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German Bologna Sandwich
Remove the skin from a bologna sausage and rub to a paste. Spread thin slice of lightly buttered rye bread with a little French mustard, then a layer of bologna, cover with another slice, and garnish with a pickle.
A three-line sandwich that depends almost entirely on how the sausage is handled. The instruction to "rub to a paste" is the whole technique.
- Rub to a pasteThe bologna is not sliced but mashed into a spread, which is what makes the sandwich hold together on thin bread. A food processor does it in seconds; by hand, chop finely and work with the back of a spoon or a fork until it is smooth and slightly tacky. A tablespoon of softened butter or cream cheese per half pound helps it bind if the sausage is lean and crumbly.
- German bolognaAt this period the term meant a large, coarse, mildly seasoned cooked sausage sold whole from the deli counter, closer to today's ring bologna or a Fleischwurst than to pale supermarket slices. Ask a delicatessen for a piece cut from a whole bologna rather than buying pre-sliced.
- Remove the skinBolognas of this date were cased in natural casing that had to be peeled. Modern ring bologna often still has an inedible casing; slit it lengthwise and pull it away before mashing.
- French mustardA smooth, mild prepared mustard, not the sharp English powder mixed with water. Dijon is the closest common equivalent, and "a little" is right, as the sausage is already salty.
- Rye breadA fine-grained deli rye or a light seeded rye, cut thin, suits the filling best. A dense pumpernickel or a coarse whole-rye sourdough will overwhelm it.
- The garnishA dill or sour cucumber pickle in brine suits the sandwich better than a sweet gherkin. The recipe sets it alongside, though sliced lengthwise and laid inside it does more work.
- YieldRoughly a quarter pound of sausage makes two generous sandwiches. The paste keeps covered in the refrigerator for two or three days and firms up as it chills.
Sandwich books of this period were written for the new fashion of afternoon teas, card parties and packed luncheons, and they drew heavily on the delicatessen counter that German immigrant butchers had established in many American cities. Bologna takes its name from the Italian city and its mortadella, though the sausage that reached American shops is generally credited to German and Austrian butchery, which may be why a cookbook of this period distinguishes "German bologna" as a particular article rather than a generic one. Paste fillings of this kind are common in these collections: thin sandwiches were expected to be cut into fingers or rounds without falling apart, and a paste went further than slices.