How to Make Scrapple, the Hearty Pennsylvania Breakfast
Say you find yourself at home with a pig’s heart and liver, some ground buckwheat and cornmeal, and about an hour and a half to kill. There’s absolutely only one thing you should do: make scrapple. Some uninformed losers like to rag on the Pennsylvania breakfast dish because they think it’s weird, but they haven’t tried Patti Jackson’s. The chef at Delaware and Hudson in Brooklyn stopped by Extra Crispy the other day, strapped on her bandana, and made a rich and creamy loaf of delicious scrapple that had the entire staff scarfing down bits of heart and liver like it was iron-rich candy. Don’t fear things you don’t understand! Swing by your butcher shop to buy the necessary offal and watch this video to soak up Patti’s scrapple genius.
Delaware and Hudson's Scrapple
*You can use stone ground buckwheat flour but I prefer to use ground whole buckwheat in a coffee grinder.
How to Make It
Bring two quarts of water to a boil with the celery, onion, thyme, sage sprig, and tablespoon of salt. Add pork heart and simmer for one hour (until tender enough to pierced with a fork. Replenish water if needed.). Add the liver and continue cooking for 15 minutes, or until liver is cooked through. Remove the heart and liver and cool; discard the water and vegetables. Finely chop the heart and liver.
Meanwhile, bring 1 gallon of water to a rapid boil and slowly whisk in cornmeal and buckwheat. Reduce temperature and cook until thick, stirring often with a wooden spoon.
Add the heart, liver, chopped sage, salt, and pepper. Stir constantly for 5-10 minutes until quite thick and well blended.
Pour into 2 greased loaf pans and press oiled or waxed paper on top to prevent a crust. Cool thoroughly, for about an hour.
Turn solid scrapple out of pan onto a cutting board. Slice.
Heat a large saute pan, add oil and a small knob of butter. Add scrapple slices when butter is foamy, and cook over medium heat until nicely crisp and golden. Scrapple will keep well in the refrigerator for 4-5 days, or can be frozen.
