Fans of scrapple rejoice at annual fest

In all the years we’ve lived in Sussex County, we hadn’t been to the Apple Scrapple Festival until last week. Held in downtown Bridgeville for the past 24 years, the event has grown from a small street fair into a huge carnival. It's complete with a musical bandstand, car show, dozens of food stalls, two different craft sales, spinning rides, and the crowning of Little Miss Apple Scrapple - just to name a few.

After checking with friends who’ve made it a practice to attend every year, we decided to go on Friday afternoon, shortly after the festival opened. We drove past large fields on the outskirts of Bridgeville, roped off to park the thousands of cars arriving Saturday and Sunday.

We drove into town, toward the arc of the ferris wheel and found a convenient parking spot a few blocks away from the intersection of scrapple sandwiches and apple dumplings. The air was filled with tempting aromas and the sounds of sizzling meat as several community organizations fried scrapple for sandwiches (see photo).

Why Bridgeville? And why apple scrapple? Bridgeville is home to both industries. T. S. Smith & Sons has been tending their apple orchards since 1907, one of the oldest family farms in Delaware. Over the years, their farm has expanded to include a wide range of fruit and vegetable crops grown on 800 acres. A visit to the store in their packing house will give you the chance to try their famous apple cinnamon donuts.

The RAPA Scrapple manufacturing plant in Bridgeville has been in operation since 1926, when the business was founded by two brothers, Ralph Adams and Paul Adams (hence the trademark name). Their recipe for pork scrapple has been used since the early 1920s when it was developed. A visit to the company website will introduce you to additions to their product line, including beef, turkey and chili chipotle scrapple.

What exactly is scrapple? Basically, it’s a meat-infused broth cooked with cornmeal and spices to become thickened mush. This is then poured into loaf pans and either baked or allowed to become firm in the refrigerator.
Scrapple is usually served as a breakfast meat: thin slices are carved from the loaf and browned in melted fat or butter until crisp.

Scrapple is one of those foods people either love or hate or have never tried because of the daunting ingredient list. The original creation of scrapple can be traced back to farmers who raised pigs for food. Once the pigs were butchered, the leftovers (everything but the oink) were not wasted, but used to make this filling breakfast treat.

To give you an idea of how this was done, I’ve included a modern take on the traditional scrapple recipe. It calls for the liver and jowls which would be trimmed from the snout. Alternatively, you could substitute a fatty cut of pork, such as a shoulder. By way of comparison, the RAPA label lists their ingredients as: pork stock, pork livers, pork fat, pork snouts, cornmeal, pork hearts, wheat flour, salt, spices.

Fans of scrapple are certainly out there. The population of tiny Bridgeville increases by over 25,000 during the second weekend in October when the Apple Scrapple Festival is held.  At the same time, local chef Ryan Cunningham is one of four finalists in the Thomas' English Muffin breakfast sandwich recipe contest, the Hometown Breakfast Battle. I’ve included his recipe for Apple Scrapple English Muffin here; to vote for his sandwich, go to thomasbreakfastbattle.com. Let’s hear it for scrapple!

SCRAPPLE

1 lb fatty cut of pork (jowls or shoulder)
1 lb pork liver
1 1/2 qts water
2 bay leaves
10 whole peppercorns
3 T salt
2 t dried sage
1 t ground coriander
2 t pepper
3 C cornmeal

Combine pork, water, bay leaves and peppercorns in a large saucepan. Heat just to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Braise until completely tender, about 2 1/2 hours.

Once the meat is cooked, remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Strain and reserve the broth; set aside. Grind the cooked meat in a food processor and place in a skillet with the reserved broth. Add remaining ingredients and cook over medium low until a thick mush forms, about 15 minutes.   Line two loaf pans with parchment paper and spoon the mush into the pans, packing tightly. Refrigerate until firm before using or freezing. To serve, cut a slice about 3/8-inch thick and pan fry on both ides in butter or lard until golden brown.

Apple Scrapple English Muffin*

1 English muffin, split
1 slice scrapple
1 slice white Cheddar cheese
1 egg
Apple Butter
Apples & Onions
salt, to taste

Split and toast English muffin. Spread apple butter on interior of both halves. Cook scrapple until crisp, about 3 minutes on each side.

Cook egg sunny-side-up or over easy. Place cooked scrapple on one apple-buttered half of muffin. Layer cheese slice on scrapple. Spread a generous amount of apples & onions on cheese. Cover with cooked egg. Sprinkle with salt, to taste. Yield: 1 serving. * Adapted from Ryan Cunningham, Thomas' Breakfast Battle

Apple Butter

1 lb butter
3 Gala apples
1 t vanilla
1 T sugar

Melt butter over low in a medium saucepan. Peel, core and dice the apples; add to saucepan. Cook over very low heat until soft. Add vanilla and sugar; blend until smooth. Transfer apple butter to a tightly sealed container and refrigerate. Yield: 1 quart.

Apples & Onions

1 T bacon fat
1 julienned Spanish onion
1 julienned Gala apple
1 T sugar
1 bunch scallion, cut on bias
salt, to taste
1/2 t fresh lemon juice

Add bacon fat to a skillet and melt over low. Stir in onions and sweat until softened. Add apples and sugar; raise heat to medium and cook until apples are slightly softened. Remove from heat and toss in remaining ingredients.

Send comments, questions or recipe ideas to capeflavors@comcast.net.