Glad You Asked: What is bologna made of, and how did it get its name?
Bologna is a cooked, smoked sausage made of cured beef, cured pork or a mixture of the two.
The bologna might include choice cuts, depending on who’s making it, but usually contains afterthoughts of the meat industry — organs, trimmings, end pieces and so on.
A typical recipe uses seasonings such as salt, sugar, pepper and spices, plus a curing agent that includes sodium nitrite to prevent food poisoning.
The meat is chopped, mixed with the cocktail of seasonings and put it in a casing. Like all sausages, bologna is covered in a natural casing made from the gastrointestinal tracts of cattle, sheep and hogs.