A bologna sandwich often elicits groans and grimaces, conjuring memories of childhood struggle meals of floppy, cold lunch meat slapped on squishy white bread with maybe a smear of acrid yellow mustard. I felt the same way for a while, but as I grew up I learned to appreciate the often-derided deli meat, sneaking a pack into my grocery basket and enjoying the soft and smooth texture and the uncannily hot dog-like flavor at home. (Fun fact: Hot dogs and bologna are pretty much the same thing.)
But even as a reformed bologna fan, I don’t just slap it on a slice of bread and call it a day. To elevate my bologna sandwiches, I like to sauté my bologna until crisp and glistening with oil, then coat it in a sweet, sticky glaze, before piling it high on a sandwich. With these two tricks you can completely change the bologna’s flavor in myriad ways, turning it into a brand new culinary experience. In fact, I am sure that right now you have in your kitchen a variety of condiments like barbecue sauce, mustard, vinegar, and more that you can use to make your next bologna sandwich gourmet.
How to glaze bologna
Making a glaze opens up a world of new flavors for your otherwise boring old bologna sandwich. You are only limited by what you have in your pantry. Something as simple as a squirt of barbecue sauce adds layers of smoky, sweet flavor. Hoisin sauce and rice vinegar can make for a flavorful Chinese-inspired glaze. Or, for a bit of Old World flavor, it only takes a second to whip up a two-ingredient balsamic glaze. You could even add some Calabrian chili for an additional Mediterranean kick (which doesn’t sound too bizarre when you realize mortadella is just bologna’s more popular cousin).
However you decide to dress up your bologna, all you need to do is heat up your meat with a bit of glaze before making your sandwich. Sauté bologna slices in a pan until golden and crisp before spreading some glaze on with the back of a spoon. Then, after you’ve mastered that, you are ready to move on to the chicken-fried bologna sandwich.
