AndrewOSpencer

Today, if you offer someone a little hunk of meat pudding you are more likely to be given a restraining order than a “thank you.” However, this meat pudding from Pennsylvania and the mid-Atlantic states should be made by homesteaders at least once in their lives. It’s mostly a breakfast dish–think maltomeal pancake with a crispy outside and creamy inside with bits of meat–and makes an excellent vessel for your favorite jam, preserves, or syrup.

I’m fond of old recipes and this meat pudding is a close relative to the Irish white and black puddings, the Scottish Haggis, and German panhas. It is definitely a working man’s recipe intended to make the best use of the entire animal and packing a days worth of calories into a meal. I eat it like I would French toast or pancakes.

Traditionally it’s made with pig, but I decided to take the trimmings from the doe I killed with my buddy Clayton and give scrapple a go. Don’t hold yourself to the exact amounts of cornmeal and flour I listed, because you are cooking it to texture. I ended up using all of what I listed, but the amount of stock you finish with will vary from mine thus making the dry ingredients differ as well.

Ingredients

10 pounds of deer trimmings and bones
1 deer heart
1 deer liver
1 deer head
2 cups chopped celery
2 cups chopped onion
2 cups chopped carrot
6 bay leaves
I cup of fresh rosemary
10 pounds of cornmeal
2 pounds of Buckwheat Flour (Can substitute Oat Flour or Quinoa Flour)
1/2 cup of grated nutmeg
1/4 cup of ground allspice
1/4 cup of coarse black pepper
2 TBS ground cardamom
Salt
Method

Save the trimmings, offal, bones and head from your deer. Sadly, my heart shot placement left me with only the liver to use.

Combine the well salted meat, bones, and offal with the vegetables, rosemary, and bay leaves. Cover with water and bring to a simmer for at least 4 hours.

With a slotted spoon and tongs, remove the bones, meat, and veggies and allow to cool. Discard the bones and veggies. Strain and save the stock.



Chop your meat to no larger than a quarter. Skin the tongue, remove any gristle. Mix the rest of the spices with the chopped meat and return to the stock. Bring to a gentle boil.



Slowly mix in corn meal, stirring constantly. Stop adding cornmeal when consistency approaches “soupy maltomeal.” Now begin to add buckwheat flour, careful not to allow clumps to form. Your arm should now begin to hurt from stirring so much and for so long. Do your best not to allow the scrapple to stick to the bottom of the pot.

When your stirring instrument, I used an over sized BBQ spatula, can stand up on its own, it is ready to be poured into a wax paper lined square loaf container. I ended up using every single container I owned, regardless of shape. Next time, I’ll buy some of those cheap aluminum rectangle containers from the store.



When ready to serve, slice off a piece, dust in flour and fry till crisp in some bacon fat. Drizzle some maple syrup, slice off a piece of home made ham , fry an egg and dig in!

In Texas, we don't make scrapple, so I'm definitely a newby. Have you eaten or made scrapple? What do you think?

More pictures over at my blog, if anyone is interested. http://wp.me/p3bCKM-w9

Oldtimr

I grew up on scrapple, only thing I like better is sausage gravy and biscuts, had some scrapple yesterday for breakfast from a wild boar I killed. I will be having more made in Feb when I get back from another hog trip. I also have some made from venison every once in a while. We do not put vegetables in our scrapple in PA or the herbs and most of the spices you mentioned, just a some dried rubbed sage, perhaps some margerum, salt and pepper so I can't really get an idea of what yours would taste like. There are lots of different family recipes around here, but other than onion, I have never seen carrots and celery. O lot of flks around here put maple syrup on their scrapple. I do not, just hot sauce or egg yolk. With all the hogs you folks have in Texas, you shouldn't have a shortage of scrapple meat.

redgreen

Sounds good.

gjersy

Looks good! Never had that, but when i boil skulls it sure smells good.

toytruck

I eat deer hearts an squirrel hearts, used to eat squirrel heads an liver/kidneys growing up. I draw the line at eating deer liver or the head, just not in my appetite realm of eating...along with pigs feet.

Knock yourself out if you like it....