Recipe Exchange shares a wealth of scrapple

Holy scrapple, Batman! Thank you to everyone who submitted a scrapple recipe for Lois Mattson.

The first recipe in today's column comes from Linda Pugliese, whose current home is Duluth but her hometown is in southeastern Pennsylvania, close to the Pennsylvania Amish country and in the heart of Adams County, fruit capital of the state. She's Pennsylvania Dutch and German and grew up around beef, chicken and pig farmers; butchering was commonplace on her family's farm. Scrapple was something her family had plenty of all winter; it was frozen after butchering time, then served as breakfast or Sunday supper.

"There is a recipe called Philadelphia Scrapple that was in one of my cookbooks and it had a note with it that 'Farm-made scrapple at butchering time is much superior to the Philadelphia scrapple in circulation'. When I am back east, I see scrapple in the grocery stores. I would never buy it because I know it would not taste like scrapple made at butchering time. My dad and grandmother used to complain that some people put too much cornmeal in their scrapple and that it tasted more like corn mush, rather than scrapple, due to not enough meat in it. Their scrapple never tasted like cornmeal mush. We would eat it for breakfast and we often put molasses or maple syrup over it. As you might guess, this is definitely not a healthy food."

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Here is one of Pugliese's recipes.

Philadelphia Scrapple

2 pounds pork shoulder

1-1/2 quarts water

Salt and pepper

1 teaspoon summer savory

1/2 teaspoon thyme

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups cornmeal (approximately)

Boil the pork in water with salt and pepper until meat comes off the bone. Remove meat and strain liquid. There should be 4 cups.

Shred the meat and return to kettle with liquid; add seasonings and cornmeal, stirring constantly as the cornmeal goes in to prevent sticking. Simmer about 15 minutes or until mixture is consistency of mush. Pour into pans, cool, slice and fry lightly.

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"An exact recipe for scrapple is difficult to produce for the simple reason that it is something made with 'scraps,' a way to use what might otherwise be wasted," says Mary Alice Harvey of Duluth. Here is the recipe Harvey uses.

Scrapple

4 to 6 pounds meaty pork bones

Water (to cover the meat)

3 cups cornmeal (Harvey likes 3/4 cup to be buckwheat flour)

1 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon rosemary

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon parsley

1 teaspoon sage

Nonstick cooking spray

Put meaty bones in a stock pot, cover with water and cook until the meat is falling from the bones. Remove the bones, chop or grind the meat (you should get about 3 cups of meat), strain the stock; reserve about 6 cups of stock and bring to a boil.

Add cornmeal (or cornmeal and buckwheat flour). These ingredients must be added very slowly while constantly stirring to avoid lumps (some people mix it first with a little cold water; if you do that, you'll need more cornmeal.) Keep stirring the boiling liquid until it thickens.

Add the meat and seasonings; turn down the heat and simmer 15 minutes. Pour into loaf pans that have been wet or sprayed with nonstick spray.

To serve: Slice and dip in flour or crumbs and fry on hot greased griddle. Be sure to get it thoroughly browned on one side before turning to avoid the slice breaking in two. It can be frozen for later use.

Yield: Will fill three 1-pound bread pans.

Cook's tips: When it comes to the pork bones and meat, it's necessary that bones are included because they will help the broth "jell" and the finished product will slice and keep its shape better. Harvey writes, "Pork neck bones are ideal for this, but the back bone and/or pig's feet are good for this, too. If you don't butcher your own pig or know someone who does, these may be difficult to find." Also, pre-mixed sausage seasoning or your own preferred sausage seasoning can be used instead of the salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme, parsley and sage.

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Today's last scrapple recipe was sent in by Jackie Phipps of Grand Rapids. When she saw Lois Mattson's request, she headed straight to her "Fanny Farmer Cookbook."

Scrapple

1 pound pork, with bones

2 pig's feet

Salt

2/3 cup cornmeal

2 tablespoons chopped onion

Freshly ground pepper

Place the pork, pig's feet and a sprinkle of salt in a large pot and cover with 1 quart of water. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer until meat falls from the bones, at least 1½ hours.

Remove the meat and reserve the broth. Discard the bones and grind the meat in a meat grinder or food processor. Add cornmeal to the broth, and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Add the ground meat and onion. Place in the top of a double boiler and cook over simmering water for an hour. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pack into a small loaf pan that has been rinsed with cold water and chill until set. To serve, cut into 1/2 inch slices and pan-fry until crisp and brown.

Requests

* Kris Vereecken of Cloquet, a news assistant at the News Tribune, is looking for a good brisket recipe. Who can help her?

This column is for readers who want to share a favorite recipe or are looking for new ones. Recipes are checked but not tested by Taste! staff. Due to the volume of mail, letters cannot be answered personally. Send your requests and recipes to: Duluth News Tribune, Recipe Exchange, 424 W. First St., Duluth, MN 55802. Fax: (218) 720-4120. E-mail: taste@duluthnews.com . You must include your first and last name, city and a daytime telephone number.