importantly, grilling a mean dog is a thing, so why not grill your meat pancake, since they're made ​​of the same stuff?

In light of that, anything you love to dress up your hot dog of choice with would taste as equally as amazing on your grilled bologna sandwich. That means sliced red onions, sweet pickle relish, grilled peppers, sauerkraut. You can also add Kewpie mayo orspiced-up ranch dressing, made with a squeeze of sriracha or hot sauce of your choice. The jury's still out on adding a dollop of chili to the sammy, though if you're game, give it a shot. It may become the next best thing since sliced bologna.

Though you can just to drop a slice or two of the deli meat onto the griddle or into a skillet, there are some hacks that make the experience. Bologna tends to curl up around the edges once it meets with the heat of the stove. To solve this, go all "Treasure Island" on lunch and mark the middle of the bologna slices with an "X." Or if you'd rather, score the outer perimeter of the deli meat. Both hacks stop the curling issue, though scores around the edges give the meat a decorative look, kind of like the crust of a pie.

Once cooking commences, many fried bologna fans like to fry the meat until it turns brown, even black, and becomes a bit crispy. Cooking it heightens the salty and fatty taste that the human taste buds love. If you'd like a thicker sammy, fry a couple of slices of bologna instead of one. Or go for the big guns and buy bologna by the unsliced roll. This allows you to cut thicker slices of bologna for an extra hearty sandwich.

But if all of this seems a bit too complicated for food that's supposed to be the stuff that quick meals are made of, just stick to the basics: Fried bologna plus mayo on two slices of Wonder Bread equals an easy-peasy morning meal.