FOOD NEWS
Can You Eat Scrapple Raw?
By Chandler Phillips
From French pâté to Scottish haggis, cultures worldwide have been finding ways to use every last scrap of meat, and the iconic Pennsylvanian scrapple is no exception. However, contrary to its broiled, smoked, or cured cuisine cousins, scrapple has a unique method of traditional processing that has fans asking if the dish can be eaten raw.
Because the meat is boiled for an extended period of time when preparing the dish — and therefore cooked to a safe-for-consumption temperature — it is safe to eat scrapple "raw." This breakfast staple is typically sliced into patties and pan-fried in butter, lard, or oil, similar to Spam, but others prepare it by broiling the loaf entirely to get a crispy char on the outside.
Scrapple enthusiasts say that it’s a meal for any time of day, but it’s popularly served at breakfast. The dish is made by boiling pork scraps in a broth and grinding them with spices like sage, savory, thyme, and ground black peppercorns; then, the mix is placed back into the broth combined with cornmeal or wheat flour and set in a loaf pan to cool and thicken overnight.