Old-Fashioned Scrapple

Submitted by Chef Shadows

"Wonderful for breakfast sure beats the stuff sold in stores! Cooking times include chilling time."

 

• Ready In: 4hrs 30mins
• Ingredients: 9
• Serves: 12

ingredients

• 1 lb cooked boneless pork loin, chopped
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 14 1⁄2 ounces chicken broth
• 1⁄4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1⁄4 teaspoon pepper
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, more
• vegetable oil, as needed

directions

1. In a large saucepan combine pork, cornmeal, chicken broth, thyme and salt.
2. Bring to a boil, stirring often.
3. Reduce heat and simmer about 2 minutes or until mixture is very thick, stirring constantly.
4. Line an 8x8x2-inch baking pan or a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan with waxed paper, letting paper extend 3-4 inches above top of pan.
5. Spoon pork mixture into pan.
6. Cover and chill in the refrigerator 4 hours or overnight.
7. Unmold; cut scrapple into squares.
8. Combine flour and pepper; dust squares with flour mixture.
9. In large skillet brown scrapple on both sides in a small amount of hot oil.
10. Serves 12.

Reviews

[Andi Longmeadow Farm]

You have a winner with this. Beyond tasty, an indescribable tastiness. Crispy on the outside, warmed and softened in the middle. We have a bit left for next Saturday morning, however; my Dad, Dennis and myself pretty much devoured this right on the spot. I made this the evening before, it was easy enough to put together, and followed the recipe exactly. I did however; use the food processor to blend everything up and made a pork/cornmeal, thyme and broth gruel. Perfect. I let it rest in fridge overnight, and was able to cut it easily into 1/4 " slices. I fried it up with some (don't tell anyone!) bacon grease and a bit of oil for the sizzle. Outstanding Chef Shadows... love, love recipes such as this. Thank you!

 

[cmdg]

Real scrapple has liver and brains in it. Once is has hardened, no need to even put grease in the pan - the scrapple will crisp and brown on its own, because there is fat in it. It (for me) needs some sage also. Boil pork with bones (neck bones are good) to make the broth. Pick all the meat off bones and chop or grind it) and put it back in the broth with a piece of chopped liver and a small amount of brains- they need to be washed and have the membrane pulled off) just don't think about it - brains give it a really good flavor) All this is if you can't get a head. If you have a head, it is a whole different ball game you can make real scrapple. Simmer the head for a few hours - this gives you the brain flavor as well as the tongue. Let it cool in the broth (if you want to get fancy, put an onion in. Good, but not traditional. Pick the meat off the head. There is a surprisingly large amount of meat on the head-cheeks, ears, etc. Chop, grind or even put in food processor (in batches, of course), adding some liver. You can use every part of the head. Strain the broth to make sure there are no bones, etc. Put the chopped meat along with some of the chopped liver along with everything edible that came off the head-ears, lips, tongue, etc, back into the broth. Add the cornmeal. The amount depends upon how much broth you have. About a cup of cornmeal to about a liter of broth. simmer this until the cornmeal thickens-add your spices: salt, loads of black peppe (use as much as you think, then add some more)r, sage, a little thyme if you want it, I usually add a little cayenne, also. divide into loaf pans. A whole head will make about six loaf pans. Let it cool and put it in the fridge. Unmold and freeze the others, wrapped well. Lots and lots of natural gelatin, so the loaves will firm up nicely and hold together perfectly. Slice the loaf about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick, thicker if you want to. Cut each slice in half for easy handling. No need to bread it or even put fat in the pan-there is fat in the scrapple and it will brown and crisp up beautifully. I know most Americans don't want to eat things like tongue and brains, etc etc but it is chopped or ground up. If you eat commercial hot dogs you have already eaten these things, believe it or not! The people who first made this (and they still do)didn't waste anything. Why do you think it is called SCRAPple? Every little piece of meat and bone not useful for something else went in there and it is delicious! As a former Pennsylvania farmer, I know the Amish still make this the old way. And those folks can cook! Try this. it is real scrapple.

 

[cayotica]

It’s something akin to scrapple, needs a hint of liver however. BTW, by chopped, do you finely ground by any chance?

 

[dougiefla]

The reason that the scrapper is not forming a good loaf and holding together is the use of boneless pork loin. The original reason for the invention of scrapper was to use up the scrap meat left over when butchering a hog. Most of this meat was in the head. There was a lot of gristle and non meat ingredients included in the mix. After simmering all day in a pot, the gristle and fat was rendered to a softened state. The head itself was also in the pot. This cooking process released a lot of gelatinous into the broth, which when cooled, "gel" and hold the loaf together. There is no gelatin in pork loin. The answer is to use a bony cut of pork and allow it to simmer for a long time or use a crock pot. Ideally, pork jocks, a ham bone, or pigs feet would do the job. I suppose that gelatin pack(s) would work. I use a couple of smoked jocks and ground pork. After cooking, I process them together, including skin, which is very soft. Your results, if following my tips, will be better and more authentic

 

[CoffeeB]

This got mixed reviews from the carnivoires of this house. DH said it was alright but needed something...I"m assuming he meant seasoning. And, DS's didn't like at all. For me, I don't eat meat and so offer no comment. I will say in preparing this it went together well. I left it refrigerated overnight but upon taking it out of the loaf problems began. I didn't hold together as I was slicing and completely crumbled in my hand. So, I improvised and pattied, floured, and threw in a pan w/olive oil and fried it as patties. Even then they still fell into many many pieces. I followed your recipe exact and so not sure as to what went wrong. I was so excited to try this as DH and DS's like sausage, but they said this didn't taste like sausage but more like just plain pork, fried. DRAT. I"m sure it wasn't the recipe as Andi gave it rave reviews. Glad I gave it a try anyway.