This Simple Technique Takes Bologna Sandwiches From Good To Great

When it comes to affordable, fast, and family-friendly meals, it's hard to beat a bologna sandwich. Plus, you can make it as simple or as complex as you like, adding everything from just the bologna and some mustard to veggies, cheese, and other, more unexpected sauces.

With that said, if you want to really ramp up a basic bologna sandwich, there's one simple way to do so: Glaze your bologna. Meat glazes are simple, sticky sauces that you add to your protein to infuse it with extra flavor. They include a sugar, a liquid, and aromatics; glazes sometimes contain spicy additions as well (such as this balsamic vinegar, honey, and chili ham glaze). When used to coat bologna, a glaze helps transform the lunchmeat from a fairly plain protein into one that tastes more luxurious and flavorful.

Better yet, you can get as creative as you like with your glaze. Opt for a simple jam and mustard glaze, try a classic BBQ sauce as a glaze, or go for something extra fancy like a blackberry bourbon glaze. The mild sweet and salty flavors of the lunchmeat make for the perfect backdrop for all kinds of flavor combos, allowing you to create a truly unique sandwich.

If you're going to make a glazed bologna sandwich, there are a couple of things to bear in mind. First, it pays to think about the type of bologna you use. While you can glaze pre-sliced bologna, a bologna loaf may be a better choice as you can control the thickness of the slices. This helps prevent burning when you cook your bologna.

Speaking of cooking, that's the next thing to think about. Before you start pouring a glaze on your meat, you'll need to cook it first. You can choose to fry the bologna, pop it in the oven, or even cook it on the grill to give it some smoky flavor. Remember that if you're working with pre-sliced deli meat, you'll want a cooking method that allows for ample control over how often you turn the slices. Otherwise, you risk letting the bologna sit too long and burn.

Lastly, you'll need to make sure to add the glaze toward the end of the cooking process so that the sugars don't burn and leave you with bologna that tastes undesirably bitter. With these tips and tricks up your sleeve, you're ready to prepare a quick, elevated version of regular bologna lunchmeat in just a few minutes and take your sandwich to the next level.