Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial

[L Verge]

(11-09-2014 03:56 AM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrapple
"Scrapple, also known by the Pennsylvania Dutch name panhaas or 'pan rabbit,' is traditionally a mush of pork scraps and trimmings combined with cornmeal and wheat flour, often buckwheat flour, and spices. The mush is formed into a semi-solid congealed loaf, and slices of the scrapple are then pan-fried before serving. Scraps of meat left over from butchering, not used or sold elsewhere, were made into scrapple to avoid waste. Scrapple and panhaas are commonly considered an ethnic food of the Pennsylvania Dutch, including the Mennonites and Amish and thus is a rural American food of the areas surrounding Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington D.C., eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, eastern Virginia, and the Delmarva Peninsula.

It is arguably the first pork food invented in America. The roots of the culinary traditions that led to the development of scrapple in America have been traced back to pre-Roman Europe. The more immediate culinary ancestor of scrapple was the Low German dish called panhas, which was adapted to make use of locally available ingredients, and it is still called 'Pannhaas,' 'panhoss,' 'ponhoss,' or 'pannhas' in parts of Pennsylvania. The first recipes were created by German colonists who settled near Philadelphia and Chester County, Pennsylvania in the 17th and 18th centuries. Its popularity on the Delmarva Peninsula is celebrated the second weekend of October during the annual 'Apple Scrapple Festival' in Bridgeville, Delaware."

Laurie, in Germany you would get "Panhas" in Westfalia (the Dortmund area), but served on whole grain rye bread. (Toast and white bread are at all not that popular.)

Thanks, Eva, for supplying the answer to Linda. I was raised on store-bought scrapple and love it. It comes in a loaf form, and we always sliced it thin so that it could fry crisply - especially around the edges. I already said that I was accused of being a "white breader" by my in-laws, but I prefer my scrapple between two slices of buttered white toast.

My mother often made a modern version of it just using regular sausage meat (Bob Evans brand usually). She combined the sausage with water, salt, garlic powder, sage, and yellow cornmeal. That would steam in the top of a double boiler for several hours and then be put in a loaf pan to chill. She called it Philadelphia Scrapple and said it was a Pennsylvania Dutch recipe. We have a fairly large Amish community in Southern Maryland, and their Saturday markets have some delicious things for sale. I don't remember ever seeing scrapple offered there, however. Perhaps because it requires refrigeration.

Right now, for the few true farmers left in Southern Maryland, it is hog killing time. For our ancestors, every conceivable part of the hog was used in some manner - from feet to chitterlings to bladders (elasticity made them useful in covering canning jars and also as "balloons" for children to play with), etc. Even bread could be flavored with crackings, the tiny scraps of well-fried rind left after the lard was rendered. Pork was the mainstay of most early households.

Some of you who have studied the Booth escape route in detail know that there is a Cracklingtown Road involved in the search. This was named after the community gathering place where neighbors helped neighbors in the difficult job of slaughtering and butchering the hogs after the first real frost in November.