Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Boar's Head Bologna, you sometimes really can go home again...

I've written before about my childhood love of  Blue Bell Bologna.  How I used to buy it at Marlin's Department Store, wrapped in white butcher paper, tied with string, it cost 59 cents a pound, and the butcher, Noel Duckworth,  would scrawl the price on the paper with a pencil that he kept perched behind his ear.  The garlic smell was so strong you could smell it thru the  wrapper.  When you opened the fridge at home, the aroma of it would envelop your senses, it was totally intoxicating, the pungent, garlicky smell of that wonderful bologna....

The company is long gone now.  I have tried many other brands over the years, but none ever tasted as good as Blue Bell.  I had given up all hope, I was doomed to eat Fat Free Oscar Mayer Bologna for the rest of my life, totally bland, totally tasteless, but only 25 calories per slice.  *sigh*

I had read online about Boar's Head Bologna and how good it was, but I was never able to locate it until yesterday.

Hubby and I were out for a drive, we stopped at a butcher shop in a neighboring town, and there in the case, front row center,  was an unopened log of Boar's Head Garlic Bologna.

I snapped up a pound in a New Yawk minute, had it sliced thin, like the old days, they slipped it into a zip locked plastic bag, unlike the in butcher paper of my childhood, and when the cashier rang me up it was $5.19.  Oh, how the times have changed in the last fifty years.

I couldn't wait until I got home to try it, hubby bought me a package of Club Crackers, I slowly unzipped the bag, OMG, could it be, could it???  It smelled just like the Blue Bell of my childhood, when I reached in the bag and touched it,  it wasn't slimy, or wet like bologna is today - I took a bite, my eyes got big as saucers, and I fell instantly in love.  It tasted exactly the same, EXACTLY!!! Finally, after all these years, I'd come full circle.  Hands down, the best $5.19 I ever spent.

And today, when I opened the fridge, the smell assaulted my senses, just like it did in the old days.

Mary, if you're reading this, you need to look for it, also.  I'm sure you bought it at Marlin's Store as a child, too.

It's a gift, it really is, that Boar's Head Bologna.  I haven't even checked the calories on their website.  Sometimes you just have to throw caution to the wind and go for it.  Know what I mean, Vern???

Jan here, doin' the fat and happy dance...

6 comments:

  1. Good ol Boar's head... not only their bologna but all of their coldcuts, saurkraut and bratwurst are absolutely the best.. so glad you are enjoying their bologna.. now if I could only find a neat NY bakery here in VA that has that wonderful rye bread and all... over the weekend we went to this deli-restaurant called 58deli that reminded me of home and the food tasted like NY.. nothing like a real cornbeef and hubby had a kinish and a rueben... xo Christa

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  2. Just got home from a trip to our old stompin' grounds. I'll have to find some of this quickly to help revive those old memories. Thanks----
    M

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  3. Blue Bell "ring" bologna was my favorite. Used to eat it on soda crackers with my dad. Boar's head is a close match for Blue Bell. Now if I could just get my hands on some of that soft "Bunny Bread".

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  4. You can get Bunny Bread in Indianapolis.

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  5. I've heard that the Blue Bell plant is opening back up and will start making the beef bologna it was known for. I'm not sure if it is the same recipe though.

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  6. I ate Blue Bell bologna yesterday in Anna, Il. It was wonderful. It was just like I remembered!

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