Brad Makes Fried Bologna Sandwiches

Action!

[clap board claps]

Is that a hard action?

[Tommy] That's a hard action. Okay, cool.

Alright guys, well back, back in the old driver's seat here.

Took a little break but feels good you know?

Get behind the wheel again.

And today we're gonna be making

a little fried bologna sandwich, timeless classic,

oldie yet goodie, or oldie but goodie.

I think that's the saying.

[rockabilly music]

But enough of that jazz, let's get started.

I got some nice rye bread, a little bologna,

that's its own thing, fascinating little product there

but you know it crisps up real nice.

We're started off, we're gonna make a little sauce.

I got a little patty mayonnaise here and a little mustard.

You can use any kind of mustard.

I like it like a mix between a yellow and a course ground

so it has a little texture

but it still has that nice color to it.

And we've just got a little bowl, real simple recipe here.

Certain special sauces people sell are only stuff,

I mean its usually just a couple

of household condiments thrown into a bowl.

You know but have some fun if you wanna

throw some capers in here or something, knock yourself out.

But what I'm gonna do is just put

a little bit of mustard in there.

I believe it's like two tablespoons and then a little bit

of that old patty mayonnaise, one tablespoon.

Patty Mayonnaise, was that from that show Doug, right?

[Tommy] Yeah.

Or was it called Doug Funnie?

Or was that his name?

[Tommy] The show was Doug.

Doug.

[Tommy] Doug Funnie was the character's name.

And Patty Mayonnaise was Doug's girlfriend right?

[Tommy] No! Love interest. What about, who was Skeeter?

Skeeter was just his buddy.

[Tommy] His buddy.

Patty Mayonnaise, Skeeter and uh--

[Tommy] Roger, who's got the leather jacket

and the slick hair.

Roger was the dick, right?

[Tommy] Yeah.

Roger.

Alright so we've got the mayonnaise and the mustard

and then I'm just gonna take a little pickle here.

I'm just gonna cut it real fine,

just kinda mince it up and fold that in there.

I think that's just a solid.

You could put that on all types of sandwiches.

And then yeah, just mincing this up

and don't add nothing crazy.

Yeah, nice, nice.

This was just like a dill kosher pickle.

If you have some that you made, your own,

even better but I am out.

[Tommy] You're out of pickles right now?

Yeah, I'm out of homemade pickles,

they went so fast, they were delicious.

But I could just go buy some cucumbers from the store

but I like to wait, I like to do things in season, you know.

When the cucumbers are back I'll make some more pickles.

We'll add this right in.

We'll do the whole thing.

I forget off the top of my head how much

pickle it calls for in the recipe.

[Tommy] Talk to us about this board situation.

Oh you like that Tommy huh?

[Tommy] Oh I do.

So its just a little maple and cherry.

Pardon me but I forget the real nice folks on Instagram

reached out to me and like you know we'd love

to send you a couple cutting boards.

I'm a wood worker too, on the side

and I said please, sure, send me something cool,

and boy they delivered.

Little cherry maple, little live edge on there,

bop-bop, nice little pattern.

I'm into it.

Yeah, mix that up.

Oh no, before I think I said this was a kosher dill pickle.

I do believe the recipe and that pickle is bread and butter.

Correct? No?

[Tommy] There's nothing in here about bread and butter.

No this calls for dill.

Could you use a bread and butter?

I think that is, or maybe not.

No.

Here taste Tommy.

It's got a little bread and buttery thing goin'.

You could use it, is it though?

[Tommy] Yeah.

You could use any pickle you want though.

And I'm just gonna add a little bit of black pepper, okay?

And I'm gonna add a little pinch of salt.

I don't know if that's in the recipe but that's cookin'.

Yeah, and we'll just give that a little mix.

I mean recipes are, for me, recipes

are just kind of inspiration and guidelines.

And then certain areas you can kind of riff off on

and do your own thing, like add capers if you wanted to.

But for the next trick.

We're gonna take this fine product bologna here.

And so bologna there's pork bologna, there's beef bologna

and they use sometimes there's a mix.

I believe this is a mix between pork and beef.

And, yeah, it's just a ground up product with fat and meat

that gets emulsified and then stuffed into a casing

and cooked probably with steam

or like a low temper, I don't know.

I'm not quite sure how they cook it on a mass scale.

But they cook it and then you know add some salt

and some spices and it's really just

a big emulsified sausage.

Yeah, you know, sometimes it's better

you don't see how the sausage is made.

I imagine it's gross as hell.

But boy it looks great now.

But let me show you something.

I got a little cast iron skillet goin' heated.

Let me turn it up.

We're gonna put it on medium.

Okay?

Yeah.

We'll let that warm up.

And here's a little trick I learned back in New Jersey.

That's where I grew up.

My first job I worked at a deli

and I must have cooked 25,000

Taylor Ham, egg and cheese sandwiches.

And some folks call it pork roll

but I believe that's a little more

south like Pennsylvania or something.

But when you're cooking it, it's a similar product.

When you cook it on a flat top or on a cast iron

or something, if you were to throw it in there like this

it would start to cup up

and then the inside would remain unseared.

You wanna get that nice caramelization on the bologna.

So what I learned with the Taylor Ham,

and you could apply it to anything like this,

I just cut little slits in it.

Okay?

Like little one inch little ba-boom.

And that'll keep everything kinda staying flat.

You know what I mean?

Just like that.

Now when I was doing it back in the day,

when we were doing the Taylor Ham, it comes in a big roll

and you would cut slits on the whole roll

and put it on the deli slicer like so.

And then you would get it to all come out perfect boom-boom.

[Tommy] Little like pork propellers here.

Pork propellers is what--

[Tommy] Pork propellers.

Yeah some might say.

Never heard that in my life.

Little pork propellors or like the um--

[Tommy] Little technical term.

Yeah or like the fireman's emblem like where they

have the little, where it says, like,

New York City Firefighter.

So we're gonna bring this over to the cast iron

and cook it up.

We'll throw one on as a sampler

just to make sure we're at the right temp here.

Oh yeah that'll do.

You getting that?

Yeah we'll throw that on there.

[whistles]

And if you want to give them a little cracked pepper

on there, ain't nothing wrong with that either.

If you just throw it on there and sear it,

it kind of, it's fine, but it kind of burns it a little

and it loses that like fresh cracked pepper aroma

that I dig and it can become a little bitter.

So I put it on after.

Yeah let that cook up.

You see we got, we don't have that cuppage.

I should have not cut one.

Ah you guys are smart you can probably figure out

what it would do, imagine.

Oh that was very nice of you, very white glove of you.

[Woman] [giggles]

We're flying in the uncut,

see what happens without the cuts.

Then you just keep an eye on it

and again prior the bologna's already cooked,

like we mentioned, so you're just caramelizing it,

crisping it up, heating it through.

Oh yeah, you getting that?

Look we've got a little bit of cuppage goin'.

And that's no bueno man.

You're just gonna get that nice crispiness

on the ring there on the outside and then the inside,

it's just gonna be hot bologna.

That ain't that great.

It reminds me of those little toys back in the day.

Oh man, where it was like it kinda looked like that

and it was just like a cup

and you would pop it and you'd put it somewhere

and you'd forget about it

and then like five minutes later thing would

go flying and hit the ceiling or something.

You know what I'm talking about?

[Tommy] Yes.

What were they called?

Ah look at that.

So that's what we're looking for, nice carameliztion.

Yeah, looks like Taylor Ham, basically is.

Taylor Ham founded in New Jersey, Trenton I believe.

Yeah see this?

No bueno.

Alright, that's not what we're looking for.

Toasted edges.

No sir.

We'll give that one to Tommy.

Yeah you see what's happening here?

I mean that ain't no fun.

Talk about inconsistent.

I mean which looks better?

You tell me.

We'll cook it for the hell of it though.

Oh yeah now we're getting there bud. Look at that huh?

Turn it down a skosh.

Ah fried bologna huh?

Smells fantastic, it is fantastic.

You know you don't need to go eating this everyday

but a little treat here and there.

Uncle Tommy's coming over here.

I don't have an Uncle Tommy.

We'll say Uncle Dave.

Uncle Dave's coming over, a special day.

You guys are gonna watch the old ball game or something,

make a little fried bologna.

Boom.

And we're moving.

Okay now, here now so we've got a little bit of that

bologna fat in the pan still.

It's still hot.

Just gonna do a nice little toast.

You know if you want to add a little butter

or mayonnaise make it real nice that's up to you.

But I'm not. I like to do it a little dry like that.

I don't care.

Personal preference, you know?

Hold that down, make it nice.

They don't need to be crispy super, super toast

but I just want it to warm up a little,

maybe get a little bit of crunch to it but nothing crazy.

I kinda like cause the fried up bologna has, not crispy,

but kind of a little texture to it

and I like the bread to just be kinda warm and soft.

So I just got some real nice,

I think this sandwich goes really well with rye bread.

I mean you could use anything.

If you're into white bread or wheat bread

or pumpernickel sounds pretty awesome,

whatever kind of bread you're into but rye works for me.

Fish spa, ooh!

Ooh this seems right.

Yeah that's that stuff.

Ah yeah, nice dry toast man, underrated in my opinion.

Morocco's probably cringing at the idea.

[Chris] What, bologna sandwich?

Yeah.

Toasting your bread dry on the skillet.

In like the charred bologna residue?

No it wasn't that bad.

Oh it's not that bad?

No.

Great oh-- Look how it came out Chris.

Oh okay, not bad.

Not bad.

Alright cool, it's your proof.

[laughs]

[Chris] You can keep going.

A little better with a little--

Maybe not, no

Like a little butter or something?

No.

It would not be better with butter?

I don't think so.

You know the bologna is so much.

It's like we've got the mayonnaise

with the mustard and the pickles.

This is healthy.

We're trying to eat healthy here Chris.

Enough horsing around.

Oh yeah.

This is the stuff.

Cool. Now we're just gonna take a little bit of that sauce

we made mustard, mayonnaise, pickle,

little salt, little pepper.

Oh yeah, nice.

I like chopping up the pickle.

You know if you wanted to throw a little extra pickle

on there this certainly wouldn't mind.

But this is cool because you know sometimes you bite

and you don't get a pickle in every bite or it falls off.

This it's everywhere.

Maybe we'll do a little fold like that.

Okay?

[Tommy] So soigne.

Yeah, yeah.

You can throw whatever kind of green you want on there.

It's fine without it.

If you're into cheese, knock yourself out.

But I like to add a little iceberg lettuce.

Lot of people hate on the iceberg

but I think it's delightful.

And then if you want, this is optional,

we'll treat it as like a little vinegar on the sandwich,

just a little splash of some of that pickle juice on there,

brighten up the lettuce a little

but I don't wanna sog it out too much, just a little bit.

And then the cut, you know?

Is it straight or is it on an angle?

I'm gonna listen to my gut we're gonna go on an angle.

[Tommy] Okay we're--

Yeah, look at that bud.

How good's that look?

Cool I guess we'll give it a little taste here, huh?

Nice.

Mmm, it's delicious.

[Tommy] Does Hunzi want any of this?

Got a Hunzi flyin' in.

[claps]

Perfect.

We're in business now.

Which one's mine?

I want this one.

Yeah, little fried bologna, mustard, mayonnaise, pickle,

iceberg lettuce, a little--

Yeah!

A little pickle brine.

Right, so that's delicious right?

Yeah, mm hmm.

You don't wanna go eating that

all the time Can I have a pickle?

but yeah a little pickle, get in there.

Are these yours?

No, we talked about that already

but we're a seasonal pickle kind of guy.

That works well.

That's good yeah?

Good job Brad.

Thanks bud.

Thank you.

So yeah and then it's not, like I was telling Matt,

it's not the classiest of sandwiches

but it doesn't mean it doesn't deserve a beautiful plate.

My buddy down in Austin, TX Keith Kreeger,

hooked us up with this fine piece here

and I do believe no matter what you cook

it deserves to be put on something nice.

Super easy, super delicious, very satisfying, easy to make.

Whether it just be like a quick snack

or a little lunch or something.

I mean heck call it dinner if you want.

Have some fun doing it and bon appetit.

I don't know why but fried bologna always reminds me

of the Wayans brothers.

You know the dad had the diner,

the show The Wayans Brothers, The Wayans Bros.?

And the dad, Tommy am I bein' a little?

No!

You know, for The Wayans Bros.?

[Chris] Yeah.

Chris remember the dad's name?

He was always like yiddedy, cookin' and shit.

I feel like I'm thinking back to In Living Color.

[Tommy] That's what I was thinking of.

Like Wayans Bros. I feel like that was more of a sh--

It wasn't a show, it was a great show.

Yeah I don't know, sorry man.

And the dad, so the two Wayans Bros.,

there was like Shawn and Marlon, right?

[Chris] Damon.

[Tommy] And Damon too.

Well Damon he wasn't involved in this.

He wasn't involved in this project.

Yeah so they were in the middle of a train station,

like a little mall lobby and there was like a newsstand

that the Wayans brothers were running

and then the dad had a little diner with the mom I think.

And yeah long story short it reminds me of frying bologna.

[laughs]

Did they actually fry bologna or?

No, probably not.

[Chris] Or just in your mind?

Just in my mind I could see him frying bologna.

[Chris] Okay.

Great show though.

[Chris] Good story Brad.

Yeah another great story.

Remember that one, tell your kids one day. [laughs]