Talk:Scrapple

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[edit] Scrapple vs. haggis

Some Philaldephia friends of mine were scandalized by my comparison of scrapple to haggis, but I know what's in each, I've had both quite a but of both, prepared locally (i.e., in PA and Scotland) and they are, erm, "kissing cousins." Cecropia 07:16, 15 Apr 2004 (UTC)

As a Philadelphian, I must say, this stuff is great. I don't know about haggis but I'd be open to trying it. It's the weirdest thing the way scrapple disappears from supermarkets as soon as you leave this area, though Dirk Gently 02:31, 10 Jun 2004 (UTC)

I think the problem is that Scrapple is perishable and doesn't sell fast enough outside Philly. You can often find Park's brand in New York City and Long Island, but it is usually frozen. -- Cecropia | Talk 02:44, 10 Jun 2004 (UTC)
Oh. Well, I'll just have to freeze a lot of scrapple before I leave in the fall, then. Thanks. Dirk Gently 01:49, 14 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Ah yes, this PA delicacy was one of the products of the Church Farm School that was sold to the public along with milk and eggs when I attended it back in the 60s. I've never seen it in a grocery store anywhere. I'm glad it's still produced and enjoyed. Tom Cod

Scrapple freezes well (though the faster the better). It's pretty indestructible. But once you thaw it you have to use the whole thing. Like many other foods refreezing makes it mushy. -- Cecropia | Talk 03:00, 14 Jun 2004 (UTC)
I'm definitely going to have to try it. Funnily enough, it's quite easy to get good locally made haggis in Calgary but scrapple seems to be a bit thinner on the ground. -- Derek Ross | Talk 04:39, 10 February 2006 (UTC)
I've heard of the comparison with haggis too. My understanding is that haggis is basically offal and oatmeal (stuffed into a stomach or something?), while scrapple is offal and cornmeal, not too big a stretch in my mind: both are offal and cereal. You have to admit, there aren't too many things that are like scrapple at all, and haggis seems like the closest, though there is probably no real connection between the two. BillFlis 00:52, 10 March 2006 (UTC)
Add to that scrapple's ancestor the Panhas, which traditionally uses buckwheat or barley meal and different spices such as a prominent dash of allspice. Add also balkenbrij, the name of which indicates it was Rhinelanders and not Dutch (except maybe Limburger/Gelderlander) who invented scrapple.
Balkenbrij and Panhas try to incorporate chunks of meat and/or fat; the former uses a special spice mixture which contains much SE Asian stuff (back from the VOC days) and licorice root and the latter usually contains pork blood, basically a pan-cooked Blutwurst.
So we're talking about basically variations of a common theme here, but each one is distinct enough to make it a dish in its own right. Dysmorodrepanis 13:44, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Scrapple in other regions

We have scrapple in Maryland too, I remember many a morning as a kid waking up to this stuff.. crispy on the outside, soft on the inside! Spotted it in Delaware too. I live in California now, nobody here has ever heard of the stuff.

Do you drown it in syrup? Or ketchup? That's the way my inlaws like it, but I eat it naked. -- Cecropia | Talk 21:24, 30 Sep 2004 (UTC)
I grew up in Delaware, where this stuff was always available at any supermarket. The traditional way to have in my family was fried, then topped with apple butter. Personally, I've always just seen it as the Mid-Atlantic's contribution to the "people actually eat that?" category of foods. I remember checking the ingredients list of one of our finer Delaware-made brands, which included things like pig lips, snout, etc. Yum! RobLinwood 15:34, 21 December 2005 (UTC)
I'm a Pennsylvania native now in California. You can find frozen Scrapple at some larger Ralphs. Strangely, it's not in the frozen foods section, but frozen in the meat section. I've also made it quite a few times, and it turns out very well, but I've yet to quite get the same spice mix as "store bought" so it does taste a little different. David Hoag 08:55, 4 April 2006 (UTC)
My Dad used to make scrapple about once a month. I grew up in Decatur, GA but he was from Washington, D.C. His mother lived in Conshocken, PA and learned to make it there. While my Father used pork sausage, water, and cornmeal; His Mother used the whole hogs head. It's great with fried eggs and grits. Kit Redmond

My loves, I am pleasd to report that here in the San Francisco Bay Area, Scrapple is available at Safeway in the frozen section. My family is from Philadelphia, but I was born out here on the west coast, and while nobody seems to know about it, including the very staff of Safeway, it's certainly there for the getting. I have converted all of my friends! Hooray for Scrapple! The Habbersett brand's website tells of other locations where frozen Scrapple is available, but I noticed that they really only list the regional distribution location (so California Safeway stores comes up as "Tracy, California" on the list). Incidentally, I enjoy it with ketchup, and it's as good for dinner as it is for breakfast. -Heather Keenan, Novato, CA

Safeway extends even further from Pennsylvania than California, of course. Habersett's is available at Safeway stores all the way out here in Hawaii! I'll probably have to update the page to list Hawaii instead of California... sorry, Californians! Dan 11:15, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Pon Hoss?

Can anybody take a stab in the dark as to the etymology of the word "Pon Hoss"? (Another word for Scrapple.) Also, how do you pronounce the "Pon"?

From the German Panhas ("pan rabbit") which is the "father" of scrapple. Pon, I'd guess, somewhere between English "pan" and "porn". It's an open/open mid back vowel.Dysmorodrepanis 13:25, 13 November 2006 (UTC)
I love scrapple; my family here in RI makes it by combining it with scrambled eggs, with toast. My dad likes it on his toast with jam. I like it plain with scrambled eggs. Quite delicious. In response to the above question: I think it's spelled "Haas" not "hoss", and I think it's Dutch, since scrapple is thought to originate in Philadelphia. Energyturtle 23:40, 9 March 2006 (UTC)
Well, the Pennsylvania Dutch come from Germany, so, for our purposes I doubt it would be spelled "Haas". This said Panhas is a Westphalian dish which did make its way to Eastern Netherlands. If anyone wants to know more about this grandfather of our PA Dutch delicacy (and if you speak German) check out this link. Aufs klo 18:24, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] What exactly is scrapple?

Articles should lead with a good, clear definition, and I think the word "food", recently added, is a little weak. I had "cornmeal mush ...", and yeah, I know "flour, usually buckwheat flour" is often added (good addition!), so maybe cornmeal shouldn't be the first ingredient mentioned. But my American Heritage Dictionary has this: "A mush of ground pork and cornmeal that is set in a mold and then sliced and fried." A different edition online here has the same. So how about we put "mush" back in for "food" and leave the mention of cornmeal till later where it is? I also had "savory" in there too, recently deleted; I meant it not as "appetizing" but in its alternate definition of "Piquant, pungent, or salty to the taste; not sweet", which is used to describe many meat dishes. I'd say that plain old cornmeal mush is not savory in this sense, but that scrapple is; I think it's a useful distinction. Hey, scrapple might be the hardest thing to describe to someone who's never tried it!--BillFlis 21:55, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

My own concise definition of "scrapple" is "a mixture of cornmeal mush and pork brains, strongly spiced with red pepper and black pepper, normally sliced and fried as an accompaniment to fried or scrambled eggs for breakfast." I have heard "headcheese" as a synonym in some areas.

[edit] Pennsylvania Dutch connection

Everybody knows that scrapple is associated with the Pennsylvania Dutch. However, Habbersett's website (see External Links) says that it was invented by "Dutch", adding "who sailed from Holland," apparently in emphasis that they were not "Pennsylvania Dutch", which is to say, "actually from Germany" (Deutsch). The Habbersett's article also says it was invented in Chester County, not Lancaster County, which is most associated with the PD. Can anyone point to a reference, and I mean a really authoritative one, that this was not the case? What I'm asking is: is it a sort of urban legend that the Pennsylvania Dutch invented scrapple?--BillFlis 10:32, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

See above (Scrapple vs haggis); terms like "pawn hoss" clearly point at a Rhineland/Westphalian connection; certainly not Holland (i.e. NW Netherlands). Dysmorodrepanis 13:33, 13 November 2006 (UTC)
Sorry, but I don't follow your logic here. Outside PD Country, it's almost universally called "scrapple", not "pawn hoss"; I buy scrapple all the time and I've never seen "pawn hoss" or whatever printed anywhere on the package, even from manufacturers in PD Country. So the PD call it by a German name--that doesn't mean they invented it. Also, the Balkenbrij article actually refers to scrapple as being from New England!--BillFlis 12:38, 18 November 2006 (UTC)