Scrapple!

[JanMcBaker]

Since scapple's such a regional product I thought this topic should be in the PA board. If it's felt that it should be under a different area, please feel free to move it.

Now, back to our show....... I suddenly noticed recently that Habberset's scrapple now has wheat flour as one of their ingredients. I was at the local Acme this morning and thought to check the other brands-- about 4-5 altogether. Every single d*** one of them has wheat! When the heck did that happen??!! Did they always have wheat and the new allergy information regulations forced them to acknolwedge it in their ingredients? Or is wheat a cheaper ingredient than corn meal or buckwheat flour? It's especially a PITA to my sister, who has a problem with wheat! Does anyone know what's going on with wheat in scrapple? And does anyone know of scrapple that doesn't have wheat?

Edited April 9, 2006 by JanMcBaker (log)

[WolfChef]

Never seen scrapple in stores here, will look for it next shopping trip. We make our own once or twice every winter...just corn meal in ours.

[gbredben]

From what I understand, scrapple has always been made with regular wheat flour. My guess is it's a response to allergy information concerning wheat. The recipe should still be identical, though.

[gbredben]

I should add that most of the scrapple I purchase in stores is probably made with standard wheat flour.

[CoolPapaBell]

There is one and only one Golden Rule about eating scrapple: NEVER, ever read the ingredients.

[JanMcBaker]

There is one and only one Golden Rule about eating scrapple: NEVER, ever read the ingredients.

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Oh heavens-- I've known about the various piggy parts in scrapple for years-- it's the wheat that's suddenly shown up in the ingredient lists of various brands that's annoying!

Edited to add that I didn't mean my reply to sound like I was annoyed with your post-- just about the wheat! You're right about the ingredients though. When I was lots younger I finally read the list once while eating scrapple, after years of already eating it. My first thought was to stop eating scrapple. Two seconds later I'm thinking why, when I've already been eating it for years? And so of course I'm still eating scrapple!

Edited April 12, 2006 by JanMcBaker (log)

[chappie]

I speak from my innard voices here. As a lifelong Eastern Shoreman, scrapple is more than an occasional crispy-fried, gooey-centered breakfast accessory; it is a lifestyle choice, the topic of lavish tales and the source of great legend.

I have conjured the idea of creating a sort of scrapple family tree, setting sail around the globe on a mastication mission to seek out its great grandporks, its second cousins thrice removed, examine their DNA and cultural significance and report back.

Haggis is definitely kinfolk, scrapple's ancestor from the old country. I know of souse in the South, livermush, even something refered to as goetta in (I think) Ohio.

I would differentiate, not in lineage or birth but in, say, language and ritual, between Maryland scrapple presentation and that of Delaware and Philly, where I've had it served so thick it was more warmed carrion pudding.

So dear Adventurers, fill me in on your regional scrap-and-grain, meaty loaf-like contructs. You out there in Krgyzstan, Pilau or the lower nethers of Arkansas -- I want to know about the hoof hash, the snoutmeal, the works of heart.

[Holly Moore]

Cincinnati has goetta - a blend of pork, oats and onion.

[divalasvegas]

Around hog butchering time, when all sorts of hams, bacon, and sausages were being made, my grandmother also made something call pork pudding. I've referenced it on eG before but no one seems to have a recipe for it. Anyway the pork is ground, seasoned and mixed with rice. I haven't seen this for years but I believe that the rice is broken up (ground maybe) before being added. This is then stuffed in a natural casing and ends up not as a ring but in a horseshoe shape. To prepare, again from my dim memories, slice into approximately three inch portions, saute in oil/bacon fat. When its crusty on that side, turn. What happens is that as it fries it softens, does not stay cylindrical like regular sausages, flattens out a bit (meaning that there's more surface area in contact with the hot grease) and some of the pork pudding oozes out each of the cut ends and those parts get extra GBD. A commercial pork pudding used to be sold at Safeway but I haven't seen that in ages. Origin/Grandma Carrie's home: Lone Star, South Carolina.

Edited to add additional comments/clarification.

Edited August 23, 2006 by divalasvegas (log)

[chromedome]

On Nova Scotia's South Shore, the German heritage shows itself in something called "Lunenburg Pudding." This is a fairly standard-issue black-pudding, IIRC, but I don't recall which grain goes into it along with the pork blood and scraps. It's typically served with sauerkraut, another local specialty.

[mizducky]

I'm thinking the Eastern European Jewish classic variously known as stuffed kishke or stuffed derma would qualify. Especially some of the studlier recipes I've seen out there that have included liver and lungs in the mix, such as this one -- though I think it's rather more common for the intestines/kosher casing/etc. to be stuffed with a simpler mix of just shmaltz and matzoh meal. And one of the classic serving methods--slices pan-fried till GBD--really points up the culinary family resemblance.

[ludja]

...

Haggis is definitely kinfolk, scrapple's ancestor from the old country. I know of souse in the South, livermush, even something refered to as goetta in (I think) Ohio.

...

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While haggis is certainly kinfolk, the old country ancestor is more likely "Saumagen" or 'sow's stomach" from the southern Rhine region of Pfalz (Palatinate) in Germany. I think the majority of German "Pennsylvania Dutch" settlers came from that area of Germany.

Here's some information on Saumagen: click

Saumagen is a German dish popular in the Palatinate (Pflaz). The name means "sow's stomach," but the stomach is seldom eaten. Indeed, it is used like a casing (German Pelle) as with sausage, rather similar to the Scottish haggis. Saumagen consists of potatoes, carrots and pork, usually spiced with onions, marjoram, nutmeg and white pepper, in addition to which the various recipes also mention cloves, coriander, thyme, garlic, bay leaf, cardamom, basil, caraway, allspice, and parsley. Sometimes beef is used as well. The larger ingredients are diced finely. After that, the Saumagen is cooked in hot water and either served directly with Sauerkraut and mashed potatoes or stored in the refrigerator for later use. To warm it again, the Saumagen is fried. The typical drink for Saumagen is a dry white wine.

Saumagen was created in the 18th century by Palatinate farmers who used the left-overs they had to make a new dish. Today the ingredients are not left-overs at all; indeed the butchers creating Saumagen use very high quality ingredients.

Mimi Sheraton has a recipe for Saumagen in her book, "The German Cookbook". Her (probably adapted) recipe includes ground pork, ground beef, minced streaky bacon, bread rolls, potatoes, eggs, onion, s&p and marjoram.

edited to add: Here are some recipes on the web: click and clack and one from Helmut Kohl’s wife, Hannelore: click

Edited August 23, 2006 by ludja (log)

[ludja]

Cincinnati has goetta - a blend of pork, oats and onion.

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Interesting, I had never heard of this.

click

Goetta" is northwest German dialect for "gruetzewurst," a sausage made of ground pork and grain, says Don Tolzmann, director of German-American Studies at the University of Cincinnati. Many 19th century Cincinnati immigrants came from northwest Germany, which probably explains why goetta was adopted here. Goetta is made by simmering pork (and sometimes beef) parts in water with onion, spices and tiny steel-cut "pinhead" oats. The mixture is cooked until thick, poured into pans and chilled. Goetta then is sliced and fried.

I also came across another German sausage: "Pinkelwurst" described as consisting of pork, onions, oat groats, and bacon.

[Milagai]

Would the Indian / Pakistani "meat and wheat" dish

haleem, qualify?

Recipe: http://www.indiacurry.com/lamb/l004lambhaleem.htm

I got the impression that the scrappleses and whatnots are

more downscale and made of waste parts. Haleem seems more

upscale than that, though I really don't know much about this...

Milagai

[esowchek]

There is also a Ukrainian kishka that is made in two ways. The first is with pork, pork blood, buckwheat and spices, and the second is with pork, rice and spices (no blood). The casing is pork intestines. An excellent source for both is Kurowycky's Pork Store in New York.

I was once invited to the home of an Irish friend for Christmas Eve dinner, at which she served black pudding and white pudding. The white pudding tasted a lot like rice kishka, but I believe that oats are used instead of rice or buckwheat.

Ellen

[SheenaGreena]

ponhaus and pudding?

I have absolutely no clue what they are made out of, some sort of pork and filler. I eat ponhaus when I visit my grandparents (who live in Hagerstown, MD). Its pretty big there due to the large mennonite/small amish community.

delicious stuff. I think the ponhaus is traditionally served fried with maple syrup drizzled on top, but I just like it plain

[Mimi Sheraton]

...

Haggis is definitely kinfolk, scrapple's ancestor from the old country. I know of souse in the South, livermush, even something refered to as goetta in (I think) Ohio.

...

←

While haggis is certainly kinfolk, the old country ancestor is more likely "Saumagen" or 'sow's stomach" from the southern Rhine region of Pfalz (Palatinate) in Germany. I think the majority of German "Pennsylvania Dutch" settlers came from that area of Germany.

Here's some information on Saumagen: click

Saumagen is a German dish popular in the Palatinate (Pflaz). The name means "sow's stomach," but the stomach is seldom eaten. Indeed, it is used like a casing (German Pelle) as with sausage, rather similar to the Scottish haggis. Saumagen consists of potatoes, carrots and pork, usually spiced with onions, marjoram, nutmeg and white pepper, in addition to which the various recipes also mention cloves, coriander, thyme, garlic, bay leaf, cardamom, basil, caraway, allspice, and parsley. Sometimes beef is used as well. The larger ingredients are diced finely. After that, the Saumagen is cooked in hot water and either served directly with Sauerkraut and mashed potatoes or stored in the refrigerator for later use. To warm it again, the Saumagen is fried. The typical drink for Saumagen is a dry white wine.

Saumagen was created in the 18th century by Palatinate farmers who used the left-overs they had to make a new dish. Today the ingredients are not left-overs at all; indeed the butchers creating Saumagen use very high quality ingredients.

Mimi Sheraton has a recipe for Saumagen in her book, "The German Cookbook". Her (probably adapted) recipe includes ground pork, ground beef, minced streaky bacon, bread rolls, potatoes, eggs, onion, s&p and marjoram.

edited to add: Here are some recipes on the web: click and clack and one from Helmut Kohl’s wife, Hannelore: click

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I am not sure what you mean by adapted. I think with a dish like that, as you point out, there are many possible additions. I got the recipe from a very old German cookbook printed in fraktur. If by adapted you mean American-ized you are wrong. If you mean I combined traditional elements ot suit my taste, you are right.

[Ed Ward]

divaslasvegas' pork pudding sounds a lot like classic Cajun boudin to me. That's definitely a case of "you don't want to know what's in this" food, but from one of the classic places like Johnson's Grocery in Eunice, definitely a classic. I used to steam boudin and eat it with fried eggs back when I could get it. It's pork sludge, rice, green onions, and cayenne at the minimum, and yes, there's a boudin noir made with blood, but it's illegal to sell in Louisiana. You can still get it under the counter, though, at a lot of butchers if you ask nicely.

[SheenaGreena]

I found this on PA dutch cookery

MEATS: The typical PA Dutch meat dishes use many of the less tender cuts of meat as well as some of the organ and grandular meats, which is rather unusual but fitting as they hate to waste anything, let alone something so nutritious. Tripe, liver, and pig stomach are some of their favorite dishes. Pork scraps are used along with liver, corn meal, and sometimes kidney to make scrapple or ponhaus.

[ludja]

...

Mimi Sheraton has a recipe for Saumagen in her book, "The German Cookbook".  Her (probably adapted) recipe includes ground pork, ground beef, minced streaky bacon, bread rolls, potatoes, eggs, onion, s&p and marjoram.

edited to add:  Here are some recipes on the web: click and clack and one from Helmut Kohl’s wife, Hannelore: click

←

I am not sure what you mean by adapted. I think with a dish like that, as you point out, there are many possible additions. I got the recipe from a very old German cookbook printed in fraktur. If by adapted you mean American-ized you are wrong. If you mean I combined traditional elements ot suit my taste, you are right.

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The latter interpretation is what I meant; apologies for my ambiguous sentence.

As an aside, I'm enjoying the book, which I just acquired a few months ago, very much. The first thing I made was the delicoius Wesptphalian Cherry Cake, and I'm looking forward to further exploring the book. Thank you very much for this classic book!

[Mimi Sheraton]

Nice to know it still works..it's been in print for 41 years and still selling well.

[chromedome]

Nice to know it still works..it's been in  print for 41 years and still selling well.

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You must have done something right...

[Peter B Wolf]

And there is " Münsterländer Töttchen "

http://www.rezepterang.de/suppe/suppen_2442.html

Google has a translation, although it's funny (to me)

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=e...:en-US:official

[Ben Hong]

The Quebecois have their cretons. Addictive!!

[mrbigjas]

chappie, i was out at borders here in philadelphia, today, and came across this book called country scrapple: an american tradition, by william woys weaver. that's the amazon link; i thought of this thread when i saw it.