Pennsylvanians in the know who want to avoid this can order scrapple “Philly style” at a cafe or diner, which means it’s sliced more thinly and fried a bit harder. Texture is often what many cite as a barrier to entry with scrapple, as its interior can be a bit mushy and moist despite its crispy exterior. On the other hand, it’s not unusual to find people bristling at the idea of scrapple because of its “mystery meat” ingredients. Most people have a vague understanding that the hot dog is made from meat scraps but they eat them without flinching at barbecues and ball parks across the land. This doesn’t track along a completely logical line - on the one hand, there’s the hot dog, one of the most beloved tubed meats in the American food canon. While cuisines across the planet include dishes made with organ meat and scraps, in America, many of us have an uneasy relationship with offal. For many, it’s a pure comfort food, reminiscent of cozy breakfasts and family gatherings. Its intense pork-y flavor has also won over many hearts, especially paired with “ dippy eggs” as part of a breakfast plate. This regional meaty treat has cemented itself throughout generations in Pennsylvania, and other nearby states, as a perfect way to make the most of scraps of meat and to stretch those proteins farther with the addition of grains. On butchery days, offal, head meat and other bits of pork would be collected and boiled in a kettle with grains, then formed into loaves. Scrapple was invented by the PA Dutch, a take on pannhaas or “pan rabbit,” a meat scrap-and-grain pudding that can be traced back to German colonists who settled in Southeastern and South-Central Pennsylvania in the 17th and 18th Centuries. For the Pennsylvania Dutch, a notoriously food-waste-averse folk, making scrapple is just one example of steadfast thriftiness. Blood sausage (or black pudding), foie gras, liver pate and haggis are all examples of recognizable dishes made from offal. Transforming bits and pieces of precious animal protein is a practice that connects peasant cooking in the Middle Ages with the nose-to-tail sustainability-minded philosophies of today. For cooking, pieces of scrapple are sliced off the loaf and pan-fried in fat until brown and crunchy on the outside and creamy on the inside. The meat is simmered in broth or water, with the grains and spices slowly added, and then the mixture is patted into greased loaf pans and refrigerated or frozen until solid. As implied in its name, it starts with scraps of pork (which often includes offal, the organs of a butchered animal), bound together with cornmeal and buckwheat flour, and spiced generously with dried spices, like marjoram, sage and thyme. Let’s begin with the definition of scrapple. Is there an iconic Pennsylvania food as simultaneously worshiped and reviled as scrapple? On the face of it, this breakfast meat is not so different from other pork-y products, but dig a little deeper and you’ll find a storied cultural touchstone that can be surprisingly divisive.
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