Alton Brown's Ideal Bologna Sandwich Is Both Hot And Cold

Bologna is an unusual type of meat: it's heavily processed sausage that may include a mixture of pork, beef, and chicken. Still, bologna sandwiches have become a lunchtime staple, and there are plenty of ways to mess around with them. Plus, just like most other foods at this point, celebrity chef Alton Brown has offered some thoughts on how to spice them up. Oddly enough, it involves using hot and cold bologna at the same time, in a single sandwich.

Back in 2021, Brown started a series on his YouTube channel called QQ, or "Quarantine Quitchen," where he gave his usual food advice from the confines of his house. On a YouTube livestream from 2022 titled "QQ: LIVE," Brown and his wife Elizabeth Ingram briefly addressed the topic of bologna on deli sandwiches. Specifically, they talked about whether bologna slices should be served as a cold cut or deep-fried, the latter being the Southern way to elevate your bologna sandwich. Brown made a confession — or at least, he claimed this was something he had never told his wife before. He said he likes hot and cold bologna on his sandwiches at the same time. He likes to add one cold slice and then pan fry another bologna slice, and add them to the same sandwich for the best of both worlds.

Brown offered some more details about his ideal bologna sandwich, and it's still fairly simple despite his unique flourish. His method involves combining those hot and cold bologna slices with white bread, and he also includes mayonnaise and mustard on opposite sides of the sandwich. This makes it somewhat similar to the late Anthony Bourdain's five-ingredient mortadella sandwich. On top of that, he also mentions a couple of extras like red onions. At this point, the conversation moves to a debate over the existence of the "bologna fairy," but Brown's uncommon bologna sandwich is fairly easy to emulate.

The only part which takes a little effort is the hot bologna slice: to pull that off in the classic Southern U.S. style, just slap it onto a skillet until it's browned. Some people like to keep cooking it until it really crisps up, which will give your sandwich a crunch, but that's up to your personal preference. If you do want to get slightly fancier, you could upgrade that bologna to mortadella: the big difference between bologna and mortadella is that mortadella is spiced and its ingredients are separated instead of blended together, giving mortadella slices some splotches. Otherwise, its flavor is similarly bright and a little more rich than bologna, and it's not difficult to substitute one for another. Alton Brown is unlikely to mind the swap.