Scrapple

There have been several strings devoted to scrapple over the years. But none have answered three basic questions: (1) What is the best commercially prepared scrapple? (2) Is it, or any other scrapple, available by mail order for those whose local markets don’t carry scrapple? (3) Is the quality of commercially prepared scrapple such that scrapple lovers should ignore it, and go to the effort of making their own homemade scrapple?

Kirby and Holloway in Harrington, DE make scrapple. But a look at the list of ingredients (including the disclaimer “contains no snouts”) reveals that it is made of pork liver, pork fat, pork skins, and pork hearts. Maybe I’m a purist, but classic scrapple is made with a pig’s head as the essential ingredient, mixed with cornmeal, and seasoned with sage and cayenne. Other recipes include various other parts of the pig, such as trotters, knuckles, ribs, and liver, and embellish the seasonings. Some “modern” recipes include more desirable parts of the pig, such as the shoulder or butt. But in none of the traditional recipes is the liver dominant. One recipe that includes one liver for every 4 heads, states, “Add liver until you can taste it but the liver flavor does not predominate.” The Kirby and Holloway recipe, with pork liver as the dominant pork product, seems too much like a paté, and not close enough to the traditional recipe. Stoltzfus meats in Intercourse, PA sells scrapple, as does Seltzer’s Smokehouse Meats in Lititz, PA. However, I haven’t yet been able to determine how either of these producers makes their scrapple. Habbersette Scrapple is sometimes mentioned as the best commercially prepared scrapple, and is available by mail order through a couple of sources. Again, however, I don’t know how it’s made or much about it.

Are there any scrapple experts out there who can provide information to answer these questions?