I am a firm believer that anything deep fried is pretty damn good. So, the thought of eating Pork Scrapple didn’t make me cringe, unlike the other diners at my table. We were with friends at Rotisserie & Wine in Napa, Tyler Florence’s new restaurant (no, I am not stalking him!). Though the establishment has only been open a couple of weeks, I had already heard the buzz surrounding the menus inclusion of weird food, such as scrapple.
Pork Scrapple
Scrapple lends itself to the old country school of thinking of not letting any part of the animal go to waste. This includes, but is definitely not limited to, tails, feet, tongue, offal & ears.
When inquiring the server about its contents she simply said, “it is all the pork parts that fall to the bottom of the rotisserie.” She must not have wanted to scare us off with the complete list of bizarre ingredients. This is then mixed with cornmeal and fried.
The pork scrapple arrived at the table looking much like a deep-fried mozzarella stick with a to-die-for honey mustard sauce. No one would suspect that it contains an array of piggy parts.
The texture was like that of a falafel, though less dense. Our dining companions opted to share one while I, of course, dug into a whole piece scrapple. It was hard to identify the different tastes that exploded in your mouth, for I have never eaten pigs tail or ears or any kind for that matter. It was a mild blend of bacon, sausage and browned crust with a hint of liver. Put an egg on top and you could call it breakfast.
Oink, Oink
Have you ever eaten scrapple?
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I thought of you this morning. I was eating at the NC Farmer's Market Restaurant and Brains and Eggs was one of the options. Almost got it just so I could tell you about…but I was hungry and wanted to be able to eat!
That’s hilarious! I’ve only seen brains on a menu when I was in Italy, but was way too squimish to order it at that time. I’m working my way up to that….
Here in South Carolina all the leftover pig parts are combined and mixed with a mustard base bbq sauce and called "hash". I haven't acquired a taste for it. Maybe because I'm from the Midwest and used to the ketchup-based bbq.
I'd totally be down for trying this one. During the description I was like, thinking it sounds like a deep fried hot dog. Haha. :)
Ugh. Gross! I've never been a fan of any piggie foods so I definitely don't think that I could have downed this one.
My family makes scrapple. You did not eat scrapple if you ate it anywhere outside of PA Dutch Country. True scrapple is indeed an attempt at using “all” the parts but not as you described. It occurs during the butchering process and is made by a few organ meats plus large soup bones. The meat is cooked together and then ground before being re-cooked with buckwheat flour, corn meal, course ground salt and pepper. It is then left to cool and gel before being sliced and fried. Take it from a PA farm girl; I don’t know what to call the concoction you ate, but it certainly isn’t scrapple.
I grew up in PA eating scrapple for breakfast. I have always been a picky eater, but this is one of my favorite things to eat, regardless of what’s in it or how it’s made.
I’ve only had it once, so I need to try more versions!