Traditionally, scrapple is a mush made from pork products and cereal, which is then sliced and fried. It was originally developed to make use of leftovers from butchering, but today it is a regional favorite in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Dutch Country, and, in varying forms and names, throughout the nation. Typically perceived as a breakfast staple at truck stops and regional family restaurants, scrapple, in reality, is a food of ancient origin with a long history of transition and adaptation. This book by internationally renowned food historian William Woys Weaver explores the European roots of the dish, from the ancient Celts to medieval Germany, and charts its course to the kitchens of nineteenth-century Pennsylvania. The author follows the spread of the dish to western Ohio, where the substitution of oatmeal makes it goetta, to rural Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, where cornmeal is used to make liver mush, and to Appalachia, where the concoction of meat or meat drippings with cereal becomes poor-do. Today, scrapple has even been embraced by New Wave cookery and can be found in upscale restaurants around the country with the pork replaced by lobster or black beans or arctic char. Traditional recipes are offered in their original forms, in addition to 20 recipes for the modern kitchen -- all tested by the author -- from traditional examples to recent variations using chicken, venison, and buffalo. These delightful dishes, accompanied by the quirky history presented in this book, demonstrate that despite the evidence of a growing homogenous culture, little pockets of regional identity continue to exist, flourish, and influence one another.

Book jacket.