scrapple : Traditional Pennsylvania Dutch delicious 24
scrapple
Do you like bacon? Pancakes? Crispy, browned things cooked on a griddle? Maple syrup?
Of course you do, so fasten your seatbelt and come aboard the organ train, because we're traveling to scrapple country.
If you like offal, or even if you don't partake in the finer parts of animals and you've never had scrapple, you're in for a treat. Scrapple is one of the finest, most mild-tasting organ meat recipes I've made.
If you're not familiar, scrapple, (also known as pannhaas) is a sort of Pennsylvania Dutch specialty with a cult following from the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S.
- 14 oz of liver or a mix of organs such as liver, kidney, and heart, cut into medium-sized pieces
- 10 oz bone with meat attached, ideally a shank like lamb or deer shank, or soup bones
- 2 cups fine cornmeal
- ¼ cup buckwheat flour
- ½ cup yellow onion, finely diced
- 18 grams (1 level tablespoon) kosher salt. This may seem like a lot, but keep in mind this is a breakfast "meat" similar to bacon or sausage. If you're sensitive to salt, you can reduce it to 2.5 teaspoons.
- 6 cups water
- Maple syrup for serving, in small amounts (optional)
- 2 dried bay leaves
- 1.5 teaspoons of the spice mix (recipe below)
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground allspice
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
- ¾ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Place the soup bones or shank and diced onion in a pot with 6 cups of water. Add the bay leaves, cover with a lid, and simmer on medium heat, or bake at 300°F for about 2 hours, or until the meat is very tender.
Allow the shank to cool until it is safe to handle.
Use a slotted spoon to remove the meat, and set it aside. Strain the broth and reserve it; you should have exactly 4 cups of liquid. If needed, add additional water or stock to reach 4 cups.
In a sauté pan, cook the ground meat mixture over medium heat for 2-3 minutes to evaporate excess moisture, then set aside to cool, covered.
In a large saucepan, whisk together the cornmeal, buckwheat flour, salt, and spices. Combine this mixture with the reserved 4 cups of cooking liquid.
Heat the mixture over medium heat, whisking constantly until it thickens. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 15 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add the cooked meat mixture to the thickened cornmeal mixture, and continue cooking on low heat, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking, for an additional 30 minutes.
Alternatively, you can bake the mixture, covered, at 300°F for 30 minutes, or until it becomes very thick.
