Special to AOL from Dr. Don Kinsman
When I was a child growing up in
Oh, there was also now and then a slab of head cheese which only my Father would eat... along with a slice of the Limburger my Mother insisted he keep wrapped up in aluminum foil on the outside kitchen window ledge. But his guilty pleasures are worth a story all their own.
Then one day all those wonderful meats simply disappeared.
Butch said that the butcher who made them had gone out of business and would not give anyone the recipe. Over the years I have found some pretty good replacements for these long lost goodies -- even for the Dutch loaf -- but they all involve trips to delis, or "foodie markets" featuring meats made by smaller butcher operations and the trip isn't always convenient. So, I have sampled the offerings of a good number of the major commercial, easily available varieties and have settled on a few which are passable for everyday use -- and at least one I downright like a lot.
I find Hillshire Farm's Deli Sliced Honey Ham to be tasty and quite acceptable for a lunchtime sandwich. Personally I favor putting it on lightly buttered bread with good mustard. I like varying the mustard, but am partial to ones that are grainy, stone ground, and dark.
While taste should be paramount, the ol' blood triglyceride levels have made me somewhat fat-content-conscious over the last few years. So, I have honed in on a couple of turkey-based versions of the old fashioned, high fat lunchmeats I have always craved. Oscar Mayer makes a turkey version of cotto salami which I like. I have to admit that I have never been a dyed-in-the-wool cotto fan so I don't have a benchmark to go by, but I find this lunchmeat to be satisfying enough in a sandwich, usually with cheese.
Oscar Mayer also makes a turkey bologna, which I'll use a low-fat substitute. I must admit that eating a slice all by itself without the bread and other "fixins" reminds me that in spite of its often mysterious origins the full-fat bologna does taste better. But this turkey bologna, when slapped onto a slice of old-fashioned white bread with a little margarine and a slice of what I call "phony cheese" (you know, one of those no-fat, individually wrapped mystery slabs) evokes just enough good memories of my "fat-be-darned days" and is tasty enough that I'll let it slide.
With no qualifications about healthiness, taste, or anything else, I do like Oscar Mayer's hard salami. Okay, it IS a bit higher in fat than I feel comfortable with these days, but after all -- it's salami. Thus, I have devised a sort of justification system for scarfing down a handful of slices on buttered white bread. My wife and I periodically invite guests over and I'll make a salad of artichokes, tomatoes and olives with pieces of salami. Well, you always have left over salami and it would just be wrong to waste it, right?
I have tried various brands and forms of salami for this recipe, but find the Oscar Mayer packaged salami slices to be best and when I eat them later I find that a few slices stacked together give just the right texture and thickness. And, most important of all, they taste really good to me.
After all, as a character whose name I forget in a teen comedy movie whose name I also forget once said: "I can't live without salami." (Editor's note: It's "Zapped", but I suppose I'll let that slide, Dad)
Do you like Dutch loaf and salami, or is all that just baloney to ya? Post your comments below.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
9-05-2007 @ 4:28PM
Tiffany said...
Enjoyed your article, because it's neat to hear what people like to eat and the combinations that are put together . Putting butter or margarine on lunchmeat sandwiches must be a regional thing as I've only heard friends from The UK say that they do that. I'm from southeast VA aka Tidewater. I grew up eating Miracle Whip and a good local brand "salad dressing" with lunchmeats and tuna, etc.. We never used mayo. Mayo has been an acquired taste for me as it is less sweeter. One interesting thing is that my grandmother used to make PB&Js a special way. She used to put butter on the jelly side whether the bread was toasted or not. I stil do this. Also I prefer strawberry jam to grape jelly.
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9-05-2007 @ 4:43PM
Ralph Costanzo said...
Try TOBINS all beef bologna. Also try some of the BOARS HEAD lunchmeats. Also try the HEBREW NATIONAL all beef franks.
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9-05-2007 @ 9:24PM
Toots said...
Dutch loaf! Boy does that bring back memories...and in the brown butcher paper! And grainy mustard. I now settle for the Turkey Pastrami by Jennie-O on "light" rye with the grainy mustard. It gets me by and the taste is right, especially for a low-fat, low-carb offering! But I would love a Dutch Loaf Sandwich on Pepperidge Farm Bread with ketchup and lettuce. Those were the good old school lunches.
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9-06-2007 @ 10:58PM
Clayton said...
Several years ago I was able to purchase a roast beef sandwich meat. It was jellied and had "hunks" of roast beef in it. It was sooooo good. Haven't seen any at local farmer's market or supermarket. Any ideas if it is available?
Thanks
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9-07-2007 @ 2:21PM
Snoshark said...
Never heard of Dutch loaf- what is it?... far as bolognas go- I'm dyed in the wool Hebrew National all-beef gal. Wish I could find it out here in the Mountain west region of the US, but they only carry their hout dogs, not the other deli products. Enjoy your luncheon meat and have a wonderful day!
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9-08-2007 @ 6:40PM
Jack Rushing said...
Before the days of the individualy wraped lunch meats, there used be a Bar-B-Q Ham loaf that was avaliable in the meat markets. It was always beside the Boiled Ham loaf. I can remember the unique flavor and have often wondered where it went. with the advent of all the blister packaging. ~~~~~~ Jack
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9-08-2007 @ 8:16PM
Barb said...
Sadly, I have given up most lunch meats for fat & salt content, but cannot resist indulging in Lebanon bologna with brown mustard on Pepperidge Farm German bread, a regional treat here in south central PA.
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9-13-2007 @ 10:44PM
Red said...
Head cheese! I grew up in NYC eating that sublime treat -- moved to the home of the German butchers in PA and nobody's ever heard of the stuff.
Hellmann's Mayo eas invented 1888 in my hometown and nobody born in NY could stand that candy-sweet revolting Miracle Whip.
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9-14-2007 @ 11:21AM
Ray said...
Those of you who don't live in the southeastern USA are being denied one of life's greatest pleasures - Duke's Mayonnaise!
It has absolutely NO SUGAR in it, is is absolutely the BEST EVER "dressing" for a sandwich!
If you are a "mayohead", and have never tasted Duke's on a ham, lettuce, and tomato sandwich, or just a tomato sandwich with a touch of salt and a good shot of fresh ground black pepper, you will be "hooked" on Duke's the first time you eat one!!
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9-15-2007 @ 5:48PM
Gayle said...
Displaced New Yorkers looking for a head-cheese fix in Pennsylvania need to look for "souse." Seriously. It's in the case next to the scrapple, usually.
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9-15-2007 @ 7:11PM
Megan said...
Dukes mayonaise is some nasty stuff. you shouldnt eat yellow mayonaise! Boar's head lunch meat rocks! try the blazin' buffalo chicken or sasalito turkey.
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9-16-2007 @ 9:48AM
Deb said...
why do people call "cold cuts" lunch meat or luncheon meat. I hate that term.. I guess any other place but NY calls it lunch meat. We NY'ers say Cold Cuts. We have the best deli's, so we know DO NOT USE LUNCH MEAT OR LUNCHEON MEAT WHEN ORDERING COLD CUTS FROM A DELI! LOL
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9-16-2007 @ 11:12AM
stan sumara said...
I miss the winn-dixie head cheese,but I found a store that sells SOUSE and hot head cheese,which I buy every week. If it goes by the wayside, I shall go for jellied pigs feet
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9-16-2007 @ 1:44PM
Lisa said...
I am from the south, born and raised...lunchmeats are good, but the first of summer garden-grown tomatoes...(droolin, excuse me...lol!!) DUKES MAYO, Fresh Merritta white bread, a little salt, lotta black pepper... now that is a sandwich. Simple and Delicious
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9-16-2007 @ 3:09PM
kat said...
What is Dutch loaf? Im from the south and have never heard of it. And Lisa #14--you are making my mouth water!!
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9-17-2007 @ 4:41AM
J. Wolfe said...
Love the tomato sandwiches! Grew up with them, only on toasted bread. Not quite lunchmeat, but tinned sardines on toast or fresh bread with mayo, just a shot of black pepper and a nice slice of cheddar... Mmmm...
Also love liverwurst and some of the old-style german lunchmeats... Was the only kid in my German class who would get within 3 feet of the headcheese.
But for a great, healthy sandwich meat try the Lunardi's brand low-salt turkey. Actually has better flavor and texture than the regular, tho the cracked-pepper style is pretty good...
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9-18-2007 @ 1:50PM
Donna said...
What about Chipped Chopped Ham? I hear it's mostly a Pittsburgh thing, but it's soooooo tasty (and very fattening, etc). Try Isaly's Chipped Ham. By far the best sandwich meat.
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9-18-2007 @ 10:37PM
Don Kinsman said...
Dutch loaf is a lunchmeat made from a coarse blend of beef and pork with spices. The mix is formed into a loaf and smoked over a hardwood fire.
Don
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9-22-2007 @ 3:03PM
ROBIN CANTRELL said...
THE LUNCHMEATS TASTED BETTER WHEN WE WERE YOUNGER (IN THE 60'S) BEFORE ALL THE PRESERVATIVES WERE CHANGING THE TASTE OF THE FOODS. WHEN THE PASSION WENT INTO THE PRODUCTS FAMILY MADE. I CAN THINK OF MORE PRODUCTS, THAT HAVE BEEN CHEAPENED.
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9-23-2007 @ 11:11AM
Dave Reggi said...
I have an Italian's preference and go for things like prosciutto, cappicolla, soppressata, provolone, sliced mozzarella (please pronounce correctly) served on a hard roll with fresh tomatoes -- what my family always called pannini (instead of sandwiches). Then the pannini became a gourmet statement and places charged a fortune for it. We peasant/farmers were onto a good thing and didn't even know it. And don't me going about polenta -- a poor family's way to stretch what little they had to feed huge families -- but that's not a lunch meat, so I'll skip it.
Then there's pastrami -- but that has to be with Swisscheese on hard rye or coarse dark bread, spicy mustard and sometimes cole slaw -- and that has to be IN the sandwich. Sorry -- the American white bread thing doesn't stimulate my palate except for the occasional PB&J...with cold milk.
Liverwurst with a slice of onion on a hard roll and dark mustard. That's a goodie too! The Germans make good lunch meats too.
Mi scusi, ma...ho fame. Ciao amici!
Dave
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