Cleveland Polish Boy Sandwich

This sausage sandwich was invented here in Cleveland in the World War Two era by Virgil Whitmore, who owned a barbecue restaurant on Cleveland's East Side. The idea was to put something of a typical grilled kielbasa lunch or dinner of grilled kielbasa, french fries, coleslaw and barbecue sauce all together on a bun. I suggest using hoagie rolls that you can split yourself, and then only cut about 2/3 of the way through the roll. If you can't grill the sausage, broil or fry it until it gets a little brown. This is a BIG sandwich and it is often identified as one of the foods folks should try when visiting Cleveland. It has been touted on national television as one of America's best sandwiches. The napkin industry loves it, because you'll need plenty of napkins. 

Ingredients (per each sandwich):

1 kielbasa (6 to 8 inches)

1 hotdog or hoagie bun

2 to 3 tablespoons coleslaw (not with lots of liquid)

1 "good" handful french fries

2 to 3 tablespoons barbecue sauce

Grill, broil or fry the kielbasa so that it has some brown color to it. Toast the bun lightly, add the ingredients however you choose, as some people like to add the coleslaw or french fries first, then lay the kielbasa on top of that, before adding the other ingredients. I generally put the kielbasa, then the coleslaw, then the french fries and top everything with the barbecue sauce.

 

On this day, I had the Polish Boy Sandwich along with some potato salad ...

WORD HISTORY:

Kielbasa-This word has an "uncertain" origin, so I am going to work backward on its history. In American English, "kielbasa" was first used in the early 20th Century, and in American English it generally means a Polish sausage with rather coarsely ground pork, beef, or a combination of the two, in a casing, and the sausage is seasoned somewhat with garlic and then smoked. Kielbasa often comes in a "U" shape, but it can also come looking more like a hotdog. American English borrowed the word from Polish "kiełbasa," which means "sausage," in general. Polish "likely" got the word from its parent, Old Slavic "kelbasa" (other Slavic languages have forms too), meaning "grilled/roasted meat." This "probably" came from Turkish "kulbasti," with the same meaning, but literally "pressed on the coals/ashes," but transliterated Hebrew "kolbasar," a general term for "meat," is also a possible candidate.