Crusty Scrapple Food

SCRAPPLE

Steps:

• Trim the fat from around the top of the heart and remove the sinews. Cut the heart into 4 pieces and put it in a heavy stewing kettle with the meaty bones and liver. Add 3 quarts of water, cover and simmer gently for 3 hours until the meat falls from the bones.
• Strain the broth into a clean pot. Discard the bones and put the meat through a coarse grinder. Grind the heart and liver as fine as possible and combine the 2 meat mixtures.
• Bring the broth to a simmer. Combine the cornmeal and the seasonings and gradually add to the boiling broth, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium and add the meat mixture. Stir until everything is well mixed. Cook slowly for 30 minutes, stirring almost constantly so it does not stick to the bottom, as it will be quite thick.
• After 30 minutes it is ready to pour. Rinse 9 small breadpans with cold water or grease them and pour the scrapple to the top of the pans. Set the pans to cool and when cool refrigerate until the next day.
• When ready to eat, unmold the scrapple onto a cutting board and cut into 1/4-inch thick slices. Melt fat in a skillet and fry the slices until brown and crusty on both sides. Serve immediately with or without maple syrup.
• The loaves can be unmolded and frozen but will keep refrigerated for about 1 week.

SCRAPPLE

Steps:

• Place sausage in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain and rinse in colander under cold water, breaking sausage into pea sized pieces.
• Return to skillet along with the condensed milk, and heat over medium until just bubbling. Immediately stir in the cornmeal and pepper and reduce heat to simmer. Continue cooking, 5 minutes total; mush will be stiff.
• Pack into 8x4 loaf pan, cover and chill overnight. To serve, cut into 1/4 to 1/2 inch slices and saute until golden in nonstick skillet.

SOUTHERN SCRAPPLE

Steps:

• In a large skillet, cook sausage over medium heat until no longer pink; drain and set aside. In a large saucepan, bring water to a boil. Gradually add the grits, salt, pepper and cayenne, stirring constantly until thickened. Stir in butter and cheese until melted. Stir in sausage. , Press into a greased 9x5-in. loaf pan. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or until cool., Remove scrapple from pan; cut into 1/2-in. slices. In a skillet, cook scrapple in butter until browned on both sides, adding more butter as needed. Serve warm with syrup.

CORNMEAL SCRAPPLE

Steps:

• In a saucepan, combine the cornmeal, milk, sugar and salt; gradually stir in water. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Reduce heat; cook, covered, 10 minutes longer or until very thick, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and stir in sausage. Pour into a greased 7-1/2x3-1/2x2-in. loaf pan (the pan will be very full). Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerator. , To serve, unmold and cut into 1/3-in. slices. Dip both sides in flour. In a skillet, melt butter over medium heat; brown scrapple on both sides. Serve with maple syrup if desired.

HOW TO COOK SCRAPPLE

Steps:

• Slice the scrapple into ¼ in (0.6 cm) thick slices. Use a sharp chef's knife to evenly slice the 1/2 loaf of scrapple. The thickness of the slices depends on your own preference, however thinner slices tend to cook more quickly. While 1/4 in (0.6 cm) slices are the most common, try ½ in (1.3 cm) thick slices if you prefer them to be a bit chunkier. For even thicker slices, try ¾ in (2 cm). Bear in mind that these will need to be cooked for longer though.
• Dip each scrapple slice into 1 cup (110 g) of instant flour. Pour the instant flour into a bowl and coat each slice fully in the flour. Dip each slice individually to make sure that every side is coated in instant flour.
• Season the slices with salt and pepper to taste. Use table salt and freshly ground black pepper to sprinkle over each slice. Make sure you season both sides of each slice.
• Heat 1 tbsp (14 g) of butter in a skillet or a deep frying pan. Using a medium heat for the frying pan is the key to making delicious, crispy scrapple. Make sure that the butter has melted before you put the scrapple in the pan. Don't add too much butter to the pan, as the contents of the scrapple has enough grease. Too much butter will make the scrapple too oily when it has finished cooking. Since the scrapple in the pan will be producing grease, this makes it less likely to burn.
• Pan-fry the scrapple slices for 3 minutes on the first side. Place each slice in the pan, and fry them until you can see the edges of the underside starting to look brown and crispy. Make sure that there is ½ in (1.3 cm) gap between each slice in the pan. The slices will stick together if they are cooked too close to each other in the pan.
• Flip over each slice and fry them for a further 3 minutes. Let this side cook until it is brown and crispy too. You may have to do several batches of pan-frying the scrapple, depending on how many slices you are cooking and how big your pan is. The length of time that it takes to pan-fry the scrapple depends on the thickness of the slices. Thin slices can cook in as quickly as 3 minutes, while thick slices may take up to 10 minutes on each side. Watching for the crispy edges and browning color is the best way to monitor how the scrapple is cooking.
• Remove the scrapple from the pan when it is brown and crispy. Once the scrapple slices are cooked, use a kitchen flipper to remove them from the heat. Place the scrapple on a plate, and make sure it is lined with a paper tower to absorb any extra grease. You could also use a frying fork to remove the slices from the pan if you prefer. Scrapple is best served when it has been left to sit for a few minutes on the plate first. Pan-fried scrapple slices are commonly served in sandwiches or with fried eggs, and leftovers can be refrigerated for up to 1 week.

CALIFORNIA SCRAPPLE

Steps:

• Trim excess fat off pork and discard (unless you have dogs, and then it's a treat for them). Put meat in a 4-5 quart pan with six cups of water, sage, pepper, salt and nutmeg. Bring to a boil; cover and simmer until meat pulls easily into shreds (about two hours). Lift out meat and let cool.
• Finely chop meat and return to broth. Stir remaining two cups of water into cornmeal and buckwheat flour, then mix with meat. Bring mixture to a boil and stir until thick (about 30 minutes).
• Spoon into a 4" x 8" loaf pan; cover and chill overnight until firm.
• Turn loaf out of pan and cut into 1/2 inch thick slices. Arrange slices in 1/8-inch melted butter in a frying pan on medium high heat. Using a wide spatula, turn as needed until crusty and browned.

MIDWEST SCRAPPLE

Steps:

• Combine all ingredients except corn meal in a saucepan.
• Bring to a boil; lower heat and simmer gently for 20 minutes, stirring frequently.
• Gradually stir in cornmeal, stirring constantly and cook until thickened.
• Rinse a loaf pan (5in x 9in) with cold water; pour in scrapple and chill completely.
• Cut into slices about 1/2 inch thick.
• Dust with flour and fry in oil until lightly browned.
• (Browning these slices until crusty around the edges takes several minutes on each side.) Serve with syrup, applesauce, or butter and salt and pepper.

CREAMED SCRAPPLE

Steps:

• Heat the butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Crumble in the scrapple, and cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in the flour, and cook until golden, 1 to 2 minutes.
• Slowly whisk in the milk, and bring to a gentle simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low, and cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture thickens, about 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt, black pepper, and maple syrup.