Saturday, January 21, 2006

West Virginia Fried Bologna Sandwich?

You can notice some wierd things perusing your Sitemeter stats. Last night (Friday night) at about 8:08pm EST, a whole lotta people from all over the United States Googled some variation of these keywords: "west virginia fried bologna sandwich". A bunch of them ended up on my blog because of all the "WV hot dog" and fried bologna discussions. Then they did it again at about 8 minutes past midnight (EST). It must have been on some TV show or something. How funny is that?
UPDATE: A reader just told me that somebody on "Countdown With Keith Olberman" on MSNBC referred to Googling "fried boloney sandwiches in West Virginia". You can see the transcript here, but don't expect it to make any sense.
UPDATE#2: OK... we finally get to the bottom of this. This post on his own blog is what Craig Crawford was referring to.

12 comments:

John said...

I'm also curious to know why people Googled that phrase. I didn't know that West Virginia was famous for fried bologna sandwhiches. The only time in my life I have ever witnessed bologna being fried is when we would go camping and my mother would fry it on a Coleman stove because we had to use the bologna (requiring refrigeration) before we opened the can of SPAM. She did it to make sure it was okay to eat (being a super cautious mom). Otherwise, I never heard of anyone frying bologna.

Something that was popular in our area of West Virginia were the deep-fried submarine sandwiches. While they were very tasty, I'm sure they were among the contributing factors of the high rate of heart disease in West Virginia. I haven't eaten one in years.

Buffy said...

Fried bologna sandwiches were a certified staple of my life as a kid. I havent had one in 8 years. In fact, I dont even know if you can buy the stuff here. (Still cant find buttermilk even though I knooooow its around somewhere.) I've never seen it........

Rick Lee said...

I was never a fan of bologna when I was a kid. (something Mom never could understand) But I recall that I liked it better fried with mustard than not. I always thought it was funny how the middle expanded and rose up above the skillet. You had to cut the edges to make it lay down.

Sprinkles said...

Hmm Fried Bologna...

Only memory of that is when I was living in Korea as a child and I took a cardboard box and covered it with tinfoil and played 'Restaurant' with my Barbies in the back yard...~sun~ frying up balogna to eat.

Sometimes as an adult I get a taste for a balogna sandwich, but the thought of eating balogna makes my husband's skin crawl...

Truly,
Insanity Infusion

Buffy said...

How great is that...I soooo use to love the Sterling in Welch. Its given at least ten of my family members heart attacks. Is it still open?

John said...

It's been many years and my memories have faded a bit, but I believe when I was a kid The Sterling was called something else, something space-related like "Apollo", to match the 1950s-60s jetspace designs, but yes, the deep-fried subs about which I speak are from Welch, the city of my birth. You can find deep-fried subs in other places in Southern WV, but Welch is the hub for such cuisine.

Now, anyone know what a "stack cake" is?

stacey abshire said...

I've heard of stack cake, but don't recall what it is exactly.

John said...

Stacey, stack cake is a version of a german dessert. Think of pancakes, but not fluffy, more like flaky pie-crusts, stacked 8-10 high with filling between each layer. You're supposed to fill the layers in between with a fruit type of filling but grandmas often fill it with a mixture of apple butter and molasses in the middle of winter because that is what's available. After you make it, you let it sit for a week in the fridge before eating it so that the filling is absorbed into the "stacked" cakes. Great dessert, but as grandmas pass away, so go the desserts. As we lose our generations, we also lose our dishes and some of our memories.

Marc, I think the turkey/cranberry deep-fried sub is the most popular one.

Ellen said...

I found this blog by accident when I googled "fried balogna sandwich." Can't believe that John has never had one and why hasn't buffy had one in 8 years. I own a restaurant and we run the "fried balogna sandwich" as a special. Most of the food on our menu is healthy so I try to run comfort foods for special. If you'r ever in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, check us out. www.cybercalf.com
ellen

Rick Lee said...

Hi Ellen... great to hear from you. Buffy moved to England so she just doesn't have the opportunity. I'll definitely stop by your restaurant the next time I'm in the neighborhood. I'm off to go Google Hazleton, PA now.

Unknown said...

Just want to point out that my WS hasn't been updated since our inception in '04. I look forward to meeting you. Our special today is a fried bologna sandwich with carmelized onion on toasted rye with good 'ol american cheese.....later
ellen

Anonymous said...

There was a show on food network that talks about fried bologna sandwiches in West Virginia as well. That might have been the cause.