Fried Bologna Sandwiches Are Everything America Needs Right Now
By: Jenn Rice
“Doesn’t bologna remind you of being a kid?,” asks chef Craig Deihl of Hello, Sailor. Originally from Danville, Pennsylvania, Deihl grew up snacking on bologna from his uncle’s butcher shop. Now you can find him serving up one of North Carolina’s most-talked about sandwiches, the "Chicagoish Fried Bologna"—a Carolina-meets-Chicago-style bologna sandwich that pays homage to owners Joe and Katy Kindred’s roots.
If you were raised in the South, a bologna sandwich was a crucial part of childhood. There’s no denying the satisfaction of a processed meat and cheese sandwich on “cheap white bread,” slathered with Duke’s mayo on each slice. (Bonus points if your mom fried the bologna.) If we could bottle and sell the smell of bologna sizzling on a pan, we would.
The general consensus is that the best bologna sandwich is the one made at home. “In my late grandma’s kitchen, fried of course,” says bologna fan Marisa Sparkman Houser. The bread is crucial, too, and should always be white, never wheat—choosing the latter would be like committing a small culinary crime down South. A true bologna sandwich entails “fresh Sunbeam white bread and Duke’s Mayo,” says Cathy Rice Cantwell, another lifelong fan.