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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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1-25-2008 @7:40PM gRANT said... Yes, somebody tell me. What is Dutch Loaf?
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1-25-2008 @3:57PM fred schneider said... I am a retired meat cutter.(butcher) A question asked was what is dutch loaf. Dutch Loaf is a lunch meat/cold cut, made from ground beef and pork, along with other scraps. This is cooked in a loaf pan like a bread loaf pan. Along with a few spices. I miss the old ones myself.
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1-25-2008 @4:33PM Sandy said... Dutch Loaf is quite unique, never another taste like it, used to get it in Ohio and Michigan, haven't seen it in awhile! Miss it!
Yes, #14, I agree, and also a fresh garden cucumber sandwich on white bread with salt was introduced to me by my dad in the good ol days! Nothing like fresh garden ingredients, and we'd eat the Kowalski deli cut bologna on the side, sliced really thin, by itself!
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1-25-2008 @7:17PM hooligan said... OK. Most of you will probably think this is disgusting, but my favorite lunchmeats were Deviled Ham (the can with the paper wrapper and the dancing devil on it) and Spam! We used to fry the Spam and put it on white bread with French's mustard. MMMM! My grandfather also used to keep a "grub box" (yes I'm from the south!) in his pickup truck, and when he'd get us grandkids after school, he'd let us eat food out of it on the way home. He always had cans of Vienna Sausage and a knife, so he'd cut the sausages up for us and we'd put them on saltines and sometimes add mustard. Bet nobody ever ate that as a lunchmeat! Now that was a treat! Especially when it was followed by some tapioca pudding!!
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1-29-2008 @7:04AM thomas said... Im young, and haven't heard of many of the meats you people have refferred to... my favorite is buffalo chicken.. I just don't see anything that can beat that!
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1-29-2008 @5:19PM mr bill said... being from chicago (chacaga)........thats the lunch'in meat place..olive loaf with nothing on it , just white balloon bread, and a yoohoo
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1-30-2008 @5:08PM jean said... You bring back memories of my youth. I still like boloney. I ate boloney and liverwurst sandwiches for lunch or ham and swiss cheese. My Dad liked butter on his sandwich. Now I east Oscar Meyer cold cuts for lunch. Enjoy your article. I am a transplanted New Yorker, living in San Diego area.
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2-03-2008 @10:37AM Pat Pratte said... Hey balogna lovers, here in Missouri we call tha "Slick Meat". Imagine going through the WWII period with out our balogna. Meat was rationed and no one could afford to waste a stamp on slick meat but I do remember the overwhelming desire to have a slice of balogna, with or without the mayo, mustard, bread or anything else. Our slickmeat was substituted with mayonaise sandwithces.
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1-31-2008 @1:06PM leannaaaaa said... i dont like any of the meats he listed...
i'll stick to turkey and ham...
thats it
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2-01-2008 @12:27PM sandy said... Baloney and mustard with potato chips sandwich- yummy! Reminds me of grade school.
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2-01-2008 @3:37PM Jean Garofoli said... All Garbage! Try Real Italina Prosciuto or French Hrd Salami, of course, from France. You'll never go back!
The garbage listed on thiss page is all fat and salt. Total Garbage!
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2-08-2008 @2:33PM Norma said... Years ago You could buy pre-packaged ham lunch meat that had a little bit of fat all around the edge. It was a kind of boiled ham I think. Now, all the lunch meats have so many preservatives that the taste is all too bland. Nothing tastes as good anymore!
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2-10-2008 @7:17PM Rlene said... LUNCHEON LOAF - YUM
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2-14-2008 @8:07PM bon said... many memories! I can still smell the inside of my old metal lunch box when I would open it up at school. Balogna with miracle whip on white. Oh so good.
Here's one for all you salami lovers (it was my ex husbands favorite, I enjoyed a few myself). It really sounds gross but you will have to try it. Hard Salami with grape jelly on white.
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2-23-2008 @2:25AM Rose said... Love this article...I remember having a baloney sandwich every morning for breakfast before going to school...love BALONEY!!
Have had many comments through the years about.."do you know what is in baloney?" to which I reply..."NO, and don't care!!
My favorite baloney now is...the small Leona baloney that is low in salt...like it sliced thin, but not chipped...butter the bread,preferably Roman Meal...good brown mustard...slice of lettuce and...YUMMY!!
Second favorite is salami but with all the warnings my doctor has been giving me have cut back on 'processed meats'.
While growing up my Grandmother would tell me..."eat what you like cause someday they will be telling you what NOT to eat"...yep, that day is here but I still find an occasional moment when I slip back in time and make myself another...'good old sandwich'.
Sandwich lovers....enjoy!!!!
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2-26-2008 @7:55PM Max Kaufmann said... I like MORTADELLA BALONY ON fresh baked italian Sub. The best is in a bakery in West Palm Beach, FL called Tulipan!
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3-18-2008 @2:48PM Debby said... Yes, this article brought back fond memories of my childhood as well. I grew up in Ohio and my mom also did her weekly grocery shopping at a small little market that cut their own meat. Dutch loaf (yum) and ring bologna was a favorite at my house.....on white bread (really squishy) and sweet pickles! Oh, how I loved those sweet pickles...still do! Do any of you remember the ring bologna? It came like a sausage-like form...only fatter. Also, the kind of bologna with the red skin on it and you could slice it as thick as you wanted...all the better for frying!
Yes, as many of you, I am constantly searching for a healthier version of my old-time favorites. Thank goodness ... turkey substitutes have come a long way!
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4-08-2008 @9:29PM Anita said... Hey Don,
I love bologna sandwiches too. Sometimes with mustard, sometimes with mayo, cheese and lettuce and once in a great while with catsup. I also love hotdogs. The best bologna, ring balogna and hot dogs (with the skins on) are from The Vollwerth Co. in Hancock, Mich. Alas we moved away and i can't get them anymore. Too much to ship. Anita
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4-20-2008 @6:12PM melody said... I guess it's true "You never know what you have til it's gone." I live in Cleveland, and at the WestSide Market here, we have Dutch Loaf, Head Cheese, Souse, Liverwurst, Trail Bologna, Rice Sausage, Bologna, Ham, Turkey, even Chicken Roll. Unfortunately, time and tradition have slipped by the wayside and people would rather eat fastfood. While I must admit that the fat content is somewhat high, depending on what you pick, everything in moderation is what I tell people. I would rather have an old fashioned sandwich to some nasty fast food any day. By the way fried garlic bologna with a slice of american or provolone, with miracle whip, lettuce, tomato,a touch of salt on the tomatoes, with a loop of mustard. Let it sit out for 3-4 hrs for our field trips and those mushy warm sandwiches were always welcomed at lunch time. Often traded too... imagine that.
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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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