Wednesday, September 10, 2008

The Almighty Scrapple!

I found some pics off my last family visit to Baltimore. Over ten years out here in California and hardly anyone knows what scrapple is. Let alone how good this stuff tastes! Its not Spam... It is the missing link in a west coast perfect breakfast.


Read the ingredients... Barbaric combinations of Alpo inspired leftovers that would make any hearty eater think twice. But then again, what's really in a hot dog? Got to love the pork purity in this product... Pork stock, pork, pork livers, pork fat, pork snouts, pork hearts, a little bit of wheat flour, salt and a boat load of spices. So sweet!


Notice the loaf. What was that canned food Carl ate in Sling Blade? Lips and assholes....


3/8" perfect slices. Thick enough to brown well and cook through.


Flour both sides and place in a preheated pan at 375 degrees.


Brown them on medium heat for 8-10 minutes, flip and repeat. So damn easy, even I can do this.


Good to go. Scrapple doesn't taste like sausage or bacon. Its got a flavor all its own. Its not crispy or overly greasy.


Ketchup works on everything. In this example, pops has skipped the toast and gone right for the soft egg mix. California style would be to add some hot sauce of course...


Pops grew up on a farm. His stories on how this stuff got made in the old days... That might keep you from the table. However, if you've tried all the exotic toasts, sampled all the crafty egg combos, exhausted the plethora of homemade jams and life still finds you wanting more... treat yourself to scrapple. You too will understand why every breakfast deserves Scrapple. It will be the answer to your new dining prayers. Try it and let me know.

12 comments:

belly b said...

I secretly heart SPAM, which seems to be distant cousin of Scrapple ... I wonder which came first?

Anonymous said...

You're talking my game friend....I've ridden the scrapple train all my life, but you're doing yourself a disservice if you're locking yourself into the RAPA brand, while it crisps up nicer than the butcher variety you should try some from a butcher next time you're home, a completely different taste when it's homemade.

Scrapple is arguably one of the first pork foods invented in America, and has it's roots in the German dish called Panhas. It's strongly rooted in the MD/PA area, and around the Pennsylvania Dutch area I live in, it's still referred to as Pon Haus, or Pawn Haas.

Pudding (no, not the vanilla type) is something you'll find here as well, more similar to sausage than scrapple, it's still a distant relative, with different herbs and spices used and sometimes beef as well.

I worked for a large grain farmer in PA for 2 years, he farmed over 5,000 acres of land. One winter morning, we stood outside drinking coffee watching the cows come down the icy hill to feed. We watched one cross it's legs, loose it's footing, and roll all the way down the hill. They put him down right there, and the next morning, there was a fresh container of pudding on my desk.

Now that's fresh meat :)

That's all I have to say about scrapple :)

Anonymous said...

I had Scrapple in Pennsylvania once. Not bad at all...I washed it all down with Tasty Cakes and Yuengling.

Anonymous said...

Oh the irony... here I consider myself the cook and you are the one to blog a step-by-step cooking "how-to" complete with visual aids. Pretty darn cool considering your culinary efforts usually consist of eating peas straight from the can. :OP

It's really nice to see your Pops representin'... gotta just love gray food. ::gag::... I mean yum!! :}

Anonymous said...

as appealing as you make it sound, i'm still okay with the fact that i have never tried it. unfortunately it appears that it's bastard cousin spam made this list:

http://www.verygoodtaste.co.uk/uncategorised/the-omnivores-hundred/

perhaps you should write to the author?

larry mills said...

You got me wondering if a slice of that would be good on the fried potato sandwiches we used to make back in Turlock. Chase it all down with some Lime flavored Kool Aid.

Jason Hallows said...

Dude. It looks so freaky but so does Spam and I used to like Spam when I was a kid so maybe I'd like Scrapple too. Now you got me thinking.

Anonymous said...

I wish if i could get a piece of that. Here in another part of the world i just can see the importance of Scrapple. best of my knowledge it is not available here.

Dirty Donny said...

When I visit Baltimore, I will try it!

Eddie said...

belly b said... "I secretly heart SPAM, which seems to be distant cousin of Scrapple ... I wonder which came first?"

Definitely scrapple, i don't even need to do any research. Scrapple has been around for hundreds of years, SPAM only came along with the advent of commercial advertising. Scrapple is a food, SPAM is a brand name.

I've never had SPAM and I don't ever intend to. SCRAPPLE FTW!

Racecar13: I've never seen/heard of anyone flouring their scrapple slices before frying, I imagine it's just to keep the slices together, but you don't need it, you just need some patience to let them fry without disturbing them. Perfect scrapple for me is crispy on the outside but not crispy all the way though, that's 'over-done.'

Also I'd never think of putting ketchup on scrapple; you or your pop may enjoy it but not me. I like the simple taste and texture of fried scrapple alone.

Unknown said...

excellent..........been living in thailand for 9 yrs, haven't been back to Philly since 2003. could you mail a block, lol. damn that looks good.

Unknown said...

Grew up on this stuff... don't ask what's in it... just EAT IT! Holy CRACK it's addicting!

3/8" slices sounds just right

the flour bit I have never seen either, but I'm sure it doesn't take away anything.

and yeah, wtf ketchup? :-) Straight up scrapple, like straight up bacon, is DIVINE!

Note to those who have never had it... or SMELLED it... the SPICE they use on it makes the whole thing. I've never tasted a spice like that.

Overall Scrapple is a regional/ethnic food-secret that I wish I could share with all the peace-living peoples of the world! :-)