One way to think of this, is a Pork type meatloaf that has been chilled for slicing and frying. It is not limited to, but Often eaten for Breakfast
Warning: This recipe uses Collagen from Pigs feet. If you are not a fan, NOW is the time to move on and skip this one,… but…
If you like fried Spam..if you like Hash….if you like Fried Cornmeal Mush…you may very well love this! My husband loves it all, including all of the other Breakfast meats, Bacon, Sausage, and Ham, etc.
Many folks serve it with Biscuits, Eggs, Gravy, Apple Sauce, Catsup, Apple Butter, Syrup. Or your favorite. I like it plain. Don’t have Apple Butter right now so I had Fig Jam.. yum.
A lot like Cornmeal Mush, when you make this, you need to refrigerate it for about 8 hours or over night for it to set up before you slice it and fry it to serve. Make a day ahead of when you want to use it.
I first saw the word Scrapple on a Pennsylvania Dutch community on FB. My Grandpa was P.D. (Schock) And gramma was Dutch (VanDyke), but I don’t remember having Ever had it. They sell Scrapple in stores back East, but guess what, you can’t buy the pre-made stuff, West the Mississippi, maybe even further East than that, and certainly not in Texas……or anywhere farther west such as Washington State, so I looked up what was in it… “all the scraps”……Wikipedia.
Some folks add Different spices and even different amounts of corn meal, or flours differing from the North to the Southern versions. Also some vary in the meats that go into it. Much like Garam Masada spice mixes, or Borschts or even Goulashes, Stews and Chilies, there are many different flavors added to individual Scrapples. Folks use some of their own common flavors passed down from their own families or regions and it much depended on what was available at the time, …..and me I just wanted a taste.. ? but, I didn’t want allllll of the scraps, so I decided to make my own. …so, kind of winging it, and guessing on how much of what I put in it I made my own, because I didn’t want a boat load of it.
By making my own, I know that it’s not processed food with ingredients that I can’t pronounce. Also, in my house, I have a ton of spices available, so I decided to add more than salt and pepper. I also grind my own Pork for Sausage ..so I have my spice blend already made up.
Again, if you can’t get past the Pigs feet, then this recipe is not for you.?
It is very very common in a number of cultures such as Japan, Italy, Puerto Rico, Mexico, South America, Africa, Europe Hawaii, Pennsylvania ….to mention just a few, to use Beef, Pork and Chicken feet. It makes Gold out of Broth because of the flavor and the nutrient rich Collagen that it adds to Broths.
This is not the traditional Scrapple that has meats from the Head, Feet, Lips and all that, but I did splurge on feet for the Gelatin needed to hold the loaf together. The other thing about Scrapple is that, like good stews and Broths, this is usually simmered or boiled for hours and hours, to get all of Meat and Collagen from the bones, but alas, enters the Instant Pot making short order of the process.
Makes one small loaf, about 3x more than a can of Spam. Slice like Spam.
1 1/2 lbs pig feet from the butcher.
1/4 tsp Salt for the Pig feet and broth
1 lb ground Pork.
1/4 reg sized sweet onion.
1/3 large Carrot.
1/2 c Corn Meal.
1/4 c Buckwheat Flour
1 Tbsp Sausage blend spice mix if you don’t have it (See below)
1/2 tsp Poultry seasoning.
1/4 tsp Salt for the meat
1/4 tsp Pepper.
2 c water.
Butter or Oil for sautéing
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Sausage spice mix blend condensed…
1 1/2 tsp Rub or Tony Cachers Creole seasoning.
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning.
1/2 tsp Poultry Seasoning.
1/4 tsp Sage.
1/4 tsp Fennel
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Put the Pigs feet into the inner pot, add water and 1/4 tsp Salt.
Turn the pot time to 1 hour.
Allow 15-20 min NPR.
Meanwhile… rough chop the Carrot and Onion and toss them into a food processor and process til both are finely chopped. Use a smaller bowl, and scoop most of the veggies into it, leaving 1/2 c of them in the processor bowl. ( if you don’t have a food processor, chop them very fine)
Measure out the Cornmeal, Flour, Spice blend and Flour into another bowl or cup. Set aside.
When the feet are done, turn the Pot off. Remove them to a cutting board or plate. Let cool until you can handle them.
Pour 1/2 c of the broth into the food processor. You could also use a blender , or an immersion blender if you use more broth. Pour the rest into a medium sized stainless bowl that you will be using for the PIP (Pot in Pot cooking)…Set aside.
Without rinsing the Pot out, crumble the Ground Pork into it. Turn it onto Saute, add a little, Butter, or oil to lightly sauté the Pork until it turns grey, add the onion and carrots, turn the pot off. Stir those veggies in with the pork. The residual heat will begin to cook them. After they have sat in the pot to partially cook, then just let them set until you are ready to add it all to the stainless bowl hitch it will cook in. (PIP).
When the feet are cooled, remove everything from the bones, toss the bones out. Add all the flesh from the feet to the food processor with the 1/2 c of carrot- onion mixture and broth that should already be in there. Process until contents are puréed, small bits are ok to leave. (you could also use a blender or immersion blender to do this)
Pour the Pork, Carrots and Onion mixture into the broth in the stainless steel bowl. Do a quick swish out the pot and add 1 1/2 c water back into it, then put it back into the base. Add the long handled trivet.
Stir the mixture in the stainless steel bowl to incorporate, then pour the puréed mixture from the food processor over the meat mixture. Sprinkle with the Flour Cornmeal mixture. Carefully stir into the rest. Mix well with a folding motion to incooperate it all. Push the meat mixture toward the sides of the bowl leaving a dip in the middle, so that it will cook more evenly in the middle. It won’t stay like that when it cooks but will get it cooked .
Put the Bowl onto the Trivet. Uncovered.
Put the lid on the IP and turn the pot time on to 8 min and allow 20 min NPR.
When the time is up, carefully remove the Bowl from the pot and pour the HOT contents into a greased or sprayed Smaller sized Loaf pan (again about 3 x the size of a spam can.) Allow to cool before Refrigerating For about 8 hours.
To serve. …slice into 1/4” slices. Some folks dip the slices in flour before frying some don’t. Preheat Cast Iron, Stainless or non stick Frying pan to medium hi heat. Drop a Tbsp of Butter in the pan when it’s hot, then lay the 1/4” slabs in the pan and cook about 5 min per side. Fry until crisp, then when it’s time to flip, carefully chisel off the pan with a very thin metal spatula blade, scooting around the edges until it is loosened. Only flip once.
You can also place slabs under a toaster oven broiler, or even Air Fry.
Serve with YOUR favorite condiment.
