Scrapple is Pennsylvania Dutch for delicious. Well, for some people anyway.
There are also those who think the grainy, moist texture and ultra-porky ingredients make it more of a franken-food than a tasty dish.
But no matter what side of the fence you’re on, we can all agree that scrapple is one of “our” foods, a culinary curiosity that sparks sizzling debate.
Such a debate arose in The Morning Call newsroom recently. During the discussion, I realized two of our reporters, who are new to Pennsylvania, have never had a scrapple experience.
I knew I had to remedy this — in the interest of journalism.
So I organized the first Scrapple Summit, which was held last week at The Trivet in South Whitehall Township. I brought together three adventurous reporters to have some extra-crispy scrapple and share their thoughts on the Pennsylvania Dutch dish.
Participating in the summit were: Carol Thompson and Michelle Merlin, who were our scrapple newcomers and recent Pennsylvania residents. Reporter Pam Lehman also joined us, having had scrapple before, most recently during a lunch with a police officer who recommended having it with grape jelly. (We’ll get to that.)
First, a bit of background: Like many foods, especially those that are Pennsylvania Dutch, scrapple was born out of necessity. The Dutch don’t waste anything if they can help it so scrapple became a way to use up all the parts of a pig, which are cooked down, finely minced and ground, and combined with buckwheat flour or sometimes cornmeal.
Spices are added, including sage, black pepper, salt and thyme. The meat mush is then formed into loaves, which are allowed to cool and set. When it’s time to eat, the scrapple is sliced and fried in a skillet, often in butter, until crispy.
Scrapple’s image problem is a direct result of its nose-to-tail ingredients. The argument can be made that scrapple is a dish that encourages much less waste of a butchered animal (which is a good thing).
Now, back to the Scrapple Summit: We chose the Trivet because, unless you’re making scrapple at home, the next best place to have it is in a diner. (The Trivet in South Whitehall is an authentic diner, too, according to national diner expert Richard Gutman.)
We started the tasting with straight-up scrapple, a thick slab of it expertly cooked extra crispy and well-done. Merlin and Thompson both broke open the plank of scrapple, poking at its interior.
“OK, that’s kind of wet in there,” Thompson said.
Texture is where a lot of first-time scrapple eaters get stuck. Scrapple, even that which is cooked crispy, has a grainy, moist interior, which can surprise an eater who’s expecting a more solid inside like a breakfast sausage.
Our waitress recommended the next serving of scrapple be “Philly-style,” which is more thinly sliced and even crispier (and less wet inside).
An authentic scrapple experience is to have it as part of a full breakfast, so we next ordered plates featuring sunny-side-up eggs, buttered toast, home fries and scrapple.
The tasters began to dig in.
There’s some back and forth on whether condiments should be used on scrapple. Several of the folks I talk to on Twitter recommended apple butter or maple syrup.
Lehman told us a story about having lunch with a police source who dipped his scrapple in grape jelly. She had to give that a try.
“Jelly is the bomb,” Lehman says. (Try that next time, folks.)
Thompson tried scrapple with ketchup, another popular condiment. From a strictly flavor standpoint: Sweet condiments work well with scrapple, balancing out the salty and fatty flavor. We also had hot sauce on the table, a good remedy if you want to cut through the flavor of any fatty food.
There are purists, of course, that steadfastly assert that scrapple should be left in its pristine state.
The Scrapple Summit tasters assert that the jelly worked the best because it’s thicker than ketchup or hot sauce, which can soak through the crust, creating a mushy texture. Syrup also seems to add flavor while keeping scrapple’s structural integrity.
As the tasters ate a bit of runny egg, a little toast and of course some scrapple, they formed their conclusions:
Lehman: Before our summit, she was a scrapple convert but now she’s learned that jelly is an excellent ying to scrapple’s yang.
She also made this point: ‘I think it would be good after a night of drinking,” Lehman says.
Thompson, undeterred despite learning about scrapple’s reputation, gave the dish a solid try. She said she enjoys the adventure of trying quirky regional foods.
“You gotta try it,” says Thompson, who expressed sincere appreciation for the food but was “meh” on the flavor.
Merlin, who was a terrific sport, wasn’t a fan. “I will not be ordering this again,” she says.
The bottom line from our Morning Call Scrapple Summit: Whether you ultimately like it or not, scrapple is something to experience, at least once.
