Food Fights: The Biggest Culinary Scandals Of 2011
Famous Death Row Last Meals
 |
| Photo: Hardee's. |
Hardee's is having startling success with a humble Appalachian lunch meat long considered too provincial for nationwide tastes, and nobody's more surprised than the fast-food chain's top brass.
"We were concerned it would be too regional," Executive Vice-President of Marketing Brad Haley says of Hardee's new Oscar Mayer Fried Bologna Biscuit. "But sales have increased every week we've had it."
While bologna is a staple of lunch counters and school cafeterias across the South, Hardee's found inspiration for its menu item at a few roadside diners that sandwiched grilled bologna between biscuit halves for breakfast. For Hardee's, the preparation stood seductively close to the final meat frontier.
"We've done virtually every other meat you can think of on a biscuit," Haley concedes. "We've had country ham, chicken, pork chops, smoked sausage. We even had turkey."
In just one measure of bologna's perceived lowliness, self-proclaimed "toughest sheriff" Joe Arpaio tried to humiliate Maricopa County inmates by serving them unadorned bologna sandwiches. In the mountain South, bologna is so synonymous with thrift that some Appalachian restaurant owners report customers shy away from ordering it.
Recession-struck diners are apparently reconsidering that position, laying the groundwork for a minor bologna renaissance. Last year, Food City reintroduced the legendary Lay's bologna to its coolers.
More recently, small Southern farms, such as Hickory Nut Gap in Fairview, N.C., have added bologna to their lists of value-added products, geared toward locavores who'd rather not tackle a full side of beef. While artisanal bologna hasn't yet acquired the cache of, say, bacon, Haley warns against underrating the classic meat's distinct savory flavors.
"It's delicious," Haley says. "When I go to our restaurants now, Oscar Mayer bologna is what I get."
Hardee's bologna biscuit is currently served only at breakfast time, but Haley says if demand for the sandwich keeps up, its availability -- like bologna's standing with American eaters -- could change.
Have you tried the Hardee's sandwich? Let us know what you think of the fried bologna biscuit in the comments below.
| Delicious. | |
|---|---|
| Haven't made up my mind. | |
| Yuck. |
Jennifer Aniston's Effortlessly Sexy Style
Whitney Houston Dead: Singer Dies at 48, Body Found in Beverly Hilton Hotel
Sheryl Crow Loves To Flaunt Toned Physique
Whitney Houston Dead: Stars React to Legend's Sudden Death
Tips for flying cheaper in 2012
Comforter Soaked In Blood Found In Josh Powell's Storage Unit
Can You Guess This Famous Face?
It's Pink!
LINSANITY CONTINUES
Alleged Squatters Found With Drugs, Handgun, Grenades, Pig
Savings Experiment: Snow Removal
14 Years Of Christina Ricci's Beauty Looks
There's only one thing to do when the Nürburgring is covered in snow...
Tax Reform in This Election Year: It's Not Likely
PHOTOS: Remembering Whitney Houston's Glittering Style
Apple announcing iPad 3 first week of March? Anonymous sources think so
Nic Cage Addresses Vampire Rumors On 'Late Show'
Beyonce & Jay-Z Aim To Trademark Blue Ivy Carter
The Happiest People In The World...
Front Row Celebrities At New York Fashion Week
White House Bending On Birth Control Rule
Chloë Moretz Is All Grown Up
TV's Best Music Moments
PHOTOS: Makeup Malfunction!
PHOTOS: Saturn Does Cosmic Dance With Its Moons
Dougherty Sibling Pleads Guilty, Gets Deal
Couple Dies 88 Minutes Apart After 65 Years Of Marriage
Utah Man Chooses Execution By Firing Squad
New Rankings Finds D.C. Is A Great Place For Single Men
PHOTOS: Who WIll Be This Year's Cover Girl?
15 Obnoxious Notes From Roommates
Nevada Police Beating Of Man In Diabetic Shock Produces $300,000 Settlement
9-10-2009 @3:29PM Sarah-Jane said... Fried bologna sandwiches FTW!
Reply
9-10-2009 @3:59PM nicole said... I have a very hard time turning down a Wunderbar Bologna sandwich with some good mustard and brown nutty bread!
Reply
9-10-2009 @4:13PM Smeds said... Bologna, the new bacon?
Ummm..... no.
Reply
9-10-2009 @4:39PM Broken Bottle said... Bologna will never replace bacon. Why? Let me quote Jim Gaffigan:
“Steak is like the tuxedo of meat, and bologna’s the retarded cousin. Because if your eating steak something special’s happened. If your eating Bologna… you might be special”
Reply
9-10-2009 @6:45PM webslave said... Not bad, but my fav is sausage and always will be. The sausage egg cheese on a hot bisquit is just fine with me!
Reply
9-10-2009 @6:54PM Kris said... Bologna has always been one of my favorite things to put in a sandwich, so I've never considered for it to be lowbrow. Maybe it's not going to be paired with shaved black truffles on top of brioche any time soon, but it's not as far down on the totem pole as potted meats (SPAM being the classiest version of those). There's something wholesomely American about bologna on white bread with a little mayo, especially now that so many classic home dishes (ex. macaroni and cheese) have been redone to death in upscale joints in foodie capitals, such as San Francisco. Don't get me wrong, I like fancy 5 cheese macaroni with bacon, but it's not the same as the mac and cheese my mom makes from scratch or Kraft Mac and Cheese (which was a special treat in my house when I was growing up since it's chock full of chemicals).
Reply
9-10-2009 @8:34PM FullGTilt said... Hickory Nut Gap makes bologna now? Sweet merciful lord.
I'm not 100% about fried bologna being a strictly southern thing. I grew up in northeast PA and LOVED having it for breakfast. Though...the first time I ever had a fried bologna sammich (soft white bun, mustard, diced white onions and the bologna) was in Gastonia, NC....
Mmm.
Reply
9-11-2009 @1:04AM Marilou said... If you had time to post this, you had time to post beautiful pictures and funny stories of your kids! Haven't had an update since July!!!!
Reply
9-11-2009 @7:14AM Jim said... ah the lowly fried bologna sandwich .. is not a hot ticket item at hardee's .. the best bologna is field's field meat co Owensboro Ky . it comes in a garlic also .. but I do love a fried bologna sandwich on toast with a fried egg and some good yellow french'mustard ,, also a good balogna aalad made like tuna fish salad ..
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Reply
9-12-2009 @8:19AM Mary said... Who knew bologna was a Southern thing? Or maybe just the frying it and putting it on a biscuit part? Anyway, I like it, probably as much as sausage, and it seems to have less fat in it
Reply
9-11-2009 @8:37AM Valerie Crowe said... Fried bologne is old time staple...now someone should try a spam sandwich!
Reply
9-11-2009 @9:00AM lucy said... Fried bologna and scrambled eggs have been on the breakfast menu in my life since I was a child. Funny to see it just now being "discovered". It is a good combination...yum
Reply
9-11-2009 @9:19AM bellagrlxitalia said... boarshead bologna is the best and not some cheap meat.. thin sliced and very flavorful. it costs more but its very good quality meat. on a bagel with real american yellow cheese and alil mustard. mmmmm
Reply
10-01-2009 @4:02PM SandyT said... Get on the bandwagon, everyone I know has always loved fried bologna
Reply
9-11-2009 @9:11AM wilco said... Holy crap that looks so good I want to lick the screen. However, does it really look like that when you buy one? Please let us know. I'm in northern VA and I don't think the Hardees up here have that. Anybody know? I would be willing to drive the 20 miles to the closest one if they had it.
Reply
9-11-2009 @9:31AM LIZ said... it's food. it's cheap. it's good. eat it.
Reply
9-11-2009 @9:57AM Chris Elliott said... Oh my goodness! What a surprise to see Lay Packing Co in the news. That is my Mother's family co.!! I have photos of original meat market--found during genealogy searches. I believe market is still open, but the processing plant closed years ago.
WOW. What a lovely thing to find on line.
Reply
9-11-2009 @9:59AM Josey said... All red meat is bad for you and pork meat is even worse. Frying it is worse still. That's why there are so many obese people and people with cancer. Two of the things that cancer cells feed on is dairy products and red meat. No adult should be drinking cow's milk.
Reply
9-11-2009 @10:21AM Paul said... No one is asking you to eat it Josey. So shut up you food nazi.
Reply
9-11-2009 @11:09AM Lynn said... OK, but how about Livermush? Are we ever going to be able to get a good Livermush biscuit, which can be served several different ways at a fast food restaurant? I hope so. When this takes off, I'll let you know where to send my check for making you even richer with my idea.
Reply