The great city of Cleveland took in a great influx of Eastern European immigrants, including Poles, who brought with them many culinary traditions that have, in turn, become Cleveland traditions. Pierogi, paczki, and cabbage rolls are easy to find here.
But in the hands of local barbecue experts, the Polish kielbasa took center stage in what’s now a truly Cleveland staple: the Polish boy. This sausage in a bun covered with coleslaw, French fries, and barbecue sauce should be on your shortlist to try when you visit.
Kielbasa or Polish Sausage?
As kiełbasa is actually just the general Polish word for “sausage,” it leaves some confusion. Back in Poland, a breakfast link, a hot dog, a meat stick? All kielbasa! But most sausage fans in the United States could pick what we call a kielbasa out of a lineup and may know it from its common loop shape at the grocery store (although you can find straight ones as well).The meat is ground a bit coarsely, nothing like the fine grind of hot dogs. The recipe includes garlic, and the sausage is most commonly pre-cooked and made with smoked meat. It may also be called simply a Polish sausage, although one may expect a Polish sausage packaged at the store as links, longer and thicker than a hot dog but similarly rounded at both ends. In Cleveland, however, there’s a straight-cut end, where it has been shortened from the longer whole.
Some product labels even use both terms: Kielbasa Polish sausage. Traditionally, this variety is made with pork but sometimes a blend of pork and beef or even pork and veal and, less commonly, just pure beef. More recently, a turkey version has emerged. A natural casing gives them a good snap when you bite into one.
A Barbecue Empire, a Signature Sandwich
However, credit for the creation of the sandwich with its unusual toppings lies not with Polish delis but with a black-owned barbecue joint. Virgil and Arelia Whitmore came to Cleveland from Texas in 1941 and opened Whitmore’s Bar-B-Q the next year. (The Whitmores later divorced, and Arelia ran Mt. Pleasant Bar-B-Q, which remains in business to this day.)
Virgil Whitmore Jr. took over from his father and eventually passed the reins to his sons. The third generation is led by Virgil Whitmore III and his identical twin brother, “Vegas” Vance Whitmore. It has been 50 years since they started working in the kitchen when they were still in their teens.
Sandwich making doesn’t exactly maintain detailed records, but many believe Virgil Whitmore Sr. to be the creator of the Polish boy.
“Other people were actually making them, but they say it’s not necessarily who made it, but who made it famous,” Mr. Vance Whitmore said.
And that would definitely be Whitmore’s. Virgil Sr. added a deluxe version, topped with chopped pork shoulder, in 1974. At its peak, Whitmore’s Bar-B-Q had as many as seven locations, but since the brothers’ parents died, they’ve downsized to two.
Mr. Vance Whitmore spent four years in Las Vegas, where he earned his culinary degree at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts and learned “a lot of stuff my granddad didn’t tell me,” he said.
“He didn’t have to, you know? Just ‘Boy, put it in there for 12 minutes.’ ‘Put some of this sauce that I’m making on it,’” he recalled, laughing.
Mr. Vance Whitmore famously served up the Polish boy to Cleveland-raised Steve Harvey in 2018 on his TV talk show “Steve.”
Whitmore’s Bar-B-Q uses smoked beef Polish sausages pre-cut to bun length. Some may be surprised to see the sausages go into the deep fryer basket rather than onto a grill, but the result is a nice, uniform bite.
However, the real secret is in the sauce, Mr. Vance Whitmore said.
“Some will start with a base of Sweet Baby Ray’s, but we don’t do that,” he said.
The only details Mr. Vance Whitmore shares are that he starts with tomato juice and ketchup and adds garlic, onion, mustard, and other seasonings. The Whitmores favor creamy-style coleslaw with organic apple cider vinegar, and they top it all with fresh-cut fries and the BBQ sauce. Ribs, beef, chicken, and fish round off a full menu of barbecue and sandwiches, but the Polish boys still cross the counter by the hundreds each week.
“It’s been a journey,” Mr. Vance Whitmore said.
Polish Girls and Melting Pots
Some may find it ironic that the Polish boy originated in a black-owned barbecue joint, but not Susan Chapo of Relish Cleveland, who gives foodie walking tours with a bit of history.“It’s what makes Cleveland this whole cultural blend of everything,” she said.
Where would someone have gotten the main ingredient in the first place?
“The neighborhood joints,” Ms. Chapo said. “You could easily get kielbasa. Especially back then, you could go to your butcher shop, and there were a lot of ethnic places. [The barbecue shops] just started changing up what they put on top of it.”
Truth be told, you want to eat yours as soon as it’s served. With the slaw and the sauce, that bun can get a little messy in a hurry.
“It’s not a neat meal at all,” Ms. Chapo said with a laugh. “But it’s delicious.”
Polish Boy
If you’re a sausage maker, hats off to you, but we’re going to assume you’re buying your sausage ready-made. Make sure it contains garlic and is smoked. Choose your meat: pork, beef, a blend of the two, or even turkey.- A kielbasa polish sausage, either a link or a u-shaped kielbasa cut in half
- An appropriately sized hot dog bun or hoagie roll
- BBQ sauce of your choice
- French fries
- 3 cups shredded cabbage
- 3/4 cup shredded carrots
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- Freshly ground paper
Unless you have a deep fryer or air fryer, you can fry the sausage in a pan of oil for about 10 minutes, until the exterior darkens and gets a bit of crunch to it. Use tongs to roll it so that it cooks evenly. Most kielbasa polish sausages are pre-cooked, so you’re more concerned about the outside getting finished than worrying about whether the meat is still raw.
Toast the bun. Lay in the sausage and top it with coleslaw, then French fries, and apply your barbecue sauce. Have napkins at the ready!
