What Is Scrapple Actually Made Out Of?
Scrapple is one of those regional specialties — the region in question being Pennsylvania, or actually the entire Mid-Atlantic area — that is, frankly, a little bizarre. Okay, maybe not quite as weird as certain other strange morning meals from around the world like Britain's blood-based black pudding or China's century eggs, but scrapple is still one of the stranger breakfast meats you'd ever want to eat... or perhaps not eat, at least after you find out what it's made from.
Scrapple, as the name implies, is made from scraps, or, in the words of one 19th century recipe (via Taste), "pork that will not do for sausage." Since sausage meat itself can be somewhat suspect... are you sure you really want to know what's in scrapple? While the recipe may vary from cook to cook (or one manufacturer to another), it can include hearts, kidneys, liver, and bits of skin. Culinary Lore also indicates that entrails could play a role, while The Daily Meal gives a nod to pork heads as a possible part of the scraps that make the scrapple.
Still want to eat scrapple?
Scrapple, though it sounds quite gross, is, by some accounts, actually quite delicious. In order to prepare it, you cut off a slice (scrapple is sold in little bricks or loaves) and then fry it up in a little butter or oil. It can be eaten in a sandwich, or as the accompaniment to eggs — according to Taste, scrapple is "far superior to your average breakfast sausage [with] a soft but crunchy, salty, heavily pork-y and offal-y bite."
The Daily Meal has a more appetizing description, characterizing scrapple as "savory, porky, rich, and versatile," and offering the opinion that it lends itself equally well to savory condiments like ketchup and mustard or sweet condiments like grape jelly, honey, maple syrup, or even applesauce.
Still on the fence as to whether you should give scrapple a try? It may reassure you to know that this 1909 issue of The Montreal Gazette advises, "Scrapple [is] too good to be spoiled even by a bad cook," and that it will "make a breakfast that one likes to remember." Or at least one that you're going to remember, whether or not you care to repeat it.