| My father was born in Escatawpa, Ms. He was a | | | | stands to reason his favorite sandwich would |
| driver and general hand for an old Italian gent in Biloxi, | | | | somehow be sausage related. It was - a fried bologna |
| Ms. As a result, he could whip up a mean spaghetti | | | | sandwich. |
| sauce, chicken fricassee, or a big pot of spicy red | | | | My brother and sister and I would sit at the kitchen |
| beans. But his favorite food was any part of the pig, | | | | counter while he'd explain the finer points of preparing |
| preferably ground up, spiced up and shoved into a | | | | a fried bologna sandwich. Below is my father's |
| casing. | | | | instructions. I don't think you can rightly call it a recipe. |
| He loved sausage, any kind. You would have thought | | | | Austin's Fried Bologna Sandwich |
| he was a drug dealer. A phone call would come to the | | | | 1. Coat the bottom of a cast iron skillet with whatever |
| house. A low-voiced conversation would be held and | | | | oil you have available and heat the skillet over medium |
| he'd be out the door to meet his supplier(s). He'd buy | | | | heat. |
| sausage from the back of a raggedy ford pick-up | | | | 2. Place in the skillet a good quality, thick-sliced piece of |
| truck, the trunk of a car, or down a dark alley. | | | | bologna from which you have removed the rind. Cook |
| Needless to say, none of this pork product was | | | | the bologna until the edges are crispy and slightly |
| government inspected or had a USDA stamp of | | | | charred. Turn the bologna over and cook the other |
| approval to indicate that it was safe to eat. But he | | | | side. Bologna will puff up in the middle, You can make |
| would bring it home wrapped in whatever packaging | | | | slits into the edges if you wish it to lie flat. Purists just |
| the seller had available, croaker sack, greasy brown | | | | let it puff up. |
| paper bag, whatever. | | | | 3. For a breakfast sandwich, place the fried bologna |
| My mother wanted no part of this enterprise since she | | | | between two slices of white bread along with a fried |
| was convinced that we were all gonna get sick and | | | | egg, and some apple jelly. For a lunch sandwich, it's |
| die from ptomaine poisoning, so he would use us | | | | white bread, bologna, mayonnaise and lettuce and |
| children to sneak the sausage into the house and hide | | | | tomato. |
| it in the back of the refrigerator. I don't think we ever | | | | I taught my children how to make these sandwiches. |
| fooled her. She never cooked the sausage or ate it. | | | | When they were young this was a Saturday morning |
| My father cooked it for us children and himself. He'd fix | | | | treat. I still make them myself, but, in homage to healthy |
| it for breakfast with hominy grits and eggs or it would | | | | living, I use grilled, reduced fat turkey bologna and 9 |
| go in a pot of red beans and rice or sausage gumbo. | | | | grain bread. Even so, they still make me think of my |
| Since my father was such a sausage connoisseur, | | | | father, the King of Sausage. |