A Bunch of Baloney (Sandwiches), Part Two

The recipes and names I've given for these sandwiches are mainly my own inventions. Mortadella is also called "Italian bologna/baloney" by some.

 

Here is the link to "Part One:" https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2022/07/a-bunch-of-baloney-sandwiches.html

Fried Baloney Plays the Blues:

 

2 slices white or whole wheat bread

2 slices fried baloney

1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons thick blue cheese dressing

1 or 2 lettuce leaves

1 large tomato slice

bread and butter pickle slices

1 or 2 teaspoons oil for frying

Note: If you'd like to make your own blue cheese dressing, here is the link: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2016/07/homemade-blue-cheese-dressing.html

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the baloney and brown it on both sides. Remove the meat to one slice of bread, add 1 or 2 lettuce leaves, a large slice of tomato and some bread and butter pickle slices (also called "chips" by some). Add the blue cheese dressing to the other slice of bread and top the sandwich with it.  

The Italian Leaning Tower Mortadella Sandwich 

 

Italian bread rolls

3 or 4 slices of mortadella (folded)

1/2 to 1 teaspoon oil for frying the mortadella

thick Italian dressing

tomato slices

2 provolone cheese slices 

green Italian olives (I use Castelvetrano), halved

chopped fresh basil leaves

 

Fold the mortadella pieces, heat the oil in a large skillet over low heat, lightly brown the meat on both sides, split the rolls, drizzle dressing over one part of roll, put the browned mortadella on the roll, add the provolone slices (I fold them too), add the tomato slices, add the olive halves and basil leaves. Drizzle on a little more Italian dressing before adding the top part of the roll. Easier to eat by cutting into sections (secure sections with toothpicks)  

 

 

 

 The French Riviera Fried Baloney Sandwich

 

sausage roll

2 or 3 slices baloney

1 teaspoon oil for frying the baloney

Niçoise olives, halved

red onion, chopped

lettuce, chopped

tomato, chopped

red bell pepper, cut into thin slices/strips

2 anchovy fillets

4 or 5 teaspoons store bought French or Country French dressing, homemade Country French dressing, 2 teaspoons for bottom roll, 2 or 3 teaspoons for the top roll  

(Note: to make homemade country French dressing, here is the link: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2016/07/homemade-creamy-country-french-dressing.html  )

 

Heat the oil over low heat in a large skillet; fry the baloney until lightly browned on both sides. Split the roll, if it isn't already split, and spread 1 or 2 teaspoons of dressing on the bottom part of the roll. Add the baloney slices, then add the chopped red onion, chopped lettuce, chopped tomato, red bell pepper strips and lay the anchovy fillets on top. Add 2 or 3 teaspoons of the dressing to the top portion of the roll to top off the sandwich, which will require a little pressure, but be careful. 

 

 

 

Fried Baloney Breakfast Sandwich

 

2 slices toasted bread

1 or 2 tablespoons mayonnaise 

1 or 2 slices (depending upon thickness) fried baloney

1 fried egg

homes fries 

ketchup 

oil or butter for frying

Add some oil or butter to a skillet and fry the baloney until lightly browned on both sides. Remove the fried baloney to a plate. I used home fried potatoes I had already made and I only needed to heat them briefly. Remove the warmed potatoes to the plate with the baloney. Add more butter or oil (presumably it will be needed), then fry the egg. I leave the yolk runny (see photo below), but you can fry the egg until the yolk is totally cooked. Toast the bread slices, spread some mayonnaise on the bottom slice, add the baloney slices, add a layer of home fries, add some ketchup on top of the potatoes, add the egg (break the yolk and spread it around a bit, or you'll likely have yolk dripping all over you. Top with the other slice of toast.

Barbecuey Fried Baloney

 

2 slices white bread (or whole wheat)

2 or 3 slices baloney

1 teaspoon olive oil (vegetable oil, canola oil)

1 tablespoon butter

2 slices onion (tennis ball or baseball size onion, slices about 1/2 inch in thickness)

2 or 3 tablespoons of your favorite barbecue sauce

Heat oil and butter in a skillet over medium heat. Cut the onion slices from the center of a tennis ball or baseball size onion, then cut the slices in half and separate these into half rings. Add the onion to the skillet and saute until "softening," then add the baloney slices and fry until the meat is lightly browned on both sides, and the onion is softened and browned. Remove the baloney to one slice of bread and add the barbecue sauce to the skillet with the onion and mix it in. Once heated, add the barbecue/onion mixture to the top of the baloney, top with the other bread slice and you're ready to eat. 

 

 

 

Spicy Barbecuey Fried Lebanon Baloney

 

round roll/bun

5 slices regular Lebanon baloney (or 2 or 3 somewhat thicker slices)

1 teaspoon oil (like peanut or vegetable oil)

1 tablespoon butter

2 slices onion, cut into half rings

1 clove garlic, minced

1 chili pepper, chopped

2 tablespoons barbecue sauce

1 or 2 tablespoons coleslaw  

 

Add butter and oil to a large skillet over low heat. Add the meat and fry it for a couple of minutes, turning the slices once or twice (it will shrink). The oil/butter in the skillet will be somewhat darkened. Add the onion half rings and saute them until softened and browned. When the onions are about one minute from being done, add the chopped chili pepper and minced garlic. Add some barbecue sauce to the bottom of the roll/bun, then place the meat on top of that (stack the slices on the round bun/roll), spoon the onion/garlic/chili pepper mixture into the meat, then drizzle on some barbecue sauce and then add the coleslaw followed by the top of the bun/roll. Don't push down too hard, but you'll need to add a little pressure. Have the napkins close by.   

Greek Inspired Fried Baloney Sandwich

 

pita bread

2 or 3 slices of baloney, folded

1 or 2 teaspoons olive oil for frying

2 teaspoons olive oil for sandwich

chopped lettuce 

chopped red onion (raw)

grape tomatoes halved or chopped tomatoes

kalamata olives, whole or halved

little brine from the olives

crumbled feta cheese 

tzatziki*

 

Heat 1 or 2 teaspoons of olive oil in a large skillet over low heat. Lightly brown the folded meat on both sides. Cut the pita bread in half. Add the meat, then add whatever amounts of the various toppings, add a little sprinkle of olive brine, add some crumbled feta and then spoon on some tzatziki. 

 

* Tzatziki is sold in many supermarkets and shops, but to make your own, here is the link: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2018/01/greek-tzatziki-turkish-cacik-sauce-dip.html   

 

 

WORD HISTORY: 

Bread-For a word for such an important substance, the origins of "bread" are uncertain, although there are some theories about it. One theory has it originating from Indo European "bhreuh," meaning "to boil;" thus also, "to seethe, to cook, to bubble." This would make it a relative of "brew," a word from the Germanic roots of English. Part of the idea behind the theory is that the yeast makes the dough "bubble." Another theory has "bread" going back to Indo European "bhreg," which meant "to break." The idea here is, some researchers believe the long, long ago in Old Germanic was "small piece of food, a fragment." The idea is that bread is typically broken into pieces when it is served/eaten (we even say "break bread" in English, generally giving the idea of sharing bread together), and it certainly crumbles (breaks) easily when dried. This would make it a relative of "break," a word from the Germanic roots of English. Still another has it coming from Indo European "bhreus," meaning "to crush or break up (into pieces)." This would make it related to "bruise," another word from the Germanic roots of English. There are likely other theories, but the thing is, there has never been a theory strong enough to garner the overwhelming support of researchers.    

 

What is known is, Old English had "bread," although it was not pronounced like the modern word, but rather it had a more prominent 'e' sound (bree) and a less emphasized 'ad' sound. It then did mean "piece of food, morsel, fragment," but also "bread," "perhaps" only in reference to "leavened bread." With bread being so important to human beings, eventually the word came to mean all types of the specific food made from a dough of some type of flour, typically baked, but also sometimes made in a skillet or other pan set onto a heat source. "Bread" gradually became the exclusive word used for this type of food, which by 1200 bumped the original word for this food, which was "loaf" (then spelled "hlaf"), to its meaning of "a mass portion of bread." Whatever the source of the word "bread," it came to English from Old Germanic (it had some various other spellings in the Middle Ages, like "breed" and "bred") and it is widespread in the Germanic languages: German has "Brot," Low German "Broot," West Frisian "brea," Dutch "brood," Danish and Norwegian "brød," Icelandic "brauð" (=brauth), Swedish "bröd."   

A Bunch of Baloney (Sandwiches)

When I was growing up in the 1950s, "baloney" sandwiches were common, including "fried baloney" sandwiches, which were a bit fancier than regular baloney sandwiches that were made from slices of baloney taken right from the refrigerator, or "icebox," as many people still called it back then. "Bologna" traces back to mortadella sausage from the northern Italian city of Bologna. It "seems" Germans took the Italian idea and made a similar sausage which was brought to America by German immigrants, and then Italian immigrants brought actual mortadella, and these were given "American" touches to become "bologna." By the 1920s and 1930s, sandwiches had become highly popular in the U.S., as they were quick and simple to make and they could be easily transported to jobs in bags or lunch boxes, and a common meat used was "baloney," the more typical Americanized pronunciation of "bologna." It wasn't fancy, but it wasn't expensive either, and that was important to every day American working people, and especially so when these "working people" didn't always have a steady job in the days of the Great Depression in the 1930s. It seems baloney was originally made from pork, but then also came beef, then chicken, then turkey, and even mixtures of meat products.

 

"A bunch of baloney" is a slang expression that means "a bunch of nonsense," and the expression seems to have developed in the 1920s in the U.S., in New York City, likely from the idea of baloney then being made from cheap cuts or remnants of meat, thus being of little worth, with nonsense seen the same way.
 

You can use beef baloney, or baloney made with chicken or turkey, if you don't eat pork.

My "Regular" Baloney Sandwich; totally simple:

2 slices white sandwich bread (you can certainly use whole wheat or multigrain bread)

1/2 to 1 tablespoon butter

2 slices baloney

thick ketchup, with more in reserve, if needed; okay, WHEN needed

Spread one slice of bread with butter. Place the 2 slices of baloney on either slice of bread, squeeze a "good" amount of thick ketchup onto the baloney, then place the other slice of bread on top of the ketchup covered baloney. Keep more ketchup nearby, and dip the sandwich into it before every bite. 

 

 

Is This the Typical Baloney Sandwich? 

 

Is this simple sandwich the "typical" baloney sandwich? There's really no way to prove or disprove it.

 

2 slices white bread

1 or 2 teaspoons mayonnaise

1 or 2 leaves of lettuce

2 or 3 slices of baloney

1 slice of American cheese

Spread one slice bread with mayonnaise, to the other slice of bread, add the lettuce, 2 or 3 slices of baloney and then top with the slice of cheese.

 

Variation: yellow or brown mustard supplements, or replaces, the mayonnaise, or try a good honey mustard on this sandwich (with no mayonnaise). 

"Regular" Fried Baloney Sandwich

 

You can cut slits around the edge of the baloney slices to help prevent curling of the meat when frying. 

 

2 slices white bread

2 to 3 slices baloney

1/2 tablespoon of butter

2 teaspoons mustard (more if you choose to put mustard on both slices of bread), or 2 teaspoons ketchup, or 2 teaspoons mayonnaise

1 pickle on the side, or 3 or 4 pickle slices

 

 

  

 

"Deluxe" Fried Baloney Sandwich

 

2 slices white bread

2 to 3 slices baloney

1/2 tablespoon butter (another 1/2 tablespoon butter, if needed)

1 slice Swiss cheese (or white or yellow American cheese)

1 or 2 slices onion, separated into rings

3 to 5 slices of bread 'n butter pickles (the slices are sometimes referred to as 'chips')

1 tablespoon mayonnaise

(optional) 2 teaspoons mustard or honey mustard

Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat, add the rings of onion and saute. Move the onion rings to the side of the skillet and add the baloney (add more butter, if needed). Fry the baloney on both sides until lightly browned. Keep mixing the onions around to brown them, as the baloney fries. Add the baloney to one slice of bread, top with the fried onions, then the pickles and then the Swiss cheese. Add mayonnaise to the top slice of bread, or if using mustard, spread the top slice with mustard first, then spread on the mayonnaise and add the bread to the top of the sandwich.

 

 

Fried Mortadella Sandwich

 

Mortadella is Italian bologna; actually, THE original bologna.

Ingredients (per sandwich):

2 slices bread (white, whole wheat or multigrain)

2 or 3 slices of mortadella

1 tablespoon butter + 1 teaspoon olive oil (or other oil of your choice)

1 or 2 slices of American cheese (or you can substitute white or yellow cheddar, or Colby)

2 to 3 teaspoons mayonnaise

1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

2 or 3 tomato slices (I tend to use Roma tomatoes, which are usually smaller, so 3 slices)

3 or 4 pickle slices (dill or sweet and sour chips)

Spread the Dijon mustard onto one slice of bread, followed by the mayonnaise. Add the tomato slices, then turn to preparing the mortadella. Add the butter and oil to a skillet over low heat (the oil will help keep the butter from browning quickly). Add the mortadella; brown the meat on both sides, then add the cheese on top of the meat for only about 20 to 30 seconds. Put the mortadella/cheese on top of the tomato covered bread slice and then top the meat/cheese with the pickle slices, and cover with the other plain slice of bread. In the photos below, the bottom photo shows building the sandwich, then the second photo shows completing the sandwich. I didn't add the cheese to the mortadella in the skillet so that the meat could be seen. This is a really good sandwich. 

Mustard followed by mayonnaise, then tomato slices, then mortadella

Fried Onion & Garlic Baloney Sandwich

 

2 slices white bread

2 slices baloney

2 to 4 cloves of garlic, sliced or finely chopped

1 green onion, white and green, chopped

1/2 tablespoon butter 

ketchup, mustard or mayonnaise, your preference, or some combo (I used mayo and ketchup in the photos below)

 

Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat then add the green onion and garlic; saute about one minute, then move the onion and garlic to the side of the skillet and add the baloney slices. Fry on both sides until lightly browned. If the onion and garlic begin getting too dark (especially the garlic, it will become bitter) remove from the skillet until the baloney is done. I put some mayonnaise on the bottom slice of bread, then I add the meat, followed by the green onion and garlic and then some ketchup.

  

  

WORD HISTORY:

Weasel-The ultimate origin of the noun "weasel" is difficult, but it "seems" to go back to Indo European "weys," with the notion "to flow, to melt, to run," and the extended noun form "weselos/wiselos," which was the name for the animal, and this gave Old Germanic "wisulon," which meant the same thing. This gave Old English "weosule" then "wesle," which then became "wesele," before the modern form. Relatives in the other Germanic languages: German has "Wiesel," Low German "Wes(s)el," West Frisian and Dutch "wezel," Icelandic "vesla" (but it also has an unrelated word for the animal), Danish "væsel," Norwegian "vesle/væsel," Swedish "vessla."